A great place for data scientists - Data Scientist Airbnb Employee Review

5.0
Aug 18, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Lots of great people (smart, skilled, empathetic & kind) both on the DS team and across the company. - Tons of opportunities to learn and grows as a DS through great lunch & learns (with great external speakers as well), internal workshops and mini-conference like data days. Amazing for data nerds. Lots of opportunities for DS mentorship from experienced folks if you seek it out. $1000 Education stipend. - Competitive compensation for DS and other positions. Company is profitable and usually generous to its employees. - All the usual great perks of a Sillicon Valley company like food, great snacks, flexible working hours, lots of benefits etc + $2000 in Airbnb credits/year - Great tooling and always improving on this (Knowledge Repo, data portal, R, Python servers, modeling platform etc) - Decent company growth and diversification - Not everything is perfect, but DS leadership listens, is open to feedback and acts on the feedback - Great company and DS brand - Strong data culture: data has a strong voice and DS are respected. People are eager to learn more about data through Data U. Focus on data self sufficiency etc. - Absolutely stunning office. Visitors are always amazed. - Inclusive, diverse and welcoming culture

Cons

- Waiting for IPO. Company took action to increase cash comp in the meantime (which was highly appreciated!), but still would be great to IPO soon - Still lots of improvement for data tooling (Superset, pipelining etc) and data quality - Often stretched thin, which can be stressful. Need to hire more DS faster - Food is sometimes great, sometimes just ok - Wish the office was closer to public transportation. Lyft credits mostly solve this, though. - Sometimes I feel like there can be too much of a SJW vibe, but I suppose this is a byproduct of having lots of highly empathetic and kind people.

Explore other reviews about Airbnb

5.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good time working there lots of cool people

Cons

overly-design-led, constant changing priorities based on whims from global leads

5.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Airbnb's mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere strongly resonates with me. I'm excited by the opportunity to build products that operate at global scale and directly impact millions of users. My background in full-stack engineering, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and AI-powered applications aligns well with Airbnb's focus on innovation, reliability, and exceptional user experiences. I am particularly attracted to Airbnb's engineering culture, emphasis on ownership, and commitment to solving complex technical challenges while delivering meaningful value to hosts, guests, and communities worldwide.

Cons

One challenge of working at Airbnb is the complexity that comes with operating a global platform at scale. Engineering teams must balance reliability, performance, compliance, and user experience across many markets and stakeholders. While this can make development and decision-making more complex, it is also one of the aspects that makes the work technically interesting and professionally rewarding.

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