Interview Process Overview
Airbnb’s interview process uniquely balances technical skills with cultural fit and product sense. The company deeply values candidates who align with their mission of “belong anywhere” and show strong design sensibility.
What to Expect
Recruiter Screen: Discussion of your background, interest in Airbnb’s mission, and alignment with core values.
Technical Phone Screen (1-2 rounds): 45-minute coding interviews focusing on algorithms and problem-solving. Medium difficulty with emphasis on clean, production-quality code.
Onsite Interviews (5-6 rounds):
- Coding Rounds (2 rounds): Algorithm and data structure problems. Airbnb emphasizes code quality, edge cases, and testing. Expect questions on arrays, trees, graphs, and system-level thinking.
- System Design (1 round): Design scalable systems like booking platforms, search engines, or payment systems. Consider user experience alongside technical architecture.
- Cross-Functional (1 round): Work through a problem with a product manager or designer. Shows your ability to collaborate across disciplines.
- Core Values Interview (1 round): Dedicated behavioral round assessing alignment with Airbnb’s values: Champion the Mission, Be a Host, Embrace the Adventure, Be a Cereal Entrepreneur.
- Experience/Past Work (1 round): Deep-dive into your previous projects, design decisions, and trade-offs.
Common Question Topics
- Arrays/Strings: Manipulation, searching, optimization
- Trees: Binary trees, tree traversals, BST operations
- Graphs: BFS, DFS, shortest path
- Dynamic Programming: Classic DP problems
- System Design: Booking systems, search/recommendation engines, payment processing, calendar availability
Preparation Tips
- Study Core Values: Read about Airbnb’s mission and values deeply. Prepare stories demonstrating each value with specific examples.
- Show Product Sense: Demonstrate understanding of user experience, design trade-offs, and product thinking. Use Airbnb as a user.
- Practice System Design: Focus on marketplace dynamics, two-sided platforms, trust and safety systems.
- Write Production Code: Airbnb values code quality highly. Use meaningful names, proper structure, error handling, and testing.
- Prepare Project Stories: Be ready to discuss technical decisions, collaboration challenges, and impact of your work.
Interview Culture
Airbnb seeks people who are passionate about the mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere. The company values empathy, creativity, and cross-functional collaboration. Demonstrate genuine care for user experience and ability to think holistically about products.
Last Updated: February 2026