Senior Data Scientist - Listing Understanding

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 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:

• A team of dedicated data scientists working on exciting new technologies to extract and structure information from rich Airbnb listings
• A platform team with expertise on Computer Vision and Multimodality, and focus on nascent CV/Multi-modality technologies and how they can be applied into the product to server hosts and guests

The Difference You Will Make:

• For this role, we’re seeking a deep learning expert to join the Listing Understanding Data Science team. The position will have a direct opportunity to contribute, influence, and lead by designing scalable scientific solutions for problems such as:

  • Leverage large scale unstructured data using computer vision and multi-modality techniques
  • Identify unique salient traits for each listing that can be used for search and personalization
  • Reason about a listing across multiple modalities to make better stay recommendations

A Typical Day:

• Identify high impact business opportunities through literature review and model prototype, translate business problem into scientific formulations
• Work collaboratively with cross functional partners including software engineers, product managers, operations and research, to refine requirements for machine learning models, drive scientific decisions, and quantify impact
• Hands-on develop, productionize, and operate machine learning models and pipelines at scale, including both batch and real-time use cases, structured and unstructured data
• Build reusable, high-performing, scalable machine learning models with internal paved path tooling, incorporating third-party information and state-of-the-art innovations
• Regularly present work internally at monthly meetings to technical, engineering and product stakeholders to iterate and generate excitement on roadmap progress
• Publish externally and engage with the scientific community to advance Airbnb’s standing

Your Expertise:

• 5+ years of relevant industry experience (e.g. ML scientist, tech lead, junior faculty) and a Master’s degree or PhD in relevant fields
• Expertise in Deep Learning and its framework (PyTorch preferred) and Transformers architectures
• Hands-on ‘builder’ experience with Compute Vision and Multimodality problems. Also a plus, proficiency with LLMs and/or related AI, NLP, including deep learning, information retrieval, or knowledge extraction.
• Strong fluency in Python and SQL
• Deep understanding of Machine Learning lifecycle best practices (eg. training/serving, feature engineering, feature/model selection, labeling, A/B test), algorithms (eg. gradient boosted trees, neural networks/deep learning, optimization) and domains (eg. natural language processing, computer vision, personalization and recommendation)
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and effectively to audiences of varying technical levels, observation causal inference skill is a plus
• Proven mix of strong intellectual curiosity with high level of pragmatism and engagement with the technical community. Publications or presentations in recognized journals/conferences is a plus
• Ability to take a product-oriented mindset in using conceptual and innovative thinking to develop and apply solutions taking into consideration the user experience

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.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: [email protected]. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.

We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.

How We'll Take Care of You:

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.