Research Data Scientist Jobs at Scale AI with Visa Sponsorship
Scale AI hires Research Data Scientists to build and evaluate the datasets that power frontier AI models. The company has a consistent track record of sponsoring work visas for this function, including H-1B visa, E-3 visa, and OPT pathways, making it a realistic target for international candidates with strong ML research backgrounds.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Scale AI accelerates the development of AI systems by providing the data, infrastructure, and tooling that power the most advanced models in the world. Our teams operate at the intersection of cutting-edge research, large-scale engineering, and real-world deployment, partnering with leading frontier labs, enterprises, and government agencies to push Generative AI into new capabilities and applications. As AI rapidly evolves from static models to dynamic, agentic systems, Scale is building the foundational research, evaluation methodologies, and agent/RL infrastructure that will define this next era. You’ll join a high-impact research organization driving advances in large-language models, post-training, evaluation, and agentic/RL environments, helping shape how next-generation AI is built, measured, and deployed.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Research Scientist Manager, you will lead a world-class team of research scientists and engineers, define the research roadmap, and drive execution from early prototyping to deployment. You’ll thrive in a fast-moving environment, balancing deep technical leadership with people management, vision setting, and delivery.
You will:
- Lead, mentor and grow a team of research scientists and engineers working on GenAI research initiatives (e.g., evaluation, post-training, agents, RL environments).
- Define and drive a multi-year research roadmap: identify key scientific questions, set milestones, allocate resources, and ensure rigorous execution.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product, client-facing teams and external academic or industry partners to translate research into components, insights, and actionable outcomes.
- Communicate compellingly: publish research, present at conferences, engage in open-source contributions, and represent the team externally.
- Drive an inclusive, high-performing culture: help your team through technical challenges, provide growth opportunities, and attract top talent.
- Stay deeply connected to the research community, understanding major trends, and helping set them.
- Thrive in a high-energy, fast-paced startup environment and are ready to dedicate the time and effort needed to drive impactful results.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of hands-on research experience (PhD or equivalent preferred) in machine learning, deep learning, generative models, agent/rl systems or related domains.
- A strong track record of research excellence, including publications in top-tier ML/AI venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, etc.).
- Experience and track of recording in landing major research impacts in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience leading or managing research teams. You’re excited to mentor, coach and develop talent.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. You are able to articulate research ideas and outcomes to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant.
You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to:
- comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage
- retirement benefits
- a learning and development stipend
- generous PTO
- additional benefits such as a commuter stipend
LOCATION
For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $290,400—$363,000 USD
EEO STATEMENT
At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.
We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.
DATA USAGE NOTICE
We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.
INTRODUCTION
Scale AI accelerates the development of AI systems by providing the data, infrastructure, and tooling that power the most advanced models in the world. Our teams operate at the intersection of cutting-edge research, large-scale engineering, and real-world deployment, partnering with leading frontier labs, enterprises, and government agencies to push Generative AI into new capabilities and applications. As AI rapidly evolves from static models to dynamic, agentic systems, Scale is building the foundational research, evaluation methodologies, and agent/RL infrastructure that will define this next era. You’ll join a high-impact research organization driving advances in large-language models, post-training, evaluation, and agentic/RL environments, helping shape how next-generation AI is built, measured, and deployed.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Research Scientist Manager, you will lead a world-class team of research scientists and engineers, define the research roadmap, and drive execution from early prototyping to deployment. You’ll thrive in a fast-moving environment, balancing deep technical leadership with people management, vision setting, and delivery.
You will:
- Lead, mentor and grow a team of research scientists and engineers working on GenAI research initiatives (e.g., evaluation, post-training, agents, RL environments).
- Define and drive a multi-year research roadmap: identify key scientific questions, set milestones, allocate resources, and ensure rigorous execution.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product, client-facing teams and external academic or industry partners to translate research into components, insights, and actionable outcomes.
- Communicate compellingly: publish research, present at conferences, engage in open-source contributions, and represent the team externally.
- Drive an inclusive, high-performing culture: help your team through technical challenges, provide growth opportunities, and attract top talent.
- Stay deeply connected to the research community, understanding major trends, and helping set them.
- Thrive in a high-energy, fast-paced startup environment and are ready to dedicate the time and effort needed to drive impactful results.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of hands-on research experience (PhD or equivalent preferred) in machine learning, deep learning, generative models, agent/rl systems or related domains.
- A strong track record of research excellence, including publications in top-tier ML/AI venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, etc.).
- Experience and track of recording in landing major research impacts in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience leading or managing research teams. You’re excited to mentor, coach and develop talent.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. You are able to articulate research ideas and outcomes to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant.
You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to:
- comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage
- retirement benefits
- a learning and development stipend
- generous PTO
- additional benefits such as a commuter stipend
LOCATION
For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $290,400—$363,000 USD
EEO STATEMENT
At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.
We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.
DATA USAGE NOTICE
We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.
See all Research Data Scientist Jobs at Scale AI
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Research Data Scientist Jobs at Scale AI.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Research Data Scientist Jobs at Scale AI
Frame research experience around RLHF pipelines
Scale AI's Research Data Scientist roles center on reinforcement learning from human feedback and model evaluation. Tailor your resume to show experience designing annotation schemas, evaluating LLM outputs, or running experiments on human-generated data, not just general ML modeling.
Verify your OPT end date before applying
If you're on F-1 OPT, confirm your authorized period on your I-20 and EAD before submitting applications. Scale AI's hiring timelines can run several months, and starting the process with less than six months of OPT remaining creates real H-1B cap-gap risk.
Target roles open before the H-1B registration window
USCIS opens H-1B lottery registration each March. Applying to Scale AI in late 2025 or early 2026 positions you to have an offer in hand before registration closes, giving your employer the best chance of submitting a complete, timely petition.
Confirm your role qualifies as a specialty occupation
USCIS requires H-1B positions to demand at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field. For Research Data Scientist roles, your job duties and degree should align tightly, typically statistics, computer science, or a related quantitative discipline, to satisfy USCIS's specialty occupation definition.
Use Migrate Mate to filter open Research Data Scientist roles
Scale AI posts Research Data Scientist openings across multiple specializations. Use Migrate Mate to filter specifically for roles at Scale AI that are open to sponsored candidates, so you're applying to positions where sponsorship is already confirmed rather than guessing from a generic job listing.
Ask about LCA filing timelines during the offer stage
Before your employer files an H-1B petition, DOL must certify a Labor Condition Application. At the offer stage, ask Scale AI's recruiting team whether LCA filing is already underway. Delays at this step are the most common reason H-1B start dates slip past October 1.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Scale AI sponsor H-1B visas for Research Data Scientists?
Yes, Scale AI sponsors H-1B visas for Research Data Scientists. The company has an established process for supporting international hires in technical research roles. Because H-1B selection is subject to an annual lottery, your best approach is to secure an offer early in the calendar year so your employer can submit your registration before the March window closes.
How do I apply for Research Data Scientist jobs at Scale AI?
You can browse open Research Data Scientist positions at Scale AI directly through Migrate Mate, which filters for roles confirmed to offer visa sponsorship. Scale AI's interview process for this function typically includes a technical screen focused on ML fundamentals, a take-home or live data task, and a final round covering research judgment and experimental design. Preparing examples of past annotation pipeline or model evaluation work strengthens your candidacy significantly.
Which visa types does Scale AI commonly use for Research Data Scientists?
Scale AI sponsors H-1B and E-3 visas for Research Data Scientists, along with supporting F-1 OPT and CPT for students already in the U.S. pipeline. Australian citizens are eligible for the E-3, which bypasses the H-1B lottery entirely. TN visas are available to Canadian and Mexican nationals whose role and credentials meet the applicable USMCA category requirements.
What qualifications does Scale AI expect for Research Data Scientists?
Scale AI typically hires Research Data Scientists with graduate-level training in statistics, machine learning, or a related quantitative field. Practical experience with LLM evaluation, data quality frameworks, or human-in-the-loop system design is valued more than general data engineering background. Roles vary in seniority, so reviewing the specific job description for required tooling and research scope before applying is essential.
How do I time my application to avoid gaps in work authorization?
If you're transitioning from F-1 OPT to H-1B, the cap-gap rule protects your work authorization between OPT expiration and the H-1B start date of October 1, provided your employer files a timely petition. For non-lottery pathways like E-3 or TN, authorization can begin as soon as the visa is issued or the petition is approved, which removes the October 1 dependency entirely.