---
title: 'Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Payments at Airbnb'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-machine-learning-engineer-payments-airbnb-united-states-twq7pdfsstpr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Payments at Airbnb

- **Company:** Airbnb
- **Location:** United States
- **Compensation:** $191k–$223k
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-03-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://careers.airbnb.com/positions/7755758?gh_jid=7755758

## Job description

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.

The Community You Will Join:

Payments is key for any healthy marketplace, and is just as central to our product at Airbnb. The Payments org at Airbnb is responsible for everything related to settling money in Airbnb’s global marketplace and makes the Payment experience as delightful, magical, intuitive, and easy as possible. At the Payments modeling team, our goal is to empower the mission by introducing intelligences and personalizations that optimize Airbnb’s massive daily transaction volume to best collect payments from guests, distribute payouts to hosts while preventing fraudulent transactions from happening.

The Difference You Will Make:

As a Senior ML Engineer for Payments, you will be the catalyst that transforms bold AI innovation -  LLMpowered workflow, realtime fraud defenses, and hyperpersonalized checkout flows -  into production systems that make Airbnb Payment experience feel effortless and secure; you’ll architect and own end-to-end solutions at global scale, partner closely with product, software, and operations teams to turn complex requirements into elegant, latencyfirst services, and set the technical standard for model governance, continuous learning, and engineering excellence that elevates our entire payments ecosystem while shaping the company’s broader AI strategy.

A Typical Day:

- Spearhead LLM agents, realtime anomaly detectors, and other breakthrough solutions that solve real-world problems and create product magic.
- Collaborate with product, engineering, ops, and data science to spot high leverage opportunities, refine AI/ML requirements, make principled architecture choices, and measure business value with clear, data-driven metrics.
- Design, train, deploy, and operate large-scale AI applications for both batch and streaming workloads, ensuring low latency, high reliability, and continuous improvement via automated monitoring and retraining loops.
- Mentor and inspire teammates, fostering a collaborative, experimentation-driven environment where cutting edge research meets production excellence and every engineer is empowered to push AI boundaries at Airbnb.

Your Expertise:

- 5+ years of industry experience in applied AI/ML, inclusive MS or PhD in relevant fields.
- Strong programming (Python/Java) and data engineering skills.
- Proven mastery of modern AI/LLM workflows — prompt engineering, fine tuning (LoRA, RLHF), hallucination mitigation, safety guardrails, and rigorous online/offline testing to minimize training/inference drift and ensure reliable outcomes.
- Handson experience with at least three of the following: PyTorch/TensorFlow , scalable inference stacks, vector search, orchestration/MLOps platforms (Kubeflow, Airflow), largescale data streaming & processing (Spark, Ray, Kafka)
- Demonstrated success designing, deploying, and monitoring production AI systems - e.g. personalization engines, generative content services - complete with drift/cost/latency monitoring, automated retraining triggers, and cross-functional collaboration that translates ambiguous business needs into measurable AI impact.
- Prior knowledge of AI/ML Applications in the Payments domain is highly desirable

Your Location:

This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. [Click here for the up-to-date list of excluded states. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list.](https://careers.airbnb.com/) If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.

We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application. How We'll Take Care of You:

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

Pay Range $191,000—$223,000 USD

## About Airbnb

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Airbnb operates a global marketplace for unique stays, experiences, and adventures, connecting hosts with travelers.
- **Entity Type**: Public (NASDAQ: ABNB)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2007
- **Founders**: Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Online Travel & Hospitality, Software Development
- **Target customers**: B2C (travelers), C2C (hosts), with some B2B (Airbnb for Work, business travel)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere, providing unique travel experiences and economic opportunity for hosts.

## Products & Services
- **Airbnb Stays**: The core platform for booking short-term rentals (entire homes, private rooms, shared spaces) in over 220 countries and regions.
- **Airbnb Experiences**: Curated, hands-on activities hosted by locals (e.g., cooking classes, guided hikes, workshops).
- **Airbnb Adventures**: Multi-day, small-group immersive trips led by local experts.
- **Airbnb for Work**: A service for companies to manage business travel and team retreats.
- **Luxe**: A premium tier offering vetted, high-end vacation homes with dedicated trip designers.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: ~$77.8B (as of recent data)
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of $12.2B (based on available data)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Y Combinator
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - **From 2007 to present**: 1.5 billion guest arrivals globally.
  - **Headcount Growth**: Employs ~21,644 people, a **+30.6% year-over-year increase**.
  - **Global Reach**: Operates in 176 countries with a strong international team (e.g., offices/employees in India, Italy, Canada, Brazil, UK, Australia, China).
  - **Public Company Status**: IPO in 2020, trading on NASDAQ.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Network Effects**: A massive, global two-sided network of 5 million+ hosts and 1.5 billion arrivals creates a formidable moat that is very difficult for competitors to replicate.
- **Brand & Trust**: A globally recognized brand synonymous with alternative accommodations and travel experiences.
- **Liquidity & Inventory**: Unrivaled inventory depth across 220+ countries, offering unique stays not found in traditional hotels.
- **Live and Work Anywhere Policy**: A radical shift in work culture that offers flexibility and a competitive edge in talent acquisition, allowing employees to live anywhere in their country of employment with no compensation change.

## Strategic Focus
- **International & Mainstream Expansion**: Continuing to grow its user base beyond early adopters into mainstream travel and new international markets.
- **Product Diversification**: Pushing hard into "Experiences" and "Adventures" to reduce reliance on accommodations and capture more of the travel wallet.
- **Leveraging AI & Technology**: Investing in AI (e.g., AI Engineer roles in Community Support) to improve the guest and host experience, search, and trust & safety.
- **Return to Travel & "Live Anywhere"**: Capitalizing on the post-pandemic shift towards remote work and long-term stays with its "Live and Work Anywhere" initiative.

## Why Work Here
- **Flexibility**: A ground-breaking **"Live and Work Anywhere"** policy. Employees can work from home, an office, or temporarily anywhere in the world (with approval). Compensation is not changed when moving within their country of employment.
- **Compelling Mission**: An opportunity to work on a platform that creates connection and economic empowerment for millions of people globally.
- **Diversity & Belonging**: Strong commitment to inclusion with numerous Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) such as Able@, Black@, Women@, Parents@, and many more.
- **Great Benefits**: 
  - **Travel Credit**: Quarterly Airbnb travel and experiences credit.
  - **Education**: Annual educational stipend.
  - **Wellbeing**: Subsidized healthcare, mental health support, family care support, and generous parental leave.
  - **Equity**: Competitive compensation including equity and an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP).
- **Culture**: Values-driven with a focus on "Be a Host" (caring, open, encouraging), "Champion the Mission," and "Embrace the Adventure."
- **Work Model**: Supports a mix of remote, hybrid (be close to an office), and onsite work, giving employees significant control over their schedule.
- **Talent Community**: A highly creative and collaborative environment with industry-leading talent.

## Sources
1. [careers.airbnb.com](https://careers.airbnb.com/)
2. [careers.airbnb.com/life-at-airbnb/](https://careers.airbnb.com/life-at-airbnb/)
3. [airbnb.com](https://www.airbnb.com/)
4. [linkedin.com/company/airbnb](https://sg.linkedin.com/company/airbnb)
5. [careers.airbnb.com/positions/](https://careers.airbnb.com/positions/)

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