Director, Planning and Program Management

For the role of Director of Planning and Program Management, we’re looking for a proven leader who is eager to work cross-functionally and whose success will require seamlessly blending human-centric and analytic problem solving. This leader will tackle difficult questions related to a three sided marketplace, balancing the safety and expression needs of our community and business and operational challenges. This leader will report directly to the team’s senior executive, transforming the planning and program management functions and will sit squarely at the center of a multi-year strategy focused on our community. This individual must come with experience working with seasoned executives, building highly effective teams that can execute large cross functional programs and establishing an agile product mindset within organizations. They should also be able to work with and influence stakeholders across Airbnb. 

This leader will be responsible for heading planning and operationalization of the global product, tech and operations roadmap for Trust. As part of this effort, they will be responsible for increasing talent capabilities and rethinking the program management and planning functions within Trust Product/Ops/Tech. They will collaborate with senior cross functional leaders to create ambitious and clear metrics that span all parts of the customer journey as well as all the key  pillars. They will also work with Trust data science partners and teams across Airbnb to create and drive shared goals and trade off thresholds across the board. They will train and enable their program management and planning team to develop a deep understanding of the product, tech and operations roadmap and break down the roadmap into clear milestones for the functional teams to execute and track progress.  They will be responsible for leading  and communicating the status of key planning milestones such as annual and quarterly planning as well as large scale cross functional and cross company programs led by Trust. They will be leading the transformation of the agile working culture within product and tech and will be responsible for continuous improvement of the agile processes and rituals through which development work is done by teams within Trust.  They will be part of the Trust leadership team enabling the growth of our Trust platform at scale, providing deep business and technical acumen, and thought leadership of how businesses operate and deliver value. 

To be successful in this role, the leader must be bold and considered by their industry peers as a driving force. Confidence to take calculated risks is a must. Relationship building is essential, especially with our Product, Technology, Design, Operations, Finance and global platform teams. The leader must be able to balance execution with forging productive relationships. We are looking for a leader that can balance many complex global strategic assignments at once, and lead a highly thriving team simultaneously. It is critical that this leader understands the interplay between technology advances and operational management, and be steeped in technology and finance experience. 

Who You Are: 

• A bold visionary with the ability to implement disruptive initiatives, highly organized and motivated, with a bias for action and impact.
• Strong sense of urgency for and commitment to Airbnb’s mission of belonging. 
• Strong Program Management experience within the social media industry, a plus. 
• Have held a multitude of roles and/or has extensive experience with seasoned executives to provide a range of business acumum and thought leadership on a range of topics. 
• Strong communicator and collaborator with experience in facilitation and influence across all levels; skilled at addressing both large and small audiences across multiple leadership levels and functions.

Responsibilities:

• Be a thought partner and lead the execution of our long-range plan with the Trust organization. 
• Manage a team that handles the tactical planning processes including 6-12 month annual as well as 3-5 year planning/roadmaps and goal and metric setting
• Lead the Program management office focused on managing the throughput of projects across the globe. Setting and monitoring OKRs, working closely with our analytics team.
• Drive business results with a high-caliber and engaged global team, demonstrated history of achievement and innovative leadership. 
• Design and lead activities to measure efficacy of strategies and advise on how to increase value and impact.
• Build relationships with and serve as subject-matter expert and advisor for cross-functional stakeholders across the business including but not limited to Product, Engineering, Data Science, Design, Finance, Legal, Communications and Business Development.
• Lead and manage a high-performing team that can lead planning, execution and process improvement across product, tech and ops functions
• Lead the transformation of the agile working culture within product and tech and deliver continuous improvement of the processes and rituals through which work is done by teams within Trust.

Requirements:

• 15+ years experience in an Operations, Technology or Trust and Safety environment; Product Development experience strongly preferred
• Strategic planning expertise, along with demonstrable experience in program management
• Proven ability to set vision and direction for new teams, prioritizing objectives and resources to scale impact over time
• Natural coalition builder, with demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects in a demanding environment
• Deep experience managing multi-partner projects
• Expert at aligning and managing team processes and multiple large projects
• Clear facility with novel and highly abstract ideas; Ability to formulate responses quickly and accurately
• Thoughtful judgment, strategic thinker, and ability to work well under pressure.
• Demonstrated experience problem-solving in demanding environments
• Demonstrated expertise for breaking down challenging, layered instructions into logical, accessible choices
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Strong time management and prioritization capabilities
• University degree or equivalent years of work experience (minimum 8 years)