Lead Analyst, Advanced Analytics

The Community You Will Join

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced professional to join our team as the Payments Insights Analytics Lead. In this role, you will play a critical part in executing the strategic direction of Airbnb's Payments operations.

Within this role, you will enable, facilitate, and assist in streamlining integrated data-driven decision making across the Payments Platform, Product, Operations organizations. The team is committed to operational excellence and Host and Guest experience through a culture of problem-solving, guided by data and research. We inject quantitative measurements into our user journey, product, processes and implement objective indicators of success. You will collaborate in the development and implementation of policies and procedures related to receiving and processing funds. Oversee the day to day operations in partnership with finance across collection, reconciliation and settlement (e.g., timely processing of payments motioning systems for issues). Collaboration will be a key aspect of this role, as you will work closely with cross-functional teams to drive process improvements and streamline payments data globally. Your ability to effectively communicate and build relationships with stakeholders at all levels of the organization will be essential in achieving our goals.

The Difference You Will Make

• You are passionate about solving complex problems within the Payments domain using data, insights, AI/ML models, and experimentation; adding a new perspective to existing solutions and making business decisions based on careful and thoughtful analysis
• You are highly proficient in building and analyzing analytical frameworks, statistical models and experimentation methods to establish and communicate causal relationships and drive measurable impact.
• You are a storyteller and technician that translates deeply technical analyses, and experimental results into compelling narratives that drive strategic business influence
• Ability to create impact for key projects at the eTeam direct level by influencing strategy and roadmap through data-backed storytelling and actionable recommendations.

A Typical Day

• Generating payment reports and analyzing payment data for insights and performance evaluation
• Provide regular updates and reports to management and stakeholders, translating complex technical findings into business-friendly narratives and recommendations for leadership.
• Assist with analyzing payment performance and health, triaging the issue, and provide recommendation on the best course solution and optimization
• Design, execute, and analyze experiments to evaluate the impact of Payment strategies, product changes, and process improvements.
• You will collaborate on Financial Risk Management including losses, chargebacks and other cost components, and automation of payments processes
• Assist with initiatives to optimize the end-to-end payments journey by identifying pain points, friction areas, and improvement opportunities
• Collaborate with driving Host and Guest advocacy to enhance payment experience, amplifying voices and addressing concerns with impactful and measurable results
• Assist with building new payment strategies to balance financial risk and experience for different seller segments by utilizing advanced data analytics, AI/ML techniques to inform strategic decision-making
• Leverage experience across adjacent payment risk domains (trust & safety, identity, fraud, compliance) to bring cross-functional insights and identify systemic patterns or opportunities.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes in the payments landscape. Proactively identify opportunities for innovation
• Monitor payment trends, identify areas for improvement and implement strategies to optimize payments processing.
• Provide guidance to platform to maintain a robust and reliable payments infrastructure, contributing to the overall financial health of the business

Your Expertise

• 8+ years of industry experience in business analytics and a degree (Masters or PhD is a plus) in a quantitative field (e.g., Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, Operations Research).
• Have experience supporting Payments teams and/or have worked closely with payments organizations, with demonstrated exposure to multiple payment risk domains such as trust & safety, identity verification, fraud prevention, chargebacks, regulatory compliance, and financial risk management.
• Expert skills in SQL and expert in at least one programming language for data analysis (Python or R).
• Experience with non-experimental causal inference methods, experimentation and machine learning techniques, ideally in a multi-sided platform setting
• Working knowledge of schema design and high-dimensional data modeling (ETL framework like Airflow)
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, you can distill highly technical work (model outputs, experimental results, complex data analyses) into clear, actionable insights for senior leadership and business stakeholders.
• Ability to work under conditions of ambiguity in a fast-growth, sometimes uncertain and complex environment - comfortable acting with minimal planning, direction, and supervision. You can identify issues both within and outside of your immediate scope, and propose solutions.

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 $164,000—$191,000 USD