Senior Programs & Business Operations Lead at Airbnb in United States

Job description

• The Experiences team is responsible for scaling a curated, high-quality supply of unique activities hosted by local creators, iconic businesses, and operators worldwide and we're at an inflection point.
• How we surface Experiences is one of the biggest untapped demand levers we have. Recent signals (manual ranking outperforming the algorithm in places) point to a real gap: no one owns the demand-side merchandising strategy that sits on top of ranking. This role fills that gap. It is a biz ops and product ops hybrid focused on discoverability and merchandising: what we surface, to whom, and when.
• As a Senior Business Operations Lead, you will own the merchandising strategy, partner deeply with Supply, Product, and Engineering on ranking and personalization, and build the reporting layer that tells us whether discoverability is improving. This role sits closer to Product and Eng than the other demand roles, so comfort driving a senior product partnership and influencing a technical roadmap is essential.
• You will report to the Director of Business Growth for Experiences and collaborate closely with others, including our SEM/SEO/Display lead, to ensure channel strategies are coherent and non-duplicative.

Responsibilities

• Own merchandising & discoverability strategy
• Define the demand-side merchandising strategy on top of ranking: placement, sequencing, and the logic for what surfaces to which guests
• Push for dynamic, context-aware ranking (day of week, availability, trends, market, traveler type) and represent the demand point of view in that roadmap
• Prioritize experiments that improve discoverability and translate results into decisions
• Partner with Product, Eng & Supply
• Serve as the senior demand counterpart to Product and Engineering on matching, personalization, and ranking
• Clarify where merchandising is a demand mandate vs. a supply/product mandate, and drive alignment on ownership
• Keep the product-to-ops conversation active, including through periods of reduced Product coverage
• Build the reporting layer
• Stand up dashboards and measurement for discoverability, spotlights, and placement performance
• Close analytics and tooling gaps that limit how fast the team can learn and iterate
• Bring a data-driven point of view on where merchandising investment pays off

Requirements

• 12+ years in business operations, product operations, or strategy, ideally at a marketplace or consumer platform
• Strong analytical foundation: comfortable in the data, building measurement, and turning insight into operating decisions
• Proven experience partnering with Product and Engineering on ranking, search, personalization, or merchandising
• Able to navigate ambiguity and drive alignment across senior stakeholders with competing mandates
• Clear communicator who can influence a technical roadmap at a senior level without owning it directly
• Background in search/ranking, recommendations, or merchandising systems
• SQL or equivalent hands-on analytics capability

Skills

Required

• Clear communicator
• Able to navigate ambiguity
• SQL

Benefits

• 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.
• Pay Range
• $204,000—$249,000 USD