Airbnb
Large (~7,300)
Lambda
Mid (~500)
Best For
Airbnb
Best for: Engineers who want Live Anywhere flexibility with strong comp and no pay cuts
Lambda
Best for: Professionals interested in Lambda
Ratings
AirbnbLambda
4.1
3.6
Overall
4.0
3.7
Work-Life Balance
4.2
3.7
Culture & Values
4.2
3.6
Comp & Benefits
3.5
3.4
Senior Mgmt
3.5
3.4
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 87% CEO Approval (Brian Chesky)
👍 72% Recommend
👤 76% CEO Approval (CEO)
Culture Values
Airbnb only
🌐 Remote-Friendly⚖️ Work-Life Balance🌈 Diverse & Inclusive🔓 Open Source
Lambda only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🎯 Direct Product Impact
Shared
💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Pros & Cons
Airbnb
- Live and Work Anywhere policy — genuine remote flexibility with no pay cuts
- Strong compensation and benefits with quarterly travel credits and educational stipends
- Limited career growth — senior roles often filled externally, promotions are slow
- Post-IPO cultural shift — increasing bureaucracy and internal politics at mid-to-senior levels
Lambda
- Building the GPU cloud that powers the world’s top AI labs — genuinely impactful infrastructure
- Smart engineering team with strong technical culture and good WLB on most teams
- Management style described as top-down; strategy clarity could be better
- Internal politics and coordination overhead slow things down for some teams
Bottom Line
Airbnb
Choose Airbnb if you want genuine remote flexibility and travel perks — but promotions are slow and bureaucracy is growing.
Lambda
Lambda — check Glassdoor for detailed reviews.
Open Roles
Airbnb — 244 jobs
💻 Engineering
76
📊 Data
23
📋 Product
14
🎧 Support
14
🧠 ML / AI
12
⚖️ Legal
11
⚙️ Operations
11
📣 Marketing
10
💼 Sales / GTM
9
💰 Finance
3
👤 HR / People
3
🎨 Design
2
Lambda — 32 jobs
💻 Engineering
14
💰 Finance
6
📋 Product
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚖️ Legal
1
Summary
Airbnb scores 4.1/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.0 work-life balance rating. Lambda scores 3.6/5.0 overall with a 3.7 WLB. That’s a 0.5-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Strong Comp & Equity. Airbnb also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Work-Life Balance, Diverse & Inclusive, Open Source. Lambda also emphasizes Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Direct Product Impact.
On the hiring front, Airbnb has 244 open roles and Lambda has 32 open roles.