Senior Public Policy Manager, EU

The Community You Will Join:

Airbnb is one of the world’s largest marketplaces for unique, authentic places to stay and things to do, offering over six million accommodations and 50,000 handcrafted activities, all powered by local hosts. An economic empowerment engine, Airbnb has helped millions of hospitality entrepreneurs monetise their spaces and their passions while keeping the financial benefits of tourism in their own communities. With over one billion guest arrivals to date, and accessible in 62 languages across 220+ countries and regions, Airbnb promotes people-to-people connection, community and trust around the world.

The Team:

Airbnb’s public policy team exists to further the interests of our community of hosts and guests with politicians, regulators, opinion leaders and others who shape the political and legal context for our business, helping them to understand the significant social and economic contributions of our platform. Across the EMEA region, we are engaged in well over a hundred local conversations and negotiations with governments big and small.  We engage governments at local, regional, national and EU levels directly and also use innovative advocacy and partnership strategies in making the case for fair, progressive home sharing rules.

The EU policy team is responsible for managing our relations with the European institutions and other Brussels-based organisations and stakeholders. We are now looking for a Senior Public Policy Manager, EU to support the team in this work.

The Role:

We are looking for a Senior Public Policy Manager to support our policy work and engagement in Brussels with a specific focus on political and third party engagement, especially on housing and tourism topics. This is a senior external-facing role as a key member of the current EU policy team, helping to engage with political and policy stakeholders and non-institutional partners, to define policy goals and positions and implement them, and to work alongside other functional experts who support those goals through content and media relations.  This role will report to the Policy Lead for the EU.

In this role you must be highly skilled in policy engagement with a wide variety of external stakeholders and able to work proactively to help stakeholders understand the contribution of short-term rentals (STRs) to Europe and sustainable tourism. 

The ideal candidate will be passionate about EU policy and politics, and have proven expertise in regulatory and political work in a political, governmental or regulatory context.

This role is located in Brussels and will involve travel across the EU but also to our global headquarters in San Francisco.

Responsibilities:

The Senior Public Policy Manager will have a particular focus on EU discussions on tourism and housing at EU-level, and the implementation of the recently-adopted EU regulation on short-term rentals. The successful candidate will:

• Build and maintain relationships with an extensive network of contacts in Brussels, with a focus on EU political groups and third party (non-institutional) stakeholders. Support the broader EU policy team with EP engagement and meetings.  with a focus on the European Parliament;
• Build new stakeholder coalitions on topics that matter to Airbnb and our policy stakeholders in the EU, including travel and tourism, housing and the future of cities.  
• Act as team lead on a range of policy issues including consumer and tax files. Work independently to identify emerging policy issues relevant to Airbnb, and with other internal teams and local policy colleagues to define policy positions on core EU regulatory topics. Define engagement strategies at the local and EU level as and when relevant;
• Identify creative opportunities to reinforce and amplify our Policy and Comms work at local, national and EU levels.
• Leverage external resources such as trade associations and consultants to monitor and engage on areas of relevance to the company.
• Advise the EU Policy Lead  and other internal stakeholders on a range of EU policy developments, explaining complex legislative processes in an accessible and impactful manner.

Requirements:

• At least 10 years of direct experience, ideally in a European political party or in the EU institutions, or in a lobbying and government affairs role relevant to the housing or tourism domains;
• Proven ability to identify and build relationships with relevant third parties; 
• Ability to navigate complex political or regulatory issues with a range of stakeholders;
• Detailed knowledge of the political landscape and legislative processes in the EU is essential. Good knowledge of how EU law and politics influence, and are influenced by, developments at the local (city) level would be an advantage;
• Existing network in Brussels, and a proven ability to build and sustain new networks of political influence across a broad range of stakeholders;
• Ability to draft high-quality advocacy materials and position papers, internal and external communications with little broader guidance;
• Excellent strategist, creative thinker and communicator, with great interpersonal, writing and presentation skills;
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team;
• Candidates must speak fluent English, along with one other EU language. You must submit your application in English.

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.

Offices: Brussels, Belgium