Airbnb was born in 2007, when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home. Since then, it has grown to more than five million hosts, who have welcomed over two billion guest arrivals in almost every country around the world.
Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that help guests connect with communities in a more authentic way.
The community you will join
As a Senior Staff Experience Designer, you will partner with Writers, Researchers, Product Specialists and Engineers to build beautiful, usable and forward-looking products that empower people.
Our design charter is to foster an emotional connection with our community while keeping usability and accessibility at its core. We practise inclusive design at every turn, across the online and offline experiences we create.
The difference you will make
As a Senior Staff Experience Designer based in London, you will play a critical role in shaping how Airbnb appears in markets across EMEA, Latin America and APAC.
You will help ensure our global products feel genuinely local, adapting core experiences to regional needs while feeding market insight into wider product strategy.
Working at the intersection of Product, Design and regional strategy, you will collaborate across time zones and functions to define and deliver an international roadmap. This will span tactical UI improvements and larger strategic opportunities.
You will bring a high bar for visual and interaction design craft, model AI-enabled ways of working and provide senior design leadership in an area of growing complexity and global impact.
This is an individual-contributor role reporting to a Manager or Director of Experience Design.
A typical day
Shape the evolution of the Airbnb platform from a design perspective, ensuring consistency with and contributing to our brand and product architecture.
Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Scientists, Researchers and Writers to define problems and goals, map user flows, prototype interactions and launch products and services.
Influence leadership decisions through a clear point of view and independently define and solve highly complex problems.
Provide indirect leadership and mentorship to Designers through the end-to-end interaction and visual design of products and services for a global audience.
Anticipate business challenges and independently create product solutions.
Indirectly lead teams of Designers, Writers, Programme Managers, Researchers, Product Managers and Engineers as the de facto Creative Director for innovative projects.
Build strong relationships with leaders inside and outside core product teams.
Apply strong communication and executive stakeholder-management skills.
Maintain a keen understanding of technological, business and user opportunities and constraints.
Scope project work in partnership with Product Managers and Engineers, helping to define the design process and timeline.
Your expertise
Bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of education and progressive experience.
At least 12 years of experience as a Designer or Design Leader.
Excellent visual and interaction design craft.
Ability to define design direction and process, and lead others through it.
Ability to scope your own work and that of teammates accurately.
Ability to motivate and guide small to medium-sized teams through product transformation.
Demonstrated ability to help teams navigate ambiguity, set a vision and develop strategy for global products.
Systems thinking, with the ability to look beyond pixels and design for offline experiences.
Experience making complex information, tools and services easy for audiences to understand.
Strong storytelling, presentation, communication and stakeholder-management skills.
Experience designing platforms and systems.
Experience managing and collaborating with Research and Writing disciplines.
Experience taking products, experiences or service designs from zero to one, or redesigning major elements of them.
Our commitment to inclusion and belonging
Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest possible talent pool. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, helping us attract creative people and develop the best products, services and solutions.
All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.
We strive to provide a disability-inclusive application and interview process. If you require a reasonable accommodation to submit an application, contact [email protected].
Please include your full name, the role you are applying for and the accommodation needed to support you during the recruitment process.
Please only contact us if a disability prevents you from completing the online application.
Reasonable accommodations
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation, let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.
A note on recruiting scams
Scammers may pose as Airbnb recruiters to obtain money or personal information from candidates.
The following will always be true of Airbnb’s hiring process:
Open roles are posted on the Airbnb Careers page at careers.airbnb.com.
Recruiters contact candidates only from @airbnb.com or @ext.airbnb.com email addresses.
Recruiters will never ask for your Social Security number, bank account details, passport or payment-app information during an interview.
Recruiters will never ask you to pay a fee, send money, deposit or cash a cheque, or purchase work-related equipment during the interview process.
Remain vigilant and do not share sensitive information if you are not confident that an individual is affiliated with Airbnb.