[Hiring] Staff Software Engineer, Authorization @Airbnb

Role Description

The Authorization Infrastructure team builds and operates Himeji, the authorization system powering over 8 million authorization checks per second that underpins every access to data and resources at Airbnb. Our mission is to make authorization reliable, secure, and correct by default, removing the burden from every team to solve access from first principles.

As a Staff Software Engineer on Authorization Infrastructure, you will own the long-term technical strategy and architectural direction of the authorization platform, defining how it evolves to support AI-era patterns including:

• Natural language policies
• Contextual access decisions
• Multi-principal agentic workflows

Success in this role means:

• Advancing Himeji's core architecture northstar
• Securing cross-team alignment on AI agent authorization
• Establishing Airbnb-wide engineering standards for "paved path authorization"

This is a rare opportunity to operate at the intersection of foundational infrastructure and cutting-edge AI security for one of the world's most trusted platforms.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time designing and operating large-scale, high-reliability distributed systems.
• Deep expertise in authorization, access control, or identity systems, including policy models, permission frameworks, or trust infrastructure at production scale.
• Demonstrated track record of owning complex, cross-organizational technical strategy: authoring foundational RFCs, building alignment across teams with competing priorities, and making high-stakes architectural commitments.
• Experience influencing engineering standards beyond your immediate team, at the engineering council, org-wide, or across platform and product organizations.
• Strong communication and technical leadership skills, with the ability to engage effectively across engineering, security, product leadership, and external partners.
• Familiarity with AI agent architectures and the security and authorization challenges they introduce is a strong plus.

Requirements

• Lead the design, development, and evolution of Airbnb’s authorization platform, shaping roadmap, architecture, and delivery while ensuring high reliability, performance, and operational excellence at scale.
• Help drive the next generation of authorization for AI and agentic workflows, defining clear access models for agents and building systems that enforce correctness, least-privilege access, and end-to-end auditability.
• Partner with InfoSec, AI/ML Infra, Product, Privacy, and Data teams to align on authorization standards and drive adoption across the platform.
• Lead design and execution of high-impact, high-risk authorization initiatives across multiple teams and systems.
• Set and uphold engineering standards through design reviews, technical leadership, and mentorship of senior engineers.

Benefits

• Base pay range: $212,000 — $265,000 USD
• Bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits may also be available.

Company 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.