Senior Engineering Manager, Media Foundation

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:

The Media Foundation team builds the core platforms and infrastructure that power photo and video capture, upload, processing, storage, and delivery across Airbnb's products, at a massive global scale. We partner closely with Product, Design, Data Science, Trust, and Infrastructure teams to ensure every image and video guests and Hosts see is fast, high-quality, and reliable, from the moment a Host uploads a photo to the moment a Guest views it in search results.

The Difference You Will Make:

As the Senior Engineering Manager for Media Foundation, you will lead a team of engineers to build and operate Airbnb's media infrastructure, the foundation powering every photo, video, and document that users interact with on the platform. Capabilities include uploads, AI/ML transformations, distribution, and presentation within the product. You will shape the team’s vision and help steer the organization towards our larger goals. This includes day-to-day operations, technical deep dives, community engagement with internal engineering teams, and strategic planning.

As the technical and organizational leader for Media Foundation, you own the reliability, scalability, and evolution of the systems that power every media interaction on the Airbnb platform from the moment a host uploads a photo to the instant a guest streams a listing video. Your experience in both media technology and people management will be essential to the maintenance, modernization, and innovation of Airbnb's media platform. You set the bar for engineering excellence, define what great looks like for your team, and create an environment where engineers grow, do their best work, and are proud of what they ship.

A Typical Day:

- Set technical strategy and architecture for media infrastructure across multiple teams, aligning investment with product and business priorities.

- Lead, coach, and grow other managers and senior technical leads, and create an environment where engineers can do their best work.

- Partner with Product, Design, Trust, and other infrastructure orgs to shape a resilient, scalable media platform roadmap.

- Champion engineering excellence and operational rigor, and resolve systemic technical debt affecting reliability, performance, or velocity.

- Retain, grow, and hire a diverse team of high-performing engineers and managers to execute an ambitious media platform vision.

Your Expertise: