User Experience and Process Improvement Lead

The Community You Will Join:

The Community Excellence Team within Trust Operations exists to serve and support the broader needs of our Airbnb community. We strive for the perfect delivery of new defenses and defense enhancements to our ops teams, which preserve and build more trust within our communities. We ensure solutions are innovative, scalable, and deliver a world-class experience for our users.

The Difference You Will Make:

As the User Experience and Process Improvement Lead, you are responsible for driving large-scale, cross-functional, and cross-platform projects and programs that help achieve the strategic goals of the organization. Simply put, the User Experience Pod delivers process improvements in the user experience space. Specific areas of focus may include reducing good user impact, improving user sentiment, and streamlining the trusted user journey. As a pod leader, you will co-create and execute the overall strategy and vision for your pod. While this role is an individual contributor (IC), you will also be responsible for the day-to-day oversight and leadership of pod members. Expect to spend ~40% of your time leading your own initiatives, and the other ~60% ensuring your strategy and roadmap are carried out through your pod’s members.

A Typical Day

Pod Lead (60% of time)

• Co-create the strategic vision and roadmap for the UX pod with the Community Excellence team leader. You will develop and own pod KPIs and their respective performance targets.
• Oversee the day-to-day activities within your pod, ensuring optimal resource management, timely delivery, and execution. When pod members need support and thought partnership, you’ll be their first point of contact.
• Drive a high-performance culture within your pod through active coaching and mentoring. You’ll be responsible for fostering pod member’s growth and development.
• Continually and proactively identify areas of improvement in the UX space, develop business cases, and obtain leadership’s support to ensure we’re delivering a world class experience for our users. 
• Provide direct updates to leadership on plans, progress, and any problems surrounding your pod, through a regular cadence of updates, portfolio reviews, and monthly business reviews.  
• Continuously evaluate and improve the management processes and methodologies to enhance organizational efficiency and contribute to the maturation of the UX Pod and Community Excellence Team.

Project/Program Lead (40% of time)

• Drive end-to-end process improvement initiatives through robust planning, and actively lead the discovery, execution, launch, and post-launch control phases of your projects. 
• Construct and lead high performing, cross-functional project teams within operations and shared services, managing multiple projects and programs simultaneously.
• Develop hypotheses and complete data-driven, deep dive analysis to uncover the root cause of problems. 
• Identify,  develop, and implement optimal solutions across our Trust Operations teams and product landscape. Ensure solutions have been rigorously tested before rolling out at scale.
• Partner with training teams to develop meaningful and exhaustive agent training that maximizes learning and knowledge retention.
• Ensure lasting change through the ownership of key metrics and delivery of post-launch improvements. Once quality and performance have achieved target, develop comprehensive control plans for your customers to ensure their success.
• Collaborate closely with senior leadership to establish and maintain strategic alignment, communicate project status, and manage expectations.

Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations, Engineering, or a related field.
• 8 years of experience in project/ program management, continuous improvement, or strategy management
• Proven experience in designing, improving and implementing new processes into operational organizations.
• Excellent strategic and analytical capabilities, problem-solving skills, and business acumen; strong judgment in navigating and resolving sensitive situations
• Certification in continuous improvement (Lean/Six Sigma) or UX Design;  track record of creating and contributing to a culture of continuous improvement. Project management certification is a plus.
• Ability to influence without authority, and a strong track record of coaching and mentoring peers on projects. 
• Ability to drive multiple concurrent initiatives in a fast paced environment with evolving requirements and timelines
• Proven organizational and leadership skills to motivate and influence others positively to drive for results 
• Demonstrated ability to interact and work effectively across functional teams and at multiple levels within the organization, including technical product, engineering, and policy teams
• Ability to build strong relationships and partner with key stakeholders to build trust and influence at multiple levels within the organization
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a focus on communicating with senior leadership.
• Incredibly organized and resourceful; able to juggle and multi-task, with an attention to detail and follow through even in ambiguous situations

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.