Communications Lead Trust, EMEA

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 Difference You Will Make

The Communications Lead, Trust (EMEA) will oversee Airbnb’s press strategy for trust and safety across the region, lead consumer-facing trust and safety campaigns, and manage a consistent drumbeat of proactive and reactive stories. This role will also manage a Communications Manager.

Core Pillars of the Role:

• Reactive Press Office: Lead high-stakes, fast-moving trust & safety media response across EMEA, partnering closely with Legal, Policy, and Operations.
• Proactive Trust & Safety Storytelling: Develop and deliver compelling consumer-friendly narratives that build confidence in Airbnb’s safety, integrity, and product features.
• Strategic Internal Counsel: Provide trusted, senior-level guidance on sensitive, complex, and geopolitical issues to ensure alignment across global stakeholders.

The right candidate will already be recognised as a leader in their field at this level, with a proven track record of using a range of communications strategies to manage issues and drive trust narratives. They will have demonstrated leadership through managing complex cross‑functional projects, solving ambiguous problems, and staying ahead of emerging challenges. You must be comfortable owning both proactive and reactive communications with high reach and visibility in a global company - working with journalists, executing on tight deadlines, navigating cross‑functional environments, and advising teams on nuanced topics. You should be an effective, creative, and empathetic communicator who can translate complex or sensitive concepts into clear, accessible storytelling. The role reports to the Director, Global Trust Communications.

The Team You Will Join

The Airbnb Communications team is responsible for telling Airbnb’s story around the world. Whether it’s speaking to media, hosts and guests, industry commentators, thought leaders or the wider community, the Communications team is the voice of Airbnb. We help drive consideration and usage of our products and services in addition to generating buzz, supporting the legitimization of our community, and promoting trust in our brand. The Trust Communications team is responsible for defending and promoting the company from a trust, safety and crisis standpoint. We proactively spread positive news about our business and maintain and shape a reputational narrative that aligns with the company’s initiatives.

A Typical Day

• Develop and lead a communications strategy and calendar of proactive multichannel trust and safety-focused campaigns that tie back to team and business objectives, while also owning key initiatives to ensure timely delivery.
• Manage - and support the EMEA Communications team with - press requests, acting as a point of contact for journalists and a spokesperson on trust and safety matters, and utilising all relevant tools and teams to protect Airbnb’s community and brand.
• Manage and develop a direct report, providing 1:1 coaching, performance feedback, and career guidance to ensure individual and team success.
• Provide strategic counsel and support to cross-functional teams and senior leaders, including the EMEA Communications team, Public Policy, Legal, Community Support, Operations, Product, and Community Policy, on sensitive and complex matters.
• Coach and prepare Airbnb spokespeople for media and public speaking opportunities, and equip stakeholders with messaging for interviews, meetings and other public-facing opportunities.
• Oversee multiple cross-functional projects, ensuring strong organisation and momentum, while staying hands‑on to keep projects moving.
• Oversee, develop and uphold day-to-day operations and processes.

Your Expertise

• Demonstrated senior-level communications experience, whether in agency, in‑house, or government communications roles.
• Experienced comms leader with a proven track‑record working with cross-functional teams, and with journalists and partners, on proactive and reactive communications initiatives involving trust, safety, crisis, policy, regulatory, corporate, financial matters.
• A proven history of collaborating to encourage and develop innovative ideas, turn them into plans and campaigns that map to team and business objectives, and execute on them.
• Proven strategy and operations capabilities, and experience working with cross-functional teams on a range of projects.
• Experienced advising and working with cross-functional leads and stakeholders on sensitive, complex, and high-profile matters, with the ability to anticipate issues and navigate challenges.
• Strong leadership and people management skills, with the ability to motivate, mentor, and develop team members while driving results in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent problem solver with experience making decisions in ambiguous and high-pressure situations.
• Proactive mindset and capable self-starter comfortable independently organising and managing priorities and projects, with follow-through to get things done and ensure all activities undertaken are as successful as possible.
• Strong writer with attention to detail and experience in crafting highly effective press materials.
• Understanding of changing communications landscape and how to effectively and holistically approach to manage or drive impact.
• Bachelor’s Degree.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging: Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively‑led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

How We'll Take Care of You: The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. This role may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.