Senior ML Engineer, Payments — Real-Time AI & Fraud Defense

Airbnb, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 191,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

Airbnb is seeking a Senior ML Engineer for Payments to transform bold AI innovation into scalable, reliable production systems. You will own end-to-end AI solutions, architect latency-first services, and set model governance standards in a global payments context.

Join a team shaping the future of AI-driven checkout experiences, fraud defenses, and personalization across Airbnb's marketplace, while collaborating with product, software, and operations to deliver measurable AI impact.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience in applied AI/ML
• Strong programming (Python/Java) and data engineering skills
• Proven mastery of modern AI/LLM workflows — prompt engineering, fine tuning (LoRA, RLHF), safety guardrails
• Hands-on experience with at least three: PyTorch/TensorFlow, scalable inference stacks, vector search, orchestration/MLOps platforms (Kubeflow, Airflow), large-scale data streaming & processing (Spark, Ray, Kafka)
• Experience deploying and monitoring production AI systems with drift/cost/latency considerations

Responsibilities

• Spearhead LLM agents, realtime anomaly detectors, and other breakthrough solutions
• Collaborate with product, engineering, ops, and data science to define requirements and measure business value
• Design, train, deploy, and operate large-scale AI applications for batch and streaming workloads with low latency and high reliability
• Mentor teammates to blend cutting-edge research with production excellence

Skills

AI/ML experience

Python

Java

LLM workflows

Education

MS or PhD in a relevant field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Kubeflow

Airflow

Spark

Kafka

Job description

Airbnb is seeking a Senior ML Engineer for Payments to transform bold AI innovation into scalable, reliable production systems. You will own end-to-end AI solutions, architect latency-first services, and set model governance standards in a global payments context.

Join a team shaping the future of AI-driven checkout experiences, fraud defenses, and personalization across Airbnb's marketplace, while collaborating with product, software, and operations to deliver measurable AI impact.