Role in brief
Airbnb is looking for an Engineering Manager for their Workflow Orchestration team. This role focuses on leading a team to design and operate distributed orchestration infrastructure for data workflows. Candidates with strong leadership experience in distributed systems and workflow orchestration should consider applying.
✓ Direct apply: you message the hiring person by email. No ATS.
About the role
In this position, you will lead a high-performing team responsible for the design and operation of distributed orchestration infrastructure that handles tens of thousands of data workflows daily. You will define the technical vision and roadmap for orchestration, ensuring alignment with Airbnb's broader data strategy.
Success in this role requires collaboration with cross-functional teams, including Data Platform, Compute, Storage, Analytics, and ML Infrastructure. You will also coach and mentor engineers, fostering technical judgment and ownership within the team. Your leadership will drive the adoption of best practices across various engineering domains.
The salary range for this role is between $212,000 and $265,000, depending on various factors.
Skills that matter here
- distributed systems: This role requires a strong technical background in distributed systems to manage and scale teams effectively.
- workflow orchestration: Experience with workflow orchestration engines is essential for leading the design of orchestration infrastructure.
- data infrastructure: A solid understanding of data infrastructure tooling is necessary to align with the company's data strategy.
- Apache Airflow: Familiarity with Apache Airflow and similar platforms is crucial for addressing challenges in scaling and observability.
- Kubeflow: Knowledge of Kubeflow and other orchestration frameworks will support the integration of orchestration capabilities into data ecosystems.
Who this role suits
- A person who thrives in this role has a strong background in engineering leadership.
- They are skilled in managing distributed systems teams and have a collaborative mindset.
- Excellent communication skills are essential for synthesizing complex concepts for diverse audiences.
- They should be proactive in driving best practices and mentoring team members.
From the employer
As an Engineering Manager on the Workflow Orchestration team, you will:
- Lead and grow a high-performing team responsible for designing, implementing, and operating distributed orchestration infrastructure that runs tens of thousands of data workflows daily.
- Define the long-term technical vision and roadmap for orchestration, aligning to Airbnb's broader Data Infrastructure and Analytics platform strategy.
- Drive adoption of best-in-class workflow paradigms and tooling across data engineering, reliability, and ML teams, ensuring consistency, performance, and operational excellence.
- Partner closely with cross-functional teams in Data Platform, Compute, Storage, Analytics, and ML Infrastructure to integrate orchestration capabilities into wider data ecosystems.
- Coach and mentor engineers, enabling strong technical judgment, clarity of thinking, and ownership across the team.
What You'll Need:
- 5+ years of engineering leadership experience managing and scaling distributed systems teams.
- Strong technical background in distributed systems, workflow orchestration engines, scheduling systems, or data infrastructure tooling.
- Previous working experience in large scale orchestration frameworks such as Apache Airflow, Dagster, Flyte, Prefect, Kubeflow, Maestro or similar platforms, and understanding of challenges around scaling, observability, and multi-tenancy.
- Strong familiarity with software engineering principles, including object-oriented and functional programming paradigms, design patterns, and code quality practices.
- A track record of partnering across engineering, product, and cross-functional teams to deliver reliable, high-quality infrastructure at scale.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially in synthesizing complex technical concepts for broad audiences.
How We'll Take Care of You:
- 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 $212,000 — $265,000 USD.
Questions about this role
Is this position remote?
Yes, this role is remote.
What level of experience is required?
The position requires 5+ years of engineering leadership experience.
How can I apply for this job?
You can apply through the Airbnb careers website at https://careers.airbnb.com.
✓ Direct apply: you message the hiring person by email. No ATS.