Sr. Staff Experience Designer

Airbnb; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Airbnb in London seeks a Senior Staff Experience Designer to partner with writers, researchers, product specialists and engineers to craft beautiful, usable products that connect communities. The role emphasizes emotional connection, usability, and inclusive design across online and offline interactions.

You will lead design across time zones, adapt core experiences to regional needs, and contribute to an international roadmap.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and progressive experience.
• 12+ years of experience in design leadership or equivalent.
• Excellent visual and interaction design craft.
• Defines the design direction and process and can lead others through it.
• Able to scope own work and teammates accurately.
• Motivates and drives small to medium design teams.
• Navigate ambiguity and set vision/strategy for global products.
• Systems-thinking and ability to design for offline experiences.
• Translate complex information into clear, accessible designs.
• Strong storytelling, presentation and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience designing platforms and systems.
• Experience collaborating with research and writing disciplines.
• 0 to 1 experience or redesigning major elements of product, experience or service design.

Responsibilities

• Support and shape the evolution of the company platform from a design perspective.
• Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Scientists, Researchers and Writers to define problems, goals, map user flows, prototype interactions, and launch new products.
• Influence leadership decisions with a clear point of view and solve highly complex problems.
• Provide indirect leadership and mentorship for a team of designers across global audiences.
• Anticipate business challenges and independently create product solutions; act as creative director on projects.
• Build strong relationships with leaders inside and outside core product teams; manage stakeholders.
• Understand opportunities and constraints across technology, business, and users.
• Scope project work with PMs and engineers and define design process and timeline.

Skills

Leadership

UX design

Systems thinking

Global strategy

Stakeholder management

Design systems

Cross-functional

Presentation skills

AI-enabled design

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

the company 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:

As a Senior Staff Experience Designer, you will partner with supporting disciplines such as writers, researchers, product specialists and engineers to build beautiful, usable, forward-looking products that empower people. Our design charter is to help foster an emotional connection with our community, keeping usability and accessibility as our prime virtues. We do our best to practice inclusive design at every turn, spanning both the online and offline experiences we create for our community.

The difference you will make:

As a Senior Staff Experience Designer in London, you will play a critical role in shaping how the company shows up in markets across EMEA, Latin America, and APAC. You will help ensure our global products feel truly local—adapting core experiences to regional needs while feeding market insights back into the broader product strategy. Sitting at the intersection of product, design, and regional strategy, you will work across time zones and functions to define and deliver an international roadmap that spans both tactical UI improvements and larger strategic bets. You will bring a high bar for visual and interaction design craft, model AI-enabled ways of working, and provide senior design leadership in a space that is growing in complexity and impact for the company globally. The Staff/Senior Staff Experience Designer is an individual contributor (IC) role that will report to a Manager or Director of Experience Design.

A typical day:

• Support and shape the evolution of the the company platform from a design perspective; ensure consistency with, and contribute to, our brand architecture and product architecture.

• Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Data Scientist, Researchers and Writers to define problems & goals, map user flows, prototype interactions, and launch new products and services.

• Influence leadership decision making through a clear point of view and define and solve highly complex problems autonomously.

• Provide indirect leadership and mentorship for a team of 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 the work of a team of talented designers, writers, program managers, researchers, product managers and engineers as the defacto creative director of innovative projects

• Build strong relationships with leaders inside and outside of core product teams; strong communication and executive stakeholder management skills.

• Have a keen understanding of the technological, business and user opportunities and constraints.

• Scopes project work (in partnership with PMs and engineers) and helps define the design process and timeline.

Your expertise:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and progressive experience

• Designer/Design Leader with 12+ years of experience.

• Excellent visual and interaction skills and craft.

• Defines the design direction and process and can lead others through it.

• Can accurately scope their work as well as their teammate's.

• Can effortlessly motivate and drive small to medium teams to transform a product.

• Demonstrated ability to help a team navigate ambiguity, set vision, and set strategy for global products.

• Systems-thinker with the ability to think beyond the pixels and design for offline experiences.

• Experience with making complex information, tools, and services easily digestible for your audience.

• Strong storytelling, presentation, communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Experience designing platforms and systems.

• Experience managing and collaborating with research and writing disciplines.

• 0 to 1 experience or experience redesigning major elements of product, experience or service design.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

the company 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: [e-mail]. 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.

Reasonable Accommodations:

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance, or an accommodation, please let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.