Built by a hiring manager who's conducted 1,000+ interviews at Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Adobe.
Built by a hiring manager who's conducted 1,000+ interviews at Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Adobe.
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Employees
7,000+
Timeline
3-6 weeks from application to offer
Interview Rounds
5 rounds
Here's what to expect when interviewing for a Data Scientist position at Airbnb.
Initial conversation about your background, interest in Airbnb, and role fit. The recruiter assesses cultural alignment and explains Airbnb's unique interview structure.
Discussion of your experience and how it maps to the role. The manager evaluates your functional expertise and your passion for Airbnb's mission.
Role-specific evaluation. For engineering, coding and system design. For design, portfolio review. For product, case studies. For business roles, analytical exercises.
Practice these Airbnb-specific questions to prepare for your Data Scientist interview.
This is quintessentially Airbnb. Share a genuine story about making someone feel welcome, included, or supported. It doesn't have to be travel-related — any context where you fostered belonging works.
Practice this questionAirbnb values creative problem-solving with constraints. Show how you achieved outsized results with limited resources, budget, or time. Emphasize ingenuity over scale.
Understanding Airbnb's core values will help you align your answers with what they're looking for.
Airbnb employees are passionate about creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere. The mission drives every product decision and company initiative.
Inspired by their hosts, Airbnb expects employees to be caring, open, and welcoming. This value extends to how teams collaborate and how products are designed.
Airbnb values curiosity, optimism, and willingness to take risks. Employees are encouraged to explore new ideas and step outside their comfort zones.
Follow these tips to maximize your chances of success.
Airbnb's core values interviews are unique and carry enormous weight. Prepare 2-3 stories for each value (Champion the Mission, Be a Host, Embrace the Adventure, Be a Cereal Entrepreneur). These interviews can override strong technical performance.
Airbnb wants people who genuinely care about belonging, travel, and human connection. Share personal stories that demonstrate authentic passion for these themes. Forced enthusiasm is easily detected.
Airbnb is a design-driven company regardless of your role. Approach problems with empathy for users, attention to detail, and a storytelling mindset. Reference specific Airbnb product decisions that resonate with you.
Compare Data Scientist interviews across companies
View Data Scientist interview guidePractice with AI-powered mock interviews tailored to Airbnb's culture and interview style. Get real-time feedback on your answers.
2-3 dedicated interviews focused exclusively on Airbnb's core values. These carry equal weight to technical interviews and assess mission alignment, belonging, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Interview with a team member from a different function to assess collaboration skills and ability to work across disciplines.
Be authentic and personal. Share real experiences with travel, hosting, or cultural exchange that connect to belonging. Interviewers can detect rehearsed passion versus genuine alignment.
Practice this questionShow genuine growth from taking a calculated risk. Airbnb values people who explore the unknown with optimism. Connect the experience to what you learned about yourself.
Practice this questionAirbnb's design culture means details matter enormously. Show how your attention to craft — in code, design, copy, or process — elevated the final outcome meaningfully.
Practice this questionDemonstrate deep understanding of the two-sided marketplace, local nuances, and the emotional journey of travel. Think about both functional and emotional needs of guests.
Practice this questionShow your ability to strip away unnecessary complexity. Explain your thought process for deciding what to keep and what to remove, and how it improved the user experience.
Practice this questionAirbnb values diverse perspectives. Show how working with people from different disciplines led to insights or solutions you wouldn't have reached independently.
Practice this questionAirbnb wants people who believe in the transformative power of travel. Share a genuine story about how an experience in a new place or culture shifted your worldview.
Practice this questionShow you prioritize user experience even when it's commercially inconvenient. Explain your reasoning, how you made the case, and the ultimate outcome for both users and the business.
Practice this questionNamed after the founders selling cereal boxes to fund the company, this value celebrates scrappiness, resourcefulness, and creative problem-solving with limited resources.
Airbnb values elegant, simple solutions. Employees are expected to cut through complexity and deliver intuitive experiences for hosts and guests.
Inspired by storytelling and animation, Airbnb believes every detail of the experience matters. This design-driven mindset applies to products, communications, and culture.
The "Cereal Entrepreneur" value celebrates scrappiness and resourcefulness. Prepare examples where you achieved remarkable results with limited resources. Airbnb values ingenuity over big budgets.
Understand how Airbnb balances the needs of hosts and guests. Study their trust and safety features, pricing algorithms, and how they create belonging at scale across diverse cultures.
Airbnb interviews are more personal than most tech companies. Share real stories, show vulnerability, and connect your experiences to Airbnb's mission. Authenticity is valued over polish.