Interview
Questions

Airbnb's core value is "Be a Host" - treating everyone like a guest. Tell me about a time you went out of your way to create a welcoming experience for a teammate, user, or stakeholder.

Airbnb's mission is to create a world where anyone can "belong anywhere." What does this mission mean to you, and how would you champion it in your engineering work?

"Embrace the Adventure" means taking on new challenges with optimism. Tell me about a time you stepped outside your comfort zone technically. What did you learn from the experience?

Airbnb believes "Every Frame Matters" - obsessing over details. Describe a time you noticed and fixed a small detail that others might have overlooked. Why did it matter?

Airbnb's founders sold cereal boxes to fund the company. Tell me about a time you solved a problem creatively with limited resources. How did constraints shape your solution?

Airbnb is built on trust and community. Describe a time you helped build trust or community within your engineering team or with cross-functional partners.

Airbnb operates globally with hosts and guests from different cultures. Tell me about a time you worked effectively with people from different backgrounds or perspectives than your own.

Airbnb engineers are expected to deeply understand hosts and guests. How do you build empathy for users when making technical decisions? Give a specific example.

Trust and safety are critical to Airbnb's platform. Tell me about a time you built features or systems with trust or safety in mind. How did you balance security with user experience?

Airbnb has a strong design culture. Describe your experience collaborating with designers. How do you balance design aspirations with technical constraints?

Airbnb connects hosts and guests in a two-sided marketplace. What technical challenges interest you about marketplace platforms? Have you worked on similar systems?

Tell me about a project or feature that didn't succeed as planned. What happened, what did you learn, and how did you apply those lessons afterward?

Describe a time you identified an opportunity or problem that wasn't part of your assigned work and took initiative to address it. What drove you to act?

Tell me about a time you had a conflict or disagreement with a colleague. How did you handle it while maintaining a positive relationship?

If you could improve one thing about the Airbnb product or experience, what would it be? Why, and how would you approach it technically?