Software Engineer, Payments

ABOUT THE ROLE Airbnb’s Payments team is the backbone of our global marketplace, enabling seamless money flow between hosts and guests in 191 countries and 75 currencies. As a Senior Software Engineer on the Payments Risk Engineering squad, you will help build a world‑class, in‑house payments platform that protects millions of transactions from fraud and malicious activity while delivering an effortless experience to our community. Your work will directly support Airbnb’s mission to belong anywhere by ensuring every payment is safe, compliant, and reliable. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design and implement highly available, real‑time risk services that detect, mitigate, and resolve fraud across the entire payments ecosystem. - Collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, and operations to translate evolving risk scenarios into scalable engineering solutions and A/B experiments. - Build and maintain robust integrations with third‑party payment networks, processors, and regulatory systems to power our in‑house risk engine. - Develop observability pipelines, continuous monitoring, and alerting frameworks that elevate system reliability and enable rapid incident response. - Mentor junior engineers, review code, and champion engineering best practices such as automated testing, code quality, and documentation. - Partner with cross‑functional teams across Airbnb to influence architecture, tooling, and process improvements that benefit the broader engineering organization. WHAT YOU'LL NEED - 3+ years of backend engineering experience in payments or fintech, with a strong foundation in Java, Kotlin, or Python. - Proven ability to design modular, API‑driven architectures that handle high‑volume data pipelines and complex business rules. - Experience with fraud detection, risk analytics, or spam mitigation is highly desirable, though not mandatory. - Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, data‑driven environment, delivering end‑to‑end features from ideation through experimentation and iteration. - Strong communication skills, able to articulate technical trade‑offs and data‑driven decisions to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders. - Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience. WHY REMOTE Airbnb embraces a distributed, asynchronous culture that empowers teams to work across time zones while maintaining high collaboration standards. Remote employees enjoy flexible schedules that support work‑life balance, and are encouraged to set up a home office that fosters productivity and well‑being. The company’s remote‑first mindset is reinforced by regular virtual town halls, cross‑team syncs, and an emphasis on clear, documented processes that keep everyone aligned regardless of location. BENEFITS - Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents - Generous paid time off, parental leave, and a flexible vacation policy - Annual remote work stipend to support home office setup and connectivity - Dedicated learning budget for courses, conferences, and certifications - Equity participation and competitive salary package - Access to Airbnb’s global community events, wellness programs, and volunteer opportunities.