Principal Planning Partner, Content

The community you will join
You will become a key member of the Global Operations community support planning team. This team leads the end-to-end roadmap planning process for Airbnb’s community support. It ensures that initiatives and programmes are prioritised according to our global strategy and our commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. We are a global team with expertise in strategic planning, stakeholder management, cross-functional collaboration and organisational effectiveness.

The difference you will make
As Principal Planning Partner, Content, you will play an essential role in the success and satisfaction of our customers through rigorous relationship management and strategic collaboration. You will support one or more product areas and be the primary point of contact for the content managers, writers and strategists in those areas. You will ensure end-to-end planning and coordination of every launch that affects community support content. You will make sure communication is clear, objectives are aligned and content is delivered on time and to a high standard at launch. You will proactively identify opportunities to add value while addressing potential difficulties, always keeping in mind measurable results for our customers and for the business.

Your ability to build trusted relationships with partners in content, product, engineering, marketing and legal, combined with your strategic mind and rigour in execution, will help launches run smoothly and contribute to the success of our customers and the organisation.

A typical day

• Build proactive dialogue with cross-functional partners and stakeholders: regular follow-ups, sharing planning timelines and upcoming milestones, and feedback sessions. The aim is to build trust and ensure alignment with their goals and objectives.
• Identify in advance everyone responsible for each launch: the writer and content strategist for the affected content; the people approving content for marketing, legal and technical accuracy; localisation partners; and cross-functional partners such as taxonomy, training, the resource centre, Biztech and other project managers whose work is related.
• Develop the content calendar and communicate it to everyone requesting content and everyone approving it. To do this, collect approvers’ unavailability dates and allow time for content audits, writing, technical accuracy checks, marketing review, legal review and localisation, as well as a buffer for unforeseen issues.
• Plan and run the series of meetings for each launch: the launch information-gathering session with product, engineering and launch readiness teams; content audit sessions; a pre-launch meeting with marketing; a recurring weekly launch status meeting with the content team and technical experts; and, on launch day, a “Mission Control” meeting and a Slack channel.
• Work with strategists during content audits to identify all affected content, prioritise its impact (P1: launch day; P2: short-term follow-ups; P3: all other items), ensure a ticket is opened for each affected article and flag UI-related content and localisation requirements.
• Prepare and send a weekly progress report to content managers and content owners, including the list of affected articles and their P1/P2/P3 status, so that risks (audit schedule, late approvals, launch date changes) are visible quickly.
• Anticipate risks and issues and proactively develop mitigation strategies (going beyond simply tracking progress and driving issues through to resolution). Maintain a process for identifying late content requests and flagging them as “at risk”.
• Send regular reminders to people with launch responsibilities and, where approvers do not respond asynchronously, schedule live approval meetings with marketing, engineering, legal and other stakeholders.
• Prepare cross-functional communications for partner teams affected by our work, such as localisation, Biztech, knowledge management and training.
• Coordinate real-time publishing on launch day, once the green light has been given by the launch readiness team, so the content team knows it can publish safely.
• Take part in launch meetings, real-time coordination sessions and contact centre sessions organised by other teams, to be the voice of the content team, provide updates, answer questions and keep the content team informed of emerging issues.
• Spare writers logistical questions, obtain missing information and approvals and remove obstacles, so they can focus on content.
• Prepare a launch review for leadership describing what was published and content performance, and keep a record of published content to feed reporting, highlight successes and document lessons learned.
• Track the status of cases escalated after launch and report on them.
• Promote continuous improvement and simplification of content planning processes, and set up feedback mechanisms that communicate follow-up actions to partners and stakeholders.

Your expertise

• At least 8 years’ experience in strategic planning, programme management or business operations roles, with proven results.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional planning or portfolio management processes, with exposure to senior leadership.
• Exceptional communication skills (oral, written and presentations) with audiences at all levels of an organisation.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, as well as a good understanding of systems implementation and change management.
• Proficiency with remote collaboration and project management tools such as Asana, Jira and Airtable.
• Strategic mind and organisational skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with different teams.
• Practical knowledge of the software product lifecycle and development methodologies. Hands-on experience with Agile methodology is an asset.
• Proven ability to defuse tense situations and resolve conflicts professionally and empathetically.
• Ability to manage several launches and competing priorities at once, while ensuring deliverables are met on time and within project scope.
• Comfort working with shifting priorities and the ability to propose solutions in a dynamic, ambiguous and fast-paced environment.
• Experience planning or coordinating content, knowledge management or product launches.

Your location:

Due to the nature of this role, the successful candidate must be based in Canada in order to perform the job. Currently, employees may be located in: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta or Saskatchewan. This list is continuously updated, so please check with us whether the provinces in which you live are on the list. If your role is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you of the provinces in which you are eligible to work.

Our commitment to inclusion and belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the widest possible talent pool. We believe that diversity of ideas fosters innovation and engagement, and allows us to attract creative people and develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified people are encouraged to apply.

We also strive to provide an inclusive application and interview process for people with disabilities. If you are a candidate with a disability and need reasonable accommodations to submit an application, please contact us at: [contact details removed]. Please include your full name, the role you are applying for and the accommodations needed to help you through the recruitment process. 

Please only contact us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from completing our online application.

We use automated tools to help our recruitment team review large numbers of applications efficiently. All final hiring decisions are made by a human.

This role is a vacancy within the organisation.