Now, Lehane is going tech full time. On Thursday, Airbnb said it had appointed Lehane as its head of global policy and public affairs or, as the company said, to make Airbnb's voice "heard loud and clear by policymakers."

Lehane, 48, has the credentials. He has had a long political career, including more than six years in President Bill Clinton's White House. He was also the spokesman for Vice President Al Gore in his 2000 campaign for the presidency. Known for thoroughly researching his opponents, he is a pugnacious political adversary who advocates going into what he calls "warrior mode" to defend his clients and compatriots, according to a New York Times profile from 2014.

In an interview, Lehane said that Airbnb's mission - which he said was to help people rent their extra rooms out for additional income - aligned well with his personal belief in expanding income opportunities for the middle class. "I am committed to playing to win when it comes to standing up and fighting for the rights of everyday people to share their homes," he said.

Politicians go tech

In a statement, Gore characterised Lehane as "smart, strategic, loyal and tough," among other attributes.

Lehane is the latest in a string of prominent political operatives to join the ranks of West Coast technology companies, which have long sought deeper connections and inroads in Washington.

In February, Amazon hired Jay Carney, former press secretary to President Barack Obama, as its senior vice president for global corporate affairs. Lisa P. Jackson, former Environmental Protection Agency chief under Obama, now works for Apple. And last August Uber picked David Plouffe, a top adviser to Obama, to be its senior vice president of policy and strategy.

Lehane has worked with Airbnb for nearly a year as an outside consultant, and steps into the role previously held by David Hantman, a former chief of staff to Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrats Senator from New York.

Cooperative approach

Through his private consulting practice, Lehane has also done work for Lyft, the ride-hailing startup.

While Lehane will lead the team of policy experts assembled by his predecessor, he said he expected his team to grow as the company does.

Airbnb has nearly doubled its workforce in the past year, and now employs more than 2000 people globally. It also offers its service in more than 34,000 cities across 190 countries, each of which has different regional policymakers and regulations that require local expertise to navigate.

The company, based in San Francisco, is valued at around $US24 billion ($33 billion), and in its most popular markets has tilted toward taking a cooperative approach with local politicians.

While it has faced clampdowns in some US cities like New York, it has by and large run into fewer regulatory hurdles than Uber.

The New York Times