← Back to results

Senior Software Engineer, Users Foundation

Design and build distributed systems for user data at Airbnb, influencing foundational systems with a high-ownership role.

Location
United States
Compensation
$196k–$227k/yr
Level
senior
Type
full time · Hybrid

Posted by employer 3 days ago

First seen on Joblaze 3 days ago

Last verified on the company career page 3 days ago

What you'll build

  • Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs
  • Lead multi-engineer projects end-to-end
  • Improve reliability and scalability of systems
  • Partner with engineering teams to execute changes
  • Mentor other engineers

Must have

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
  • Experience owning production services end-to-end
  • Strong fundamentals in distributed systems
  • Experience building and operating high-traffic backend services
  • Track record of leading ambiguous, multi-month projects
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills

Requirements

Experience
5+ years

Not disclosed in this posting: visa sponsorship.

Benefits

Equity/Stock Options Remote Work

Joblaze summary

In the role of Senior Software Engineer on the Users Foundation team at Airbnb, the individual will design and implement distributed systems that manage user data with a focus on reliability and scalability. Key skills include a strong foundation in distributed systems, experience with high-traffic backend services, and the ability to lead complex projects across teams. This position is suited for seasoned engineers with a track record of driving technical decisions and mentoring peers. The role emphasizes high ownership and collaboration, making it integral to the company's infrastructure.

Joblaze insights

  • Listed 3 days ago — first seen on Joblaze October 21, 2026. Last confirmed on Airbnb's careers page October 21, 2026.
  • Salary band is in line with the typical range for Backend roles (median ~$180,000).
  • Starts above 87% of 23 comparable senior backend roles in United States that list distributed systems we track (median $165,300 across 16 companies). See distributed systems salary trends
  • distributed systems appears in 5.9% of 529 comparable senior backend roles in United States; APIs appears in 3.6% of 529 comparable senior backend roles in United States.

Quick facts

Is the Senior Software Engineer, Users Foundation role remote?
It's hybrid — Airbnb expects some on-site time in United States.
What's the salary range?
Airbnb lists $196,000–$227,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?
At least 5 years of relevant experience for this Senior Software Engineer, Users Foundation role.
Where is the role based?
Airbnb is hiring for this position in United States.
What's the tech stack?
Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: APIs, backend services, distributed systems.
What seniority level is this role?
Airbnb targets senior candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?
Full-time for this Senior Software Engineer, Users Foundation role at Airbnb.

From the original posting

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:

At Airbnb, our mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. The Users Foundation team owns User Data at Airbnb — the identity and account information behind every guest and host interaction on the platform. We build and operate the core service that acts as the gateway for how other teams across Airbnb read and write user data. Because nearly every team touches user data in some way, our systems sit at the center of the platform, and reliability, correctness, and scale aren't nice-to-haves, they're the job.

The Difference You Will Make:

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Users Foundation team, you will design and build distributed systems that handle enormous scale with strict correctness and reliability requirements. In this role, you will work closely with engineering teams across Airbnb to ship changes safely to infrastructure they depend on.
This is a high-ownership role: you will set technical direction for your projects, lead tradeoff discussions with partner teams, and have real influence over how foundational systems evolve.

A Typical Day:

  • Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs that are core dependencies across Airbnb's platform
  • Lead multi-engineer projects end-to-end, from problem definition through rollout and operations
  • Improve the reliability and scalability of systems that handle account data and events at high volume
  • Partner with engineering teams across the company to plan and safely execute changes to shared infrastructure
  • Mentor other engineers and help raise the bar on code quality, testing, and operational excellence


Your Expertise:

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with experience owning production services end-to-end
  • Strong fundamentals in distributed systems, including messaging/eventing, data consistency, and service reliability patterns
  • Experience building and operating high-traffic backend services
  • Track record of leading ambiguous, multi-month projects from problem definition through delivery
  • Experience driving technical decisions across team boundaries
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially for technical design and cross-team coordination

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 . If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.

How We'll Take Care of You:

Pay Range
$196,000—$227,000 USD

Standard company text repeated across Airbnb's postings is omitted here.

Similar positions

Airbnb
Airbnb
Airbnb
Airbnb
Staff Data Engineer, Tech Foundations
Airbnb · San Francisco, CA
Airbnb