Airbnb Staff Software Engineer, Payments Compliance Recruitment 2026: Apply Online

About the Role

Airbnb is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Staff Software Engineer to join its dynamic Payments Compliance team. This pivotal role involves driving architectural decisions and implementing robust systems that ensure Airbnb’s compliance with a complex web of global financial regulations. As a Staff Engineer, you will be instrumental in shaping the future of Airbnb’s compliance infrastructure, working on systems that handle billions of dollars across numerous countries and currencies.

The Community You Will Join

The Airbnb Payments team is at the heart of the company’s mission, enabling seamless financial exchanges worldwide. This team builds and maintains a world-class, in-house global payments platform, essential for Airbnb’s ‘belongs anywhere’ ethos. The Payments Compliance function is critical, safeguarding Airbnb against significant fines and operational restrictions in various markets. You will be part of a team that tackles intricate challenges related to payment partners, global licenses, regulatory controls, and innovative payment experiences for hosts and guests.

The Difference You Will Make

As a Staff Engineer in Payments Compliance, you will be a key leader, expected to bring deep expertise in building and operating large-scale platforms. Your contributions will directly support Airbnb’s entire Compliance program, scaling it to meet evolving regulatory demands. You will work on complex systems that interface with various parts of Airbnb, developing systems, APIs, experiences, and tools to implement global regulatory controls. This role focuses on the compliance experiences that hosts and guests interact with, including information collection, management, screening against regulatory requirements, and continuous auditing to verify control application. You will set technical direction across these interconnected areas, ensuring that user experiences are seamless, compliance decisions are sound, and enforcement is demonstrable.

A Typical Day

• Lead the development and refinement of systems powering compliance operations.
• Partner with technical leaders across and outside the Compliance team to design and build service-oriented, configurable, and auditable compliance systems.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, Policy, Operations, and other cross-functional partners in a globally distributed team to define and launch impactful features.
• Work with other Airbnb engineering teams to ensure holistic user service.
• Lead and mentor engineers, both within and outside your immediate team, fostering skill development and solution building.
• Advocate for and participate in initiatives to advance Airbnb’s engineering processes and technical foundations, driving systemic improvements for efficiency and quality.

Your Expertise

• Minimum of 9 years of industry experience in a fast-paced technology environment.
• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical work experience.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across the broader engineering organization.
• Strong problem-solving capabilities and experience leading on-call rotations for production systems.
• Proven technical leadership experience, including leading project teams and defining technical strategy.
• Proficiency in one or more back-end server languages (e.g., Java, Ruby, Go, C++).
• Experience with HTML, CSS, and modern JavaScript frameworks like React.
• Exposure to architectural patterns of high-scale web and data applications.
• A future-looking mindset, capable of building long-term solutions.
• An end-to-end ownership mentality that extends beyond team boundaries.
• Nice to have: Prior knowledge of Regulatory Compliance standards and experience implementing controls.

Location and Work Environment

This position is eligible for remote work within the United States. Candidates must reside in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites may be required. Airbnb is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and provides reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities.

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way. Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere, offering a unique market for people to list, discover, and book homes and experiences around the world.