Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Payments

ABOUT THE ROLE Airbnb’s Payments organization is the backbone of our global marketplace, ensuring that every guest’s booking and every host’s payout is processed quickly, securely, and with the highest level of trust. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer on the Payments Modeling team, you will drive the next generation of intelligent payment flows, from real‑time fraud detection to adaptive pricing and personalized payment experiences. Your work will directly influence the millions of transactions that power Airbnb’s community, helping to keep the platform safe, efficient, and delightful for users worldwide. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design, prototype, and deploy end‑to‑end machine‑learning pipelines that analyze transaction data in real time to detect fraud, optimize payment routing, and personalize checkout experiences. - Collaborate closely with data engineers, product managers, and security specialists to translate business requirements into scalable ML solutions that meet strict latency and accuracy targets. - Lead the evaluation and integration of large language models and other generative AI techniques to automate support workflows and enhance user interactions within the payment flow. - Mentor junior engineers, conduct code reviews, and champion best practices in model governance, reproducibility, and ethical AI. - Own the full lifecycle of model monitoring, including performance drift detection, alerting, and continuous improvement based on real‑world feedback. WHAT YOU'LL NEED - 5+ years of professional experience building production‑grade machine‑learning systems, preferably in a high‑volume payments or fintech environment. - Strong proficiency in Python, PyTorch or TensorFlow, and experience with distributed training frameworks such as Horovod or DeepSpeed. - Deep understanding of fraud detection techniques, anomaly detection, and probabilistic modeling, with a track record of deploying models that reduce false positives while maintaining high detection rates. - Familiarity with large language models, prompt engineering, and their application to customer support or transaction processing. - Excellent communication skills, able to translate complex technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders and to influence cross‑functional teams. - Proven ability to work autonomously in a fast‑paced, remote environment while maintaining rigorous documentation and reproducibility standards. WHY REMOTE Airbnb’s remote culture is built on asynchronous collaboration, trust, and flexibility. Teams across the globe operate on a shared set of core values, allowing you to work when you are most productive while still staying connected through regular virtual stand‑ups, design reviews, and knowledge‑sharing sessions. The distributed model empowers you to balance work and life, pursue professional growth, and contribute to Airbnb’s mission from anywhere in the world. BENEFITS - Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents. - Generous paid time off, parental leave, and a flexible vacation policy. - Annual remote work stipend to support your home office setup. - Dedicated learning budget and access to industry conferences, courses, and internal knowledge‑sharing programs. - Equity participation, competitive salary, and performance‑based bonuses.