Senior Staff Engineer, Payments Compliance
This is a top-tier leadership role responsible for the technical integrity of Airbnb's global financial compliance engine. It combines deep architectural ownership with the need for high-level organizational influence to navigate complex international regulations. It is a perfect fit for a visionary engineer who wants to solve massive scale problems at the intersection of law and technology.
Airbnb
San Francisco, California, United States · Posted 16 April 2026
The role
Overview
The hiring side
About Airbnb
Airbnb is an enterprise organisation working in travel and technology, based in San Francisco, California, United States.
Travel and Technology
Enterprise
San Francisco, California, United States
Go deeper
See Airbnb the way an insider would
Unlock company research, key people to know, recent moves, and how this role fits into their wider picture.
Research AirbnbWhat they need
Requirements & Skills
Key Responsibilities
- Define the end-to-end technical vision for the Compliance engineering landscape
- Lead the architectural shift from account-centric to customer-centric identity modeling
- Oversee system design for Policy Enforcement, Identity, Screening, and Auditing
- Partner with Legal and Product teams to ensure global regulatory obligations are met
- Mentor and align nearly 30 engineers across various specialized compliance teams
Essential
- Proven track record as a technical lead for large-scale engineering organizations
- Deep expertise in designing and scaling complex distributed systems
- Experience managing high-stakes architectural trade-offs across multiple teams
- Ability to drive multi-year strategic technical initiatives
- Strong background in financial systems, compliance, or risk management infrastructure
Preferred
- Experience with global regulatory frameworks (AML, KYC, Sanctions)
- Background in transitioning legacy systems to modern identity-centric models
- Experience working with cross-functional stakeholders in Legal and Product
Key Skills
Networking
People to Know
Sign up to discover hiring managers, team leads, and key people at Airbnb.
Perks
Benefits & perks
- Remote work flexibility within the USA
- Opportunity to work on a global-scale payments platform
- Collaborative, mission-driven company culture
- High-impact leadership visibility
- Comprehensive health and wellness programs
- Professional development and mentorship opportunities
Next step
Apply now
Found via careers.airbnb.com