Marketplace Strategy Manager

Airbnb

18d•Remote

About The Position

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way. The Community You Will Join: Community Blueprint is a team under Global Operations that helps Airbnb understand the customer experience to drive solutions that delight our community. We aim to improve the quality of the end-to-end customer journey and bridge team silos across product, operations, and policy. To do this, we need to be experts in the guest and Host experience and in how the product, operations, policies function together to deliver the Airbnb experience. As part of the Community Blueprint team, your role will be instrumental in driving data-driven decision-making, connecting data across product & operations, and enhancing the guest and host experience and representing the objective voice of the customer. The Difference You Will Make: The Marketplace Strategy Manager is a senior, commercially-minded individual contributor responsible for decoding the complex dynamics of our community and marketplace. Operating at the intersection of community impact and business performance, this role requires a deep understanding of the end-to-end customer journey, exceptional analytical rigor, and the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable business strategies. As a Marketplace Strategy Manager, you will own the analytical framework that guides the Community Blueprint team's investment strategy, ensuring our programs drive measurable value in terms of revenue, retention, and brand strength. You must thrive on ambiguity, possess a strong "can-do" attitude, and demonstrate proactive leadership in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

An undergraduate degree with a strong preference for candidates holding an MBA or equivalent advanced degree, with 10+ years of industry experience in a consulting, investment banking, strategy or business analytics manager, marketplace dynamics, customer insights or related commercial role.
Demonstrated commercial-mindedness and strong business acumen, with the ability to connect analytical findings directly to financial and operational outcomes.
Understands how to analyze the complexities of marketplace dynamics.
Proven expertise in analyzing end-to-end customer or user journeys.
Expert-level proficiency in SQL for data extraction and manipulation.
Advanced skills in data visualization tools (e.g., Superset, Tableau) and data analysis using Python/R.
Familiarity with leveraging large language model (LLM) tools for research, pattern identification, or synthesis.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, specifically in articulating complex strategic trade-offs to executive audiences.
A deeply customer-oriented philosophy, coupled with the ability to thrive at the intersection of community dynamics and the underlying business model.
An agile, growth-minded approach, demonstrated through a history of driving projects from ideation to impact.
Strong organizational skills, a strong sense of ownership and accountability, self-starter.
Experience working in a two-sided marketplace, platform, or community-driven business model.
Experience shaping a portfolio of programs or products, demonstrating competence in risk assessment and sizing return on investment (ROI).

Responsibilities

Own the Customer Journey Map: Develop and maintain a comprehensive map detailing how customers discover, join, and move through the community and product ecosystem.
Data Synthesis and Analysis: Analyze and synthesize both quantitative and qualitative data across the end-to-end customer journey. Pull critical signals from research, raw data (via SQL/Python), and frontline conversations, turning them into validated journeys, key moments, and business requirements.
Actionable Insights: Uncover high-impact insights that inform decision-makers across the company about necessary improvements benefiting both the customer and the business. Clearly articulate findings, trade-offs, and the potential size of the upside for strategic investments.
Articulate Business Value: Ensure all analytical outputs clearly demonstrate their relevance and impact to business performance and customer experience, enabling informed decision-making across the organization.
Drive Ongoing Optimization: Lead the end-to-end stewardship of community health metrics, mobilizing cross-functional teams to address challenges and seize opportunities to improve the customer experience.
Customer Reality Check: Serve as the guardian of customer reality within the team, keeping stakeholders honest about "for whom" we are building and "at what moment," ensuring programs genuinely match customer reality instead of internal assumptions.
Independent Leadership: Operate as a strong, independent, and proactive leader who can manage complex projects and influence cross-functional partners without direct authority.
Technical Proficiency: Leverage technical skills for data extraction, manipulation, and analysis, including SQL, Python, and advanced data visualization tools. Experience utilizing LLM tools for research and insight generation is a significant advantage.
Growth Mindset: Maintain a strong growth learning mindset, demonstrating resilience, adaptability, and an eagerness to take on any analytical or strategic challenge.