Emergency Response Manager

Emergency Response Manager

Contract Type: Full-time (40 hours/week)

Location: Remote (must be available across time zones)

The Team You Will Join

At Airbnb.org, we are on a mission to create the future of emergency housing in times of crisis. We partner with local nonprofits, governments, and hosts to provide safe, welcoming stays for people displaced by disasters, conflict, and other emergencies around the world.

Our partners are essential to our mission: they identify and support beneficiaries, coordinate with local authorities, and help deliver services in fast-moving, high-pressure environments. We work hand-in-hand with these organizations to ensure that housing is deployed rapidly and equitably when and where it’s needed most.

Within 24 hours of every emergency response activation, our cross-functional objective is to begin providing housing, ensure the public knows how to access support, engage the media with clear messaging, and equip partners with the tools and knowledge they need to carry out beneficiary vetting, intake and case management.

The Difference You Will Make

Airbnb.org is seeking a seasoned Emergency Response Manager with 8 plus years of regional expertise and decision-making authority to lead emergency response activations in APAC. This role will focus on executing Airbnb.org’s response operations during active emergencies, ensuring timely coordination with nonprofit partners, government stakeholders and multiple internal teams. This role will also design and execute country by country emergency response strategies, ensuring that Airbnb.org is ready to respond immediately to disasters.

The APAC Emergency Response Manager will act as Airbnb.org’s operational lead during disasters in the region, guiding cross-functional teams, directing partners, and ensuring outcomes are achieved. They will also contribute to global strategy and readiness by surfacing regional lessons, risks, and innovations.

The Emergency Response Manager will be part of a globally-focused team and will work closely with Partner Development Managers (who lead relationship development and partner onboarding), and will serve as the day-to-day operational counterpart for partners once a response is activated. This is a fast-paced, hands-on role that requires strong judgment, the ability to navigate complexity under pressure and requires flexibility to work off-hours when emergencies arise in different time zones.

A Typical Day

• Regional Leadership & Decision-Making

• Serve as the primary decision-maker for APAC emergency responses, including activation, scale, and demobilization.
• Represent Airbnb.org externally with government and NGO partners, managing partnership agreements under urgent timelines.
• Partner closely with global Emergency Response leadership to shape Airbnb.org’s global model using APAC insights.

• Operational Excellence

• Drive execution of APAC responses, ensuring rapid activation within 24 hours of disasters and accountable for metrics such as guest intake speed, housing capacity secured, and partner satisfaction.
• Provide support for disaster responses in other regions, as backup support during busy seasons.
• Anticipate operational risks (legal, political, reputational, safety) and make judgment calls to resolve trade-offs.
• Oversee the development and improvement of regional protocols, playbooks, and surge mechanisms.

• Strategic Planning & Readiness

• Maintain readiness across APAC, including scenario planning, surge staffing, and partner capacity-building.
• Contribute to global after-action reviews and advise on strategic improvements to the Airbnb.org disaster response model.
• Monitor disaster and humanitarian trends in APAC, recommending improvements to programs, processes, and partnerships.

• Travel

• Travel within APAC and globally for partner meetings, training, and on-the-ground response coordination.

Your Expertise

• Extensive experience in disaster response, emergency management, humanitarian operations, ideally across APAC and other regions.
• Demonstrated track record of leading emergency responses, negotiating with senior officials, and making rapid operational decisions under pressure.
• Strong judgment in ambiguous, high-stakes environments, with proven ability to balance competing priorities and mitigate risk.
• Adept at synthesizing complex operational information and field insights into clear, actionable updates for internal audiences.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; able to influence and build trust with both grassroots NGOs and senior government leaders.
• Proven ability to operate independently while leading cross-functional teams in a distributed, fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency in remote collaboration tools (Slack, Google Workspace, Zoom); comfort working across time zones.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multilingual skills relevant to APAC region.
• Familiarity with humanitarian cluster systems, crisis coordination models, and case management tools.
• Experience advising or contributing to global humanitarian or disaster response strategy.