Staff Backend Engineer, Host Serving and Access

Airbnb

Staff Engineer developing backend services and APIs for Airbnb's Host Serving team. Leading cross-functional collaboration for scalable solutions and architecture enhancements.

Posted 7/22/2026full-timeRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $212,000 - $265,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in architecting and driving technical strategy for serving ecosystems, with a focus on developing low-latency, high-throughput APIs and optimizing real-time serving systems. Proven ability to lead teams, mentor engineers, and collaborate effectively across functions to enhance technical maturity and deliver impactful solutions.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Technical Strategy LeadershipReal-Time Serving Systems DevelopmentService-Oriented Architecture ExpertiseCross-Functional CollaborationProduction Debugging

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

API DevelopmentData Pipeline OptimizationModel PredictionsPersonalized RecommendationsBackend Systems EngineeringWorkflow Strategy DevelopmentArchitectural Standards EstablishmentMachine Learning ServingHigh-Impact Model LaunchingProduction Environment Performance

Soft Skills

Excellent CommunicationCross-Team CollaborationProblem-SolvingJudgment in TradeoffsMentoring

Certifications & Qualifications

BS/MS or PhD in Computer Science

Industry Keywords

Technical MaturityEngineering ExcellenceLarge-Scale SystemsReal-Time SystemsCross-Functional Partnerships

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Architect and drive the technical strategy and architecture for our serving ecosystem, ensuring our APIs, services, and data pipelines not only work well now, but are evolving with the business’ needs
Lead the development and optimization of real-time serving systems to deliver low-latency, high-throughput APIs for model predictions and personalized recommendations, ensuring reliable and scalable performance in production environments.
Collaborate with other product engineers and cross-functional partners to develop new Host pricing functionality and surface model recommendations, insights and analytics
Contribute to the development of long-term workflow strategies, roadmaps and ML serving development within the Host Pricing organization.
Champion engineering excellence by establishing architectural standards and mentoring senior engineers to elevate the organization's technical maturity

Requirements

What you’ll need

9+ years of engineering experience with a BS/MS or PhD in CS or similar
Proven track record of leading teams, setting technical strategy, and launching high-impact models.
Expertise with backend systems in large-scale service-oriented architectures.
Experience influencing cross-functional partners and engineering teams.
Good judgment in making tradeoffs to balance short-term business needs with long-term technical quality.
Excellent communication and cross-team collaboration skills.
Strong problem-solving and production debugging abilities.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Bonus
Equity
Employee Travel Credits