Public Policy Manager, South Asia – Airbnb

Airbnb is a mission-driven company dedicated to helping create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. It takes a unified team committed to our core values to achieve this goal. Airbnb’s various functions embody the company’s innovative spirit and our fast-moving team is committed to leading as a 21st century company.

No global movement springs from individuals. It takes an entire team united behind something big. We are excited to be seeking our Public Policy Manager for India and South Asia to be based in Gurgaon.

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. All around the world, we are engaged in conversations with governments. We engage governments at local, regional and national levels directly, and also use innovative advocacy and partnership strategies that actively involve our community and our stakeholders in making the case for fair, progressive home sharing and short-term rental rules.

We organise ourselves in integrated campaign groups, drawing on a wide range of tools and disciplines – from detailed policy and government relations work, through high-impact partnerships, proactive media relations, community organising, digital platforms and content, polling, and innovative data science and research. We use the combined might of these disciplines to progress our overall policy agenda.

To do this role effectively you must be able to build trust and talk to a variety of authorities, from city to regional to national government to help them understand the contribution that our community makes, and engage them in the process of creating fair legal and regulatory frameworks that embrace the potential of the sharing economy.

The ideal candidate will be passionate about Airbnb and the sharing economy, and have proven experience in managing regulatory and political issues within a corporate context – either as an in-house policy professional or as a consultant – or within politics, campaigns or advocacy groups. Experience in a startup, e-commerce or other high-growth, fast-paced company, and experience in management, would both be advantages.

While the position will be based in Gurgaon, this role will require regular travel to other places in India and South Asia countries, as well as occasional travel to the regional HQ in Singapore and global HQ in San Francisco.

Responsibilities:

• Help develop and implement Airbnb’s legislative and public policy activities; including helping determine advocacy priorities, positions, and strategies.
• Work with legislative bodies and government agencies on Airbnb’s priority issues, including crafting and negotiating language for legislation, drafting comments on administrative regulations, and authoring substantive issue briefs and position papers.
• Represent Airbnb in coalitions and collaborations to advance Airbnb’s advocacy initiatives – building these coalitions from scratch if necessary.
• Manage consultants and marshall external resources to execute our plans.
• Maintain relationships with an extensive network of contacts in state and national legislative, executive and administrative offices, as well as with allied groups and coalition partners.
• Engage in research, writing and other activities to provide analysis and critical thinking on developments affecting Airbnb’s priorities.
• Monitor legislation and regulatory matters and advise the company with respect to policy challenges.
• Represent Airbnb in meetings with government and elected officials.
• Represent Airbnb at public forums, media interviews and any other public engagement opportunities to advance our public policy goals.
• Advise Airbnb’s teams on public policy matters to guide development of products, services and policies.

Requirements:

• At least 8 years experience working with public policy issues in a relevant business or non-governmental organisation, or in a political, governmental or regulatory context (a mix of public and private sector experience is an advantage).
• Direct public policy experience in one of the following fields: tourism, housing, landlord/tenant law or e-commerce/internet regulation – which must include a track record of influencing regulation and legislation at some level of India and one other South Asia governments.
• Degree or advanced degree level in related fields.
• First-rate personal, political, analytical, organisational and people management skills.
• Ability to quickly get up to speed on complex technical and regulatory issues.
• Excellent communicator with great interpersonal and presentation skills, both for subject matter experts and the layperson.
• Ability to work independently as well as a team player in a multi-task work environment while producing the highest caliber work product in a timely manner.
• Self starter with a sense of humor and the ability to thrive in a fast moving and sometimes stressful environment.
• This is currently an Individual Contributor role with no direct reports.