Y Combinator Product Manager, Identity
Summary
Define and execute the identity verification strategy for Airbnb, building trust between guests and hosts through scalable identity systems and cross-functional collaboration.
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.
The Community You Will Join:
Our Product Managers imagine the ideal experience for our community and work backwards, creating innovative products that delight our guests and hosts. They deeply understand the needs of our users and our business, and translate these into a strategy that combines strong product thinking and deep research. They partner with talented cross-functional team members across engineering, design, operations, data science, and more, leading teams to execute a shared vision. They are incredibly detail-oriented and hands on.
The Difference You Will Make:
As Product Manager for Identity, you will help set the strategy and drive execution of mission-critical identity verification systems and experiences. Airbnb is special in that it’s a platform that brings people together. You’ll shape how we build trust between guests and hosts on Airbnb and beyond, and build an identity platform that will enable all the different ways we want our guests and hosts to interact on Airbnb now and into the future—and in the process, help create the most trusted community of travelers in the world.
A Typical Day:
- Define and drive the roadmap for Identity on Airbnb — including mission-critical identity verification technologies and flows, new identity-related features, and extending the value of a verified identity beyond the immediate Airbnb platform.
- Make prioritization calls that balance multiple competing objectives: trust, guest experience, booking success, and overall marketplace health.
- Partner with design, engineering, and policy teams to collaboratively drive execution of the roadmap you define.
- Align cross-functional partners including Account, Trust & Safety, Guest Experience, Host Experience, and Customer Support — on shared goals and roadmap sequencing.
- Identify and evaluate external partnership opportunities that could extend the reach and value of our identity ecosystem.
- Design and oversee A/B experiments with rigorous metric design and long-term effect measurement and booking impact.
- Translate complex technical tradeoffs into clear decisions for engineering teams and concise narratives for leadership
- Foster an environment where product managers, engineers, designers and other cross-functional team members align on shared goals and collaborate on building the future
- Stay close to guests and hosts: synthesize user research, marketplace data, and competitive signals to sharpen your intuition and refine strategy
Your Expertise:
- 8+ years of product management experience, with at least 3 years on identity and trust-related topics.
- Track record of owning strategy and roadmap for technically complex systems — not just managing features, but setting direction and making hard prioritization calls
- Experience with identity standards being developed around the world and the ability to chart an ambitious long-term path through this evolving space.
- Ability to earn the respect of engineers and subject matter experts— engaging at a level that builds credibility.
- Expertise in collecting and using data to perform business analysis and support product strategy decisions.
- Clear, structured communicator who can distill complex technical tradeoffs for executives and translate strategy into actionable guidance for design and engineering
- Comfort working in ambiguity and a bias toward innovative solutions rather than incremental onesExperience evaluating external partnerships and an understanding of how partnerships can accelerate strategy.
- Demonstrated expertise pitching complex ideas to executive teams
- Demonstrated experience in both inbound (feature definition) and outbound (communication and marketing) aspects of product management.
Your Location:
Due to the nature of this position, it is strongly preferred that the successful applicant will need to be based on the West Coast of the US to be able to collaborate efficiently with other members of the team in the pacific time zone. Currently, employees can not be located in: Alaska, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Delaware And Rhode Island. This list is continuously being updated, please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. 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.
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.