Compensation Partner at Airbnb in San Francisco

The Community You Will Join:

The Total Rewards Compensation team serves as a strategic advisor to business leaders, managers, and employees across Airbnb. We are compensation experts with a deep understanding of our stakeholders, problem solvers who use data and insights to drive value, and partners who build the tools, models, and frameworks that support sound compensation decision-making across the company. This role sits within the Compensation function and will work closely with the Technology organization and cross-functional partners including Recruiting, People Analytics, Finance, Legal and Talent.

The Difference You Will Make:

We are looking for a Technical Compensation Partner to serve as the dedicated compensation partner for the Technology organization, covering Engineering, Infrastructure, Machine Learning, and Data Science. This role will support VP and Director level tech leaders and their Talent Partners as the primary day-to-day compensation resource. The ideal candidate will be a strong business partner and a builder of compensation programs, tools, and data infrastructure, and must be comfortable operating with autonomy in a fast-moving environment.

A Typical Day:

• Serve as the dedicated compensation partner for the Technology organization, supporting VP and Director level leaders, Talent Directors, and People Partners across Engineering, Infrastructure, ML/AI, and Data Science.
• Act as the primary point of contact for Talent Directors and senior tech leaders on new hire offers, internal equity reviews, leveling decisions, and out-of-cycle requests.
• Own compensation cycle execution for tech client groups end-to-end, including market benchmarking, budget modeling, manager enablement, and leadership rollups.
• Lead competitive intelligence for technical roles by conducting market research on compensation trends, pay practices, and talent movement across AI, ML, and frontier technology companies.
• Develop benchmarking methodologies that supplement traditional survey data with recruiting signals, offer data, and other real-time market sources.
• Partner with Recruiting and People Analytics to provide market insights and competitive positioning recommendations for technical hires at all levels.
• Design and build compensation models, tools, and frameworks tailored to technical roles, incorporating factors such as AI expertise, research impact, and specialized skills.
• Develop AI-powered compensation tools including benchmarking applications, offer-generation tools, and workflow automation to improve team efficiency and decision quality.
• Build self-service dashboards that give recruiting teams, hiring managers, and People Partners direct access to market data and offer guidance.
• Prepare analyses and presentations for senior tech leadership and cross-functional partners, translating market data into clear strategic recommendations.
• Develop enablement materials that help tech managers understand Airbnb's compensation philosophy and make informed decisions.

Your Expertise:

• 8+ years of compensation or analytics experience with depth in technical roles and familiarity with the AI/ML talent market.
• Advanced analytical skills including proficiency in Excel and working knowledge of SQL, Python, or R for data analysis and tool development.
• Proven track record as a compensation business partner for a technical or engineering organization, including ownership of cyclical programs end-to-end.
• Strong knowledge of third-party survey methodologies (Radford/Mercer/Comptryx) and ability to build and validate pay structures across geographies and functions.
• The ideal candidate will have experience leading cross-functional compensation initiatives and must be comfortable navigating ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Strong communication skills with a proven ability to present complex compensation data clearly to senior business and technical audiences.
• Preferred Experience/Skills:
  • Experience building AI-powered tools or data products, including automated reporting systems or compensation technology prototypes.
  • Background in both compensation business partner and programs or analytics roles.
  • Experience at a high-growth technology company with exposure to AI, ML, or research-focused organizations.
  • Advanced degree in a quantitative field such as Economics, Statistics, or Data Science.
  • Experience with Workday Tableau, BI and data analytics and compensation platforms.

Your Location:

Due to the nature of this position, the successful applicant will need to be based in San Francisco, California to be able to conduct their work. 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.