Airbnb Inc. hired a longtime Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O) executive to fill its chief financial officer position, a post that’s been vacant most of this year and will be key in preparations for the startup’s anticipated initial public offering.

The home-sharing company said Dave Stephenson will take on the role, after a 17-year career at Amazon where he was most recently vice president and CFO of their worldwide consumer organization, responsible for all global website sales. Airbnb has been without a CFO since February, when Laurence Tosi departed amid tensions and a shakeup in the senior ranks.

With a private valuation of about US$31 billion, Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky has promised he will hold an IPO for the 10-year-old company before 2020 when some employee stock grants expire. Stephenson will start at Airbnb in early January, the company said in a statement.