Associate Counsel, IP & Open Source

Airbnb’s Legal Department is a global team that will require working with diverse international colleagues around the world. The successful candidate will be someone who is adaptable, collaborative and embodies Airbnb’s Core Values. Candidates will be required to approach complex legal issues with a balance for local and global perspectives, while being adaptable to cultural differences and nuances. A genuine and demonstrated interest in Airbnb and a commitment to ethics, integrity and fostering a workplace that emphasizes diversity and belonging is a must.

The Community You Will Join: 

Airbnb is seeking a highly qualified Associate Counsel to join our Commercial & Technology Legal Team with a focus on intellectual property and open source. The successful candidate will be adaptable, collaborative, and embody Airbnb’s Core Values. You’ll bring strong judgment and a practical, business-forward approach to advising teams building products and infrastructure used by millions—helping Airbnb move quickly while protecting the company’s IP, brand, and technology ecosystem. A genuine and demonstrated interest in Airbnb and a commitment to ethics, integrity, and fostering a workplace that emphasizes diversity and belonging is a must.

The Difference You Will Make:

You will provide day-to-day legal support on intellectual property and open source matters that shape how Airbnb builds, uses, and shares technology. You’ll advise on IP licensing and transactions and partner with cross-functional teams to strengthen open source governance and compliance. You will also support Airbnb’s Tech Brand initiatives from concept through publication—providing legal review and practical risk guidance for external communications, technical storytelling, and developer- and community-facing programs. Your work will enable innovation and technology-focused storytelling with clear guardrails—supporting engineering velocity while protecting Airbnb’s brand, IP, and marketplace integrity.

A Typical Day: 

• Provide practical legal advice on a wide range of IP matters for data science, engineering, and business teams, including licensing issues tied to product development, tooling, and infrastructure, and issues relating to actual and potential disclosure of IP in external communications.
• Draft, review, and negotiate IP-related terms in commercial and intercompany agreements.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to identify repeatable IP issues and help build templates, guidance, and escalation paths that enable faster, more consistent decision-making.
• Support the open source program by providing legal review and pragmatic guidance on licensing, compliance, and contribution practices (inbound use and outbound releases), including through internal workflows and Open Source Committee processes and escalation of higher-risk or novel issues.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Engineering, Security, Infrastructure, Tech Brand) to improve open source policies and “policy-to-practice” workflows (intake, approvals, documentation, and training).
• Advise on open source governance topics such as:
• Usage & Contributing: internal use of third-party open source, contributing to external projects, CLA review, and risk assessments for security/privacy implications.
• Owning & Releasing: guidance on when and how Airbnb code may be open sourced, quality/maintenance expectations, community/code-of-conduct considerations, and project sunsetting.
• Permissions &am...