Good compensation, lackluster management - Senior Software Engineer Airbnb Employee Review

3.0
28 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Pay and most benefits are well above industry average - Business & brand is strong - Most of the tech stack is pretty sophisticated, so it’s good for keeping skills up

Cons

- The culture is avoidant of honest feedback, people would prefer you keep criticisms to yourself - It’s unclear what responsibilities middle management has, or how to hold anyone accountable - Career advancement is limited due to how promotions are evaluated; pressure for “large scope” criteria motivates engineers to invent flashy but costly/unnecessary initiatives. Priorities are misaligned with the business. Managers pressure ICs to find a way to promotion without any real path actually existing. - Most middle managers are promoted from IC roles and don’t know what good management looks like, and are given no training. - Least amount of task visibility or project organization of any company I’ve worked for; Leads to lack of shared sense of accomplishment and siloing of work. - Company recently switched to a top-down decision-making strategy (I.e., waterfall), so engineers are even more siloed and have fewer opportunities for visibility & collaboration. Design often doesn’t factor in cost to build.

Explore other reviews about Airbnb

5.0
4 June 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.

1.0
10 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Friendly and inviting environment - Inclusive - Autonomy

Cons

- Poor training (gaps exist in workflows, workflows are tailored to senior agents only and not new joiners) - Metrics (discussed briefly, but never something emphasized until it's too late) - Low pay (you're criminally being underpaid for this role and it's responsibilities despite the company being massive) - False expectations (be okay with metrics that were closed to meeting, but suddenly, cutting you loose without any advance notice)

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