My Journey To Airbnb | Vijaya Kaza | by Lauren Mackevich | The Airbnb Tech Weblog | Dec, 2024

Lauren Mackevich
The Airbnb Tech Blog

Vijaya Kaza is the Chief Safety Officer and Head of Engineering for Belief and Security at Airbnb. She leads groups answerable for creating the know-how (Platforms, instruments and AI fashions), to safeguard the Airbnb group, in addition to for securing Airbnb’s infrastructure and data belongings. She can also be the manager co-sponsor of Airbnb Tech’s Range Council.

Right here’s Vijaya’s story of how she obtained to Airbnb, in her personal phrases.

Straight shot to science and engineering

I grew up in a modest, multi-generational household in India with 30 to 40 members of the family below one roof on any given day. Because the oldest baby in that home, I used to be anticipated to excel academically and set an instance for the opposite kids to observe.

In our tradition again then, being “good in school” was synonymous with shining in science and math. As luck would have it, I had a robust affinity for these topics and loved finding out and diving deep into them. I adopted a pure path that mixed math and science, finding out engineering in school, and obtained a bachelor’s and two grasp’s in electrical engineering. This basis paved the best way for my future work in know-how.

Stumbling into cybersecurity

After school, I landed my first job as a Software program Engineer at Cisco. Nevertheless, my entry into the safety subject was unintended. I merely adopted a supervisor I preferred who was shifting into a brand new safety enterprise unit, fell in love with Safety and by no means seemed again after that! There was no grand plan or calculated profession technique.

After 17 years at Cisco main product growth for a $1B safety product portfolio, I headed to FireEye, one other well-known title within the Cybersecurity house. There I had the duty for serving to the corporate transition from on-prem to a cloud/SaaS enterprise mannequin, and rising the income of their cloud safety portfolio. That function gave me the expertise of engaged on completely different areas of safety, in addition to main each Product Administration and Engineering in a Common Supervisor capability.

Subsequent, I led Product Improvement at Lookout, a startup in San Francisco targeted on cellular safety. On the time, it was a client safety firm pivoting to constructing for enterprise prospects. I didn’t comprehend it then, however that glimpse of client safety was an important primer for my eventual function at Airbnb.

Cybersecurity is an ever-changing area with fixed innovation and I’ve totally loved working and studying in such a dynamic house. Every main technological transformation — from cloud to cellular to AI — brings novel safety challenges to unravel for companies and finish customers.

An surprising alternative at Airbnb

After I was initially approached for the Chief Safety Officer (CSO) function at Airbnb, I used to be shocked. I had at all times labored within the subject doing engineering and product growth work, so I wasn’t certain about this function. However after assembly Ari Balogh, Airbnb’s Chief Expertise Officer (CTO) for an off-the-cuff espresso chat, we actually hit it off and I used to be totally impressed by his imaginative and prescient to rework the engineering and know-how group throughout the firm. Ari shared his philosophy of specializing in the craft of engineering and that basically resonated with me. The prospect of molding Airbnb’s engineering tradition was very attractive.

Seems Airbnb was additionally on the lookout for somebody to steer engineering for its Belief and Security group. Given my background with a mix of engineering and safety area experience, I ended up taking over each of those roles. This distinctive alternative allowed me to return to my roots main engineering groups whereas making the most of my safety expertise within the capability of a CSO.

After I joined the corporate in 2019, I used to be struck by Airbnb’s dedication and energy to ship a optimistic person expertise. Our consideration and design focus that go into serving to company and hosts have a seamless expertise is in contrast to something I’ve skilled earlier than.

Why Airbnb?

I joined Airbnb due to the chance to have an outsized affect — Airbnb’s virtually 6,000 staff serve hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide. Our mission-driven strategy, powered by our founders’ unmatched ardour and dedication to doing good by way of initiatives like Airbnb.org actually resonated with me. I’ve been constantly impressed by the caliber of proficient, caring individuals right here who’re united by Airbnb’s imaginative and prescient. It’s uncommon to discover a firm that so successfully combines technical excellence with social consciousness.

Two groups, one mission

Whereas each the Belief and Security and Safety groups share the widespread mission of safeguarding customers and the platform, the precise strategies, threats, and focus areas are utterly completely different. Belief is on the core of our enterprise and we’re deeply targeted on offering our company and hosts peace of thoughts as they reside, work, journey and host on Airbnb. We construct know-how to assist decrease security and privateness dangers for our group.

For instance, our revolutionary reservation screening know-how goals to assist cut back the chance of disruptive events on Airbnb globally by taking steps to establish higher-risk reservations and probably stop these bookings from being made.

On the cybersecurity entrance, we deal with securing Airbnb’s belongings, our knowledge, our staff, and our infrastructure. We implement strong safety controls and menace detection capabilities to safeguard Airbnb’s inner assets.

Embracing the improv mindset

Outdoors of labor, I’ve pursued some hobbies which have surprisingly imparted invaluable management classes. A couple of years in the past, I made a decision to strive improv comedy, one thing that’s fully exterior my wheelhouse. I had by no means performed something near theater or performing in my whole life. What began as a enjoyable experiment shortly turned a ardour undertaking and I progressed by way of the degrees and finally carried out reside in entrance of an viewers with family and friends in attendance.

It might appear unrelated at first, however the very nature of improv is profoundly related for management. You’re continuously placed on the spot and have to assume in your toes, responding to new questions and situations within the second. Improv trains this very important talent of processing data in actual time and formulating a coherent, compelling response.

Hold a gradual head

Over any profession, together with mine, there are inevitable skilled setbacks, disappointments, and annoyances alongside the best way. The secret’s to not make a lot of those short-term hurdles; it’s the way you reply that issues most. The much less you agonize over the bumps within the street, the higher. Keep your focus, preserve one foot in entrance of the opposite, and persist ahead undeterred. I realized these classes early, having taken on management roles from a younger age because the eldest baby in a big family. My recommendation is to maintain a gradual head, preserve perspective, and plow ahead with conviction.

We’re at the moment increasing the Airbnb crew and hiring for a number of roles. Try our open positions here.