Senior Staff Data Scientist

Airbnb; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Airbnb is seeking a senior data scientist in the United States to advance causal inference on marketplace dynamics. You will lead analyses of guest behavior, design experiments, and build prototypes with Python/R and LLMs to reveal guest preferences.

You will collaborate with product, engineering and design to translate insights into scalable frameworks, mentor teams, and communicate findings to leadership.

Qualifications

• PhD preferred or 12+ years with a Masters and industry experience.
• Expert in causal inference within marketplace contexts.
• Proven ability to develop POC prototypes and work with LLMs.
• Strong programming skills in Python or R and SQL familiarity.
• Excellent collaboration across product, engineering and design.
• Experience assessing guest preferences and personalized systems.

Responsibilities

• Develop deep understanding of guest navigation and re-engagement via data analysis.
• Drive frameworks to detect revealed preferences and quantify guest behavior.
• Write code for prototypes to detect guest preferences using data systems and AI models.
• Assess efficacy of derived preferences via experiments and validation.
• Present findings and recommendations to leadership to inform strategy.

Skills

Causal inference

Python or R

SQL

UX discovery experience

LLMs

Prototyping

Communication

Education

Advanced degree in CS/Statistics/Econometrics

Job description

About the Company

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.

Responsibilities

• Develop deep understanding of guest navigation and re-engagement via analysis of granular user action and sequence datasets
• Drive technical frameworks and science leadership to explore innovative paradigms for detecting revealed preferences
• Write code for prototypes to detect and quantify guest preferences via iterative development of data frameworks and AI models
• Assess efficacy of derived guest preferences via measurement, hypothesis validation, and experimental design
• Present findings and recommendations to leadership to inform strategy and cross-functional deliverables

Requirements

• Causal inference expertise with marketplace experience
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, or a related field
• 9+ years of industry experience with a PhD, or 12+ years with a Masters
• Expert proficiency in Python or R and familiarity with SQL
• Experience in search, UX discovery, or personalized evidence systems
• Proven ability to develop proof-of-concept prototypes and work with LLMs
• Strong communication skills for collaborating with product, engineering, and design partners