Senior Privacy Architect

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, we want to build a world where anyone can belong anywhere – and the first step in that direction is creating a community that’s open, inclusive, and built on trust. In a world where our digital presence and identity is as important as our physical presence, we believe that a fundamental part of earning this trust is by ensuring that we protect our users’ human right to privacy on our platform, and making sure that we make responsible use of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). At Airbnb, we envision a future where our highly trusted privacy practices and world-class privacy user experience will be part of the reason users chose us over the competition.

As we work towards achieving this vision, we’re looking to add a Privacy Architect to our Privacy Team. You will work closely with the Chief Privacy Officer, the Privacy team, and product teams to ensure privacy and responsible use of technology across all Airbnb products and services.

The Difference You Will Make:

As a Privacy Architect, you will champion all things Privacy and the responsible use of technology. You will work with key partners across the Privacy team and product teams to define technical requirements for data privacy and trustworthy products at Airbnb. Success in this role will be measured by your ability to lead high-impact business initiatives, ensuring privacy compliance with current regulations and future AI/ML statutes, while fostering trust with stakeholders.

• Possess a deep respect and passion for leveraging technology to protect data from security and privacy threats. Passionate about technology, including AI/ML.
• A self-starter who is able to work autonomously with limited guidance; analyzes information and arguments in order to evaluate their quality and can think creatively when making decisions.
• Has experience and is comfortable performing under pressure to hit deadlines in an ambiguous matrixed organization 
• Hyper focused on customer engagement and building strong relationships within the business 
• Strong organizational and motivational skills, consistently working with a bias for action and impact and the ability to influence others.
• Experience working with engineering and/or data science teams, demonstrating interest and a growing understanding of the Privacy by Design approach, including privacy enhancing technologies, to address privacy and regulatory challenges in product design and deployment.
• Experience writing privacy guidance documents for engineering teams and translating compliance requirements into technical specifications and requirements.
• Good communicator with experience in facilitation and influence; capable of addressing both large and small audiences across multiple leadership levels and functions
• Sense of urgency and commitment to Airbnb's mission of belonging 
• Has experience in various roles including working with senior leaders and the desire to contribute valuable business insights and thought leadership across multiple areas

A Typical Day: 

• Work collaboratively with Privacy Managers in the identification of risks to privacy and trustworthy use of technology in software and AI products and services, as well as in generation of the documentation required by law; 
• Contribute in the development and establishment of policies, standards, practices, and patterns to safeguard and handle personal data in compliance with privacy and other regulations, including when it comes to AI. 
• Support the creation of plans and approaches to address privacy risks, contributing to embedding privacy policies, processes, and patterns into Airbnb products and services, as well as the day-to-day operations of the business
• Facilitate the cross-functional execution of the privacy team's prevention and remediation plans for technology products and services; contributing to implementing concrete strategies that effectively address privacy issues, working closely with program managers, engineers, and data scientists.
• Work with data scientists and engineers to leverage privacy enhancing technologies such as cryptography and anonymization of personal data to implement Privacy by Design principles in company products.
• Collaborate with privacy leads, legal privacy, and other teams and business units within Airbnb, providing expertise in assessing privacy risks that involve complex technical elements and offering guidance and support to mitigate privacy concerns
• Contributes to creation of privacy training for technical roles, including data engineers, developers and data scientists.
• Dive deep into areas at risk, or in need of more hands-on program/technical project management to unblock and ensure successful outcomes.
• Work with engineering and AI/ML teams to assess dependencies and risks related to data privacy and regulatory compliance in products and services, as well as Airbnb’s technical infrastructure.
• Provide leadership for the adoption of policy and technological approaches to protect privacy and comply with regulations in the design, development and implementation of software and AI products and services. 
• Be a driver, evangelist, problem-solver, and leader who helps the Airbnb engineering and operations teams gather and use personal data while maintaining strong privacy and responsible AI commitments towards our community

Your Expertise:

• This is a technical program management role that requires a minimum of 5 years experience building technology products and systems preferably in a global B2C technology company
• BA/BS degree in engineering, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Deep understanding of the technology product and development lifecycles, including AI/ML, and the challenges associated with privacy compliance and responsible use of technology throughout these lifecycles.
• Knowledge and understanding of AI/ML, including GAI/LLMs and traditional ML approaches, and familiarity with the privacy and responsible use of technology challenges that arise from their use in various contexts.
• Strong understanding of how large-scale, “Big Data”, data stores and technologies work, including experience working with teams that drive technology changes, or programs which cover both online and offline data systems operating at large scale, focusing on privacy, regulatory compliance and governance
• Strong time management and prioritization capabilities, efficiently allocating time and resources to achieve objectives; demonstrates the ability to balance multiple tasks and responsibilities while ensuring high-quality outputs
• Demonstrated ability to work through ambiguity to detailed solutions; self-motivated, proactive and proven ability to adapt well and work with teams having different operating cadences
• Sound business judgment, a proven ability to influence others, strong analytical skills, and a track record of taking ownership, leading data driven analyses, and influencing results
• Experience developing processes where little exists, and demonstrated flexibility to get things done
• Detail-oriented and able to understand the bigger picture by using your technical and privacy expertise, as well as problem solving abilities to prioritize and manage blocking issues
• Experience working in a highly cross-functional environment (Eng, PM, DS, Analytics, Design, Ops, Legal, Infra, etc.) where communication with and the ability to influence multiple groups and executive teams is imperative
• Excellent written and oral business communication and people skills, with the ability to influence diverse stakeholders at all levels
• Working knowledge of common privacy processes and deliverables such as privacy impact assessments, records of processing, etc; hands-on experience applying privacy frameworks and demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of major regulations such as GDPR and CCPA
  • Preferred Experience
  • 7+ years experience in privacy, trust & safety, compliance, security operations and/or technical program management, preferably in a global B2C technology company
  • Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), AI Governance Professional (AIGP) or equivalent professional certifications.
  • ML certification from an accredited organization
  • Familiarity with Privacy Enhancing Technologies, like various types of encryption, different methods for de-identification of personal data, such as k-anonymity, differential privacy, and interpretability techniques for AI/ML, such as SHAP, LIME and others.
  • BA/BS or advanced degree in engineering, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics or related field.
  • Experience with programming languages and libraries used in AI, such as R and Python.

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: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. 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.  

Pay Range$176,000—$220,000 USD