Senior Software Engineer, Streaming Infrastructure

Airbnb, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 196,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Airbnb is seeking a senior backend engineer for the Data Movement & Transformation (DMT) platform to design, build, and operate large-scale data ingestion and CDC systems across Airbnb's databases. You will own critical components and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver on multi-month projects.

You will work with Kafka-based streaming, Debezium change data capture, and MySQL/Aurora data sources while shaping the architecture of Airbnb's unified data movement platform.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and operating large-scale backend distributed systems, such as data ingestion, streaming, CDC, storage, or data platforms.
• Hands-on experience with streaming systems like Kafka, and with how databases capture and publish changes (binlogs, Debezium, or similar).
• Ability to own and go deep in a complex codebase.
• Experience maintaining, analyzing, and debugging production systems at scale.
• Clean, readable, testable, and maintainable code.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills in a remote-working environment.
• Strong ownership and a track record of delivering on time.

Responsibilities

• Be hands-on (code, design, test) and work with partner teams, internal customers, and leadership to deliver multi-month projects on time.
• Design, build, and operate large-scale CDC and batch export systems that run across every online database at Airbnb.
• Help shape the architecture of DMT's unified data movement platform while it's being built.
• Improve the reliability, performance, and efficiency of systems that critical business functions depend on.
• Make it easier for engineers at Airbnb to get their data into offline systems without needing to be database or pipeline experts.
• Take part in on-call and raise the operational bar for a platform that other teams build on.

Skills

Backend systems

Streaming with Kafka

Code ownership

Production debugging

Remote collaboration

Ownership

Tools

Kafka

Debezium

MySQL/Aurora

Job description

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.

Airbnb's Data Infrastructure organization builds the systems that store, move, and transform data across the company. Our Data Movement & Transformation (DMT) group is building a single, unified platform for moving data between Airbnb's storage systems, replacing dozens of one‑off tools with one reliable, well-supported way to get data where it needs to go. This platform is the foundation for Data as a Service, a top-level infrastructure initiative at Airbnb.

The Community You Will Join:

The Ingestion team is the front door to DMT. We build and operate two managed, multi-tenant platforms that move data out of Airbnb's online databases for offline processing:

• SpinalTap: near real-time change data capture (CDC) streaming to Kafka for every Aurora and UDS table at Airbnb.
• DBExports: periodic full-table snapshots and mutation exports.

Teams across Airbnb depend on these systems, including payments, fraud detection, financial reporting, search, messaging, notifications, and machine learning. Reliability, performance, and scale are the product. You'll work closely with DMT's other teams, which own real-time streaming infrastructure, pipeline orchestration, and schema management, and you'll have the chance to work across the broader platform

The Difference You Will Make:

• Be hands‑on (code, design, test) and work with partner teams, internal customers, and leadership to deliver multi‑month projects on time.
• Design, build, and operate large‑scale CDC and batch export systems that run across every online database at Airbnb.
• Help shape the architecture of DMT's unified data movement platform while it's being built.
• Improve the reliability, performance, and efficiency of systems that critical business functions depend on.
• Make it easier for engineers at Airbnb to get their data into offline systems without needing to be database or pipeline experts.
• Take part in on‑call and raise the operational bar for a platform that other teams build on.

Your Expertise:

• 5+ years of experience building and operating large‑scale backend distributed systems, such as data ingestion, streaming, CDC, storage, or data platforms.
• Hands‑on experience with streaming systems like Kafka, and with how databases capture and publish changes (binlogs, Debezium, or similar).
• Ability to own and go deep in a complex codebase.
• Experience maintaining, analyzing, and debugging production systems at scale.
• Clean, readable, testable, and maintainable code.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills in a remote‑working environment.
• Strong ownership and a track record of delivering on time.

Nice to Have:

• Experience building managed or multi‑tenant platforms used by other engineering teams.
• Familiarity with MySQL/Aurora, schema evolution, or large‑scale batch data processing.

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: [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.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Airbnb values diversity & belonging and is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All individuals seeking employment at Airbnb are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristic.

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

$196,000 — $230,000 USD