Role Description

The Airbnb Senior Specialist, Escalations supports one or more internal CS services. This is a full-time position based in Japan OR Korea OR Singapore. The Senior Specialist, Escalations functions on the front line interacting directly with both customers & internal stakeholders. The Senior Specialist, Escalations needs strong communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and customer service expertise. The Senior Specialist, Escalations should also be adaptable and responsive in our fast-paced environment, sometimes under pressure, while remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful, efficient, and demonstrating a high level of professionalism and confidentiality.

As part of this role, you are required to be flexible and may be required to move to different teams within Community Support and/or take up different responsibilities from those set out below. The ideal candidate will be open to a role which will evolve based on business needs and will be flexible to meet those needs.

A Typical Day

• Complex case management: Provide the highest level of service to our community in each and every case.
• Interact with Airbnb customers and community members through all current and future channels, both inside and outside of Airbnb tools, including live chat, social platforms, messaging, and directly through the phone.
• End-to-end management of complex cases with the objective to resolve customers’ issues based on workflows & management guidelines.
• Recognize case type/severity and work cases correctly according to your service’s scope, escalating accurately to other teams when appropriate.
• Skillfully guides to resolution cases that require greater judgment or deviate from the workflow, including those that do not have a clear workflow.
• Operates with little support from your leadership on most casework tasks.
• Ability to take a step back from the case handling to de-escalate a situation and assess the best resolution taking into account user communications as well as behaviors & unsaid elements - “read through the lines.”
• Collaborates cross-functionally within CS and outside of it to resolve issues related to complex cases.
• Explains and simplifies complex information, provides appropriate context, and addresses complex questions with confidence.

Combining efficiency with quality

• Efficiently and to a high degree of quality balances consistently higher volumes of cases and cases with higher severity/complexity casework than lower levels (depending on service).
• Familiar with the concept of trauma, how it manifests in our users, and understands best practices around reducing retraumatization; deploy that understanding in your casework.
• Participating in your service’s improvement: Leverage your functional operational knowledge to proactively support the team's success.
• Provides ongoing guidance to your teammates in improving the quality and efficiency of their work.
• Provide insights about community experience and continuous improvement opportunities to your Management.
• May support Management on initiatives as assigned, such as to drive performance improvements, supporting Management on consultations, acting as a subject matter expert, etc.
• Support management in conveying messages & driving outcomes in the rest of the team.

Stakeholder engagement

• You have gained the trust of internal & external stakeholders through effective relationship management and delivering results.
• Demonstrates a high degree of approachability and integrity when resolving sensitive/complex issues relying on management when in doubt.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of relevant experience in customer service, mediation, social media response, front desk, or a similar role operating in a contact center environment making calls and handling customer/client contacts.
• Hospitality experience is a plus, particularly working for technology platforms. Prior experience using phone, messaging, or live chat to interact with users/customers is preferred.
• Experience collaborating with internal stakeholders and/or third-party providers to resolve conflicts in a detailed, effective, and timely manner.
• Ability to work weekend days and public holidays, as well as early morning/evening shifts. Your schedule can change to meet business needs.

Skills & Expertise

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and spoken, including conflict resolution.
• Ability to organize a high volume of work, multitask & prioritize, and to work within prescribed schedules including breaks, lunches, and training time.
• Be a strong advocate of high-quality standards, innovation & hospitality with a business mindset.
• Able to assess risk accurately, understand level of urgency, exercise good judgment, and share the most pertinent information with stakeholders.
• Calm and empathetic, you are able to adapt to any situation by personalizing responses and educating our community & team while remaining level-headed in tough situations.
• Experience engaging with executive-level stakeholders, and demonstrated ability to explain complex ideas simply and clearly.
• Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills; comfort with ambiguity.
• Ability to adapt to new tasks and responsibilities as needed.
• Proactive attitude towards embracing new challenges and adjusting to changing priorities and environments.
• Capable of adjusting to evolving roles and job duties with openness and flexibility, as well as moving to a new team.
• Advanced computer literacy, including Apple/Mac OS and Google Suite.
• Language proficiency in English; other languages are a plus.

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.