Airbnb is rated as one of the best places to work because it has a great company culture, great benefits, and an exciting mission.
In recent years, Airbnb has transformed from a fledgling startup to one of the worlds biggest tech companies.
The company not only made it through the COVID-19 Pandemic, when many travel and hospitality businesses shut down, but it also became a great example of how to lead in a crisis.
Airbnb’s commitment to quality experiences for hosts, customers, and employees is what has helped the company be so successful in the face of a lot of uncertainty.
Should you join the Airbnb team, you will be expected to follow these traits and core values. The four.
The core engineering culture at Airbnb is all about making your mark and owning your impact.
To do this, the company gives engineers a lot of help, tools, and structure to help them figure out how to solve problems, make as many solutions automatic as possible, and get the most value out of their work.
There is a lot you need to know about how to get hired by Airbnb. Keep reading to learn more.
Getting hired at Airbnb is no easy feat. As one of the most desirable tech companies to work for, Airbnb receives thousands of applicants for every open position. To stand out you need to meticulously prepare for the Airbnb interview process.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the most common Airbnb interview questions and how to ace them. With insider tips and sample answers for technical, product, analytics, and general questions, you’ll gain the confidence to tackle any query that comes your way.
Overview of the Airbnb Interview Process
While the specifics may vary by role, the general Airbnb interview process consists of:
- Phone Screen – 30 minute call with a recruiter to assess basic qualifications
- Technical Interviews – 1-3 rounds focused on coding, system design, data structures and algorithms
- Take Home Assignment – Often a technical challenge or case study to complete at home
- On-site Interviews – 4-6 rounds conducted at Airbnb offices covering technical skills, product sense, analytics, leadership and culture fit
- Executive Interviews – Final chat with senior leaders
The process is quite rigorous, typically lasting 4-8 weeks from initial screen to offer stage. Thorough preparation is key to sailing through the various rounds and showcasing your skills
Most Common Airbnb Interview Questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked Airbnb interview questions across various roles
Technical Questions
As a tech-focused company, you can expect penetrating technical questions gauging your coding abilities and computer science fundamentals:
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Explain how you would design a system like Airbnb.
Focus on breaking down key components and relationships between them. Discuss technologies you would use and justify your choices based on scalability, reliability, and efficiency.
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Implement a function to check if a binary tree is balanced.
Show your understanding of basic data structures and algorithms. Outline an efficient solution, discuss time and space complexity, and write clear code.
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How would you optimize performance for an Airbnb web page?
Demonstrate your expertise in web performance troubleshooting and optimization. Cover techniques like optimizing images, caching, compression, CDNs, lazy loading, and more.
Product Questions
These questions evaluate your customer focus, product sense, and ability to enhance user experiences:
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How would you improve the Airbnb search feature?
Highlight understanding of user pain points and propose enhancements aligned with business goals. Suggest personalized recommendations, filters, and smarter ranking to create seamless booking journeys.
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What metrics would you track for an Airbnb listing page?
Identify key metrics like views, bookings, conversion rates, average price, and review ratings. Discuss how you would use these to inform product decisions and growth strategies.
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How would you minimize cancellations from hosts?
Demonstrate empathy for both hosts and guests. Suggest improvements in pricing controls, calendars, double bookings alerts, and updated policies. Focus on data-driven solutions.
Analytical Questions
Expect questions testing your quantitative skills, analytical thinking, and data-driven decision making:
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How would you use data to understand user retention at Airbnb?
Discuss techniques like cohort analysis to analyze trends over time. Highlight tools like SQL, Python, and Tableau to process data and derive insights on user loyalty.
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What key metrics would you track for an Airbnb growth strategy?
Identify leading and lagging indicators like bookings, active listings, page views, referrals, and booking value. showcase how you would analyze and correlate metrics to understand growth.
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How would you A/B test a new feature on the Airbnb app?
Demonstrate proficiency in experimentation. Cover hypothesis setting, user sampling, statistical significance, and data analysis to determine impact and iterate.
Leadership Questions
As a senior candidate or manager, expect questions testing your leadership skills:
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Tell me about a time you led a technical project cross-functional team.
Reflect on a time you effectively coordinated engineers, designers, product managers to deliver a project. Discuss challenges and how your skills in planning, communication and stakeholder management contributed to success.
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How would you go about influencing a team you don’t directly manage?
Share tactics like relationship building, leading by example, and motivating others. Focus on earning respect and bringing people together towards collective goals. Discuss past examples if possible.
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What is your approach to developing your team members?
Show people-focused leadership style. Discuss coaching, mentoring, sponsoring training, and leading by example. Share examples of helping team members develop new skills.
Culture-Fit Questions
These questions evaluate your alignment with Airbnb’s values like inclusion, belonging, and sustainability:
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How would you create an inclusive environment for a diverse team?
Share ideas for open dialogues, empathy building, mentoring, and policies promoting equity and belonging. Use examples of building inclusive cultures in past roles.
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How can Airbnb promote sustainable tourism for local communities?
Demonstrate creativity and empathy. Suggest partnerships, community conversations, education programs, and eco-friendly options. Align ideas with brand values.
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Tell me about a time you faced a conflict with a teammate. How did you resolve it?
Discuss a specific example focused on empathy, open communication, and finding common ground. Do not blame or criticize. Show how it made you a better teammate.
Tips to Ace the Airbnb Interview Process
Here are some top tips for nailing your Airbnb interview at every stage:
For coding interviews:
- Thoroughly brush up data structures, algorithms, and computer science concepts
- Practice mock interviews focusing on analytical and problem-solving skills
- Master languages like Python, SQL, React, JavaScript required for the role
- Write clean, well-commented, optimized code with good time/space complexity
For product interviews:
- Research the Airbnb product suite in depth – app, website, backend, etc
- Think like a PM – focus on user needs, industry trends, market analysis
- Demonstrate passion for product design and innovation
- Back suggestions with data, user research, prototypes wherever possible
For analytical interviews:
- Revise probability, statistics, hypothesis testing required for data analysis
- Practice tools like SQL, Excel, Tableau, Looker used by the analytics team
- Refresh machine learning fundamentals – regression, classification, clustering etc
- Structure analytical thinking – ask clarifying questions, think through assumptions
For leadership interviews:
- Pick relevant examples that showcase people management, cross-collaboration and stakeholder management
- Demonstrate excellent communication skills, emotional intelligence and conflict resolution abilities
- Convey a collaborative and innovative leadership style aligned with company values
For overall interview success:
- Thoroughly research the company, role and interviewers beforehand
- Review your resume – refresh details and be ready to elaborate on key points
- Prepare 2-3 strong stories highlighting achievements relevant to the role
- Practice aloud to build fluency and confidence
- Show authentic enthusiasm and eagerness to join the company
With rigorous prep, you can put your best foot forward and have a exceptional interview experience at this top global brand. The key is to commit the time to understand the core competencies required for the role and sharpen your skills accordingly. Get ready to bring your A-game!
The Interview Process Is Typically Fast and Easy
Many people who have applied for jobs at Airbnb in the past say that they were invited to an on-site interview within a few hours of doing well on their phone interviews or recruiter screens.
Of course, this is a really delightful change of pace, in which several interview processes at modern tech companies can take weeks or even months to fully complete.
System Design Interviews and Questions (1-2 rounds)❓Sample system design interview questions at Airbnb: –
Data structures & algorithms won’t be the only technical questions you’ll need to field during your Airbnb interviews.
Candidates also need to be prepared to answer system design questions, especially for roles such as engineering manager.
This interview round is one of the most consequential of the entire Airbnb interview process. It could ultimately be the make or break for your hiring decision.
Review and study system design principles and fundamentals and practice system design interviews.
You shouldn’t have to know how to code to answer system design interview questions. Instead, you should be ready to talk about architectural and design tradeoffs.
Airbnb Interview Questions with Answer Examples
FAQ
Is an Airbnb interview difficult?
How to crack an Airbnb interview?
How hard is it to get hired at Airbnb?
What is the interview process like at Airbnb?
At Airbnb, before, it was all based on the interview panel. The [interview] panel would come to a consensus with guidance from the recruiter. And the recruiter would kind of make the group lean one way or another, depending on how they saw the general group feeling. But it was very consensus driven.
How do you prepare for an interview at Airbnb?
The interviewer may ask you about your availability and if you are able to travel for an in-person interview. Prepare some questions for the interviewer as well, so that you are ready when given the chance. Ask about Airbnb as a company, the job position, and what the hiring process is like. 2. Coding Challenge (online)
What is the Airbnb hiring process?
The Airbnb hiring process typically involves multiple interview rounds, starting with an initial call with a recruiter to discuss the candidate’s skills and experience. This is followed by technical interviews with hiring managers and team members, focusing on coding, problem-solving, and design patterns.
How long are onsite interviews at Airbnb?
Like the previous round, onsite interviews are rigorous and challenging at Airbnb. If you’re applying for a technical position, expect five rounds of interviews. Each one hour is about an hour long and will focus on data structures & algorithms, system design, and behavioral/cultural questions.
