H-1B Visa Founding Engineer Jobs
Founding Engineer roles sit at the intersection of deep technical ownership and early-stage company building, and many startups that hire for this title actively sponsor H-1B visas. These positions typically qualify as specialty occupations under USCIS standards, requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a directly related field.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Innovamat
Innovamat is transforming K–8 math education across the U.S. and beyond — and we’re just getting started.
We’re a fast-growing educational organization with 350+ teammates across 10 countries, building a new generation of math education grounded in research, teacher empowerment, and real classroom impact. Our curriculum, intervention programs, and adaptive technology are already trusted by 27,000+ teachers in 2,600+ schools worldwide — and we’re now in a pivotal phase of scaling our presence in the U.S.
Backed by leading thinkers like Peter Liljedahl (Building Thinking Classrooms), Innovamat sits at the intersection of learning science, product innovation, and execution.
We operate with a true startup mindset — we move fast, take ownership, experiment constantly, and are deeply driven by the impact we create for teachers and students.
Math should be joyful, meaningful, and transformational — not worksheets and rote memorization. We partner with districts and educators to reimagine what math classrooms can look like.
This is a chance to join early in our U.S. journey, take on real ownership, and help build something from the ground up.
The Role
We’re looking for a Founding Market Lead to launch and scale the Illinois region — one of our most strategic markets in the U.S.
This is not a traditional sales role. You’ll operate as the owner of the region, responsible for building pipeline, closing flagship partnerships, and laying the foundation for a high-performing team.
You’ll start as a hands-on builder — opening doors, closing deals, and shaping our go-to-market motion — and evolve into a leader, hiring and developing the team that will scale the region.
Roles like this are rare: you’ll have the autonomy of a founder, the backing of a global company, and the opportunity to shape how an entire region — and eventually the U.S. — grows.
What You’ll Do
Own and grow the Illinois territory:
Build Innovamat’s presence across the region by identifying priority districts, shaping a focused territory strategy, and creating strong momentum in the market. Lead district partnerships end-to-end — from outbound and first conversations to pilots and closing long-term agreements.
Operate with full ownership of the Illinois market:
Take a holistic view of the region — owning revenue, partnerships, and local strategy — while working closely with the GM as a trusted right hand. Drive performance and outcomes with a strong sense of accountability, treating the territory as your business.
Build and lead a high performing team:
Hire, onboard, and develop a high-performing regional team (AEs, Math Success Managers, etc.) as we scale. Set the bar for performance and culture from day one.
Open doors with districts:
Generate pipeline through strategic outreach, networking, conferences, and strong presence in the education ecosystem.
Lead consultative conversations:
Engage district leaders in meaningful discussions about their math challenges and introduce Innovamat’s research-backed approach.
Collaborate to close:
Partner closely with Math Success, Strategy, and Marketing to deliver compelling demos, pilots, and proposals.
Refine the go-to-market motion:
Identify patterns, improve messaging, and help build the playbook for scaling district partnerships across new regions.
Be the face of Innovamat locally:
Represent Innovamat at conferences, events, and district meetings to build credibility and brand presence.
What We’re Looking For
Entrepreneurial spirit: You create momentum from scratch. You’ve built, shipped, or taken ownership of something meaningful before.
Experience in fast-paced environments: A proven track record of grit, resilience, and performance in another fast paced environment where ownership and results matter (e.g. investment banking, consulting, private equity, engineering, operations, tech or early-stage startups).
Founder mentality: You operate beyond your role, improving systems, processes, and outcomes for the broader team. You might be a former founder, a consultant ready to own outcomes, an MBA who prefers execution over theory, or someone from growth/product/strategy/ops who loves closing.
Operator mindset: You combine strategy with execution. You can zoom out to define the plan and zoom in to make it happen.
Closing ability: Experience owning the full sales cycle or consistently delivering results in a high-performance environment.
Team builder: You’re excited to hire, develop, and lead a team. You set a high bar and create environments where people perform at their best.
Resilience: You’re energized by opening doors and navigating complex, multi-stakeholder decision processes.
Relationship intelligence: You build trust with senior stakeholders and understand how institutions make decisions.
Learning mindset: Excited to deeply understand math education and how districts adopt new solutions.
Location: Based in Chicago and willing to travel ~50%.
What Makes You Stand Out
- You’ve helped launch or scale something from 0 to 1
- You take ownership beyond your job description
- You naturally improve systems, strategy, and execution
- You’re curious about education, learning science, and systemic change
- You thrive in high-impact, high-responsibility environments
What We Offer You
Compensation: OTE 170K, with uncapped earning potential.
401(k) match: 5% company match to support your long-term financial wellbeing.
Comprehensive health benefits: Medical, dental, and vision — we cover 100% of the premium for you.
Work alongside exceptional people: Collaborate with leading educators, mathematicians, and researchers shaping the future of math education.
A high-trust, collaborative team: We value ownership, candor, and genuine teamwork.
Meaningful ownership and visibility: As an early member of the U.S. expansion, your work will directly shape how we grow.
Cross-functional exposure: Work closely with Growth, Strategy, Marketing, and Math Success teams.
Mission-driven work: Be part of a systemic shift in education, transforming how students experience and learn math.
Time to recharge: Enjoy 22+ days of PTO, plus an additional week off during our company-wide holiday shutdown.
Connection & culture: Regular team meetups, team-building activities and an annual summer company offsite.
Innovamat is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building an inclusive team and welcome candidates from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
We process personal data as part of our recruitment procedures. Please consult our Candidate Privacy Notices for more information.
Innovamat is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout our hiring process. If you require assistance or accommodations, please contact us.
About Innovamat
Innovamat is transforming K–8 math education across the U.S. and beyond — and we’re just getting started.
We’re a fast-growing educational organization with 350+ teammates across 10 countries, building a new generation of math education grounded in research, teacher empowerment, and real classroom impact. Our curriculum, intervention programs, and adaptive technology are already trusted by 27,000+ teachers in 2,600+ schools worldwide — and we’re now in a pivotal phase of scaling our presence in the U.S.
Backed by leading thinkers like Peter Liljedahl (Building Thinking Classrooms), Innovamat sits at the intersection of learning science, product innovation, and execution.
We operate with a true startup mindset — we move fast, take ownership, experiment constantly, and are deeply driven by the impact we create for teachers and students.
Math should be joyful, meaningful, and transformational — not worksheets and rote memorization. We partner with districts and educators to reimagine what math classrooms can look like.
This is a chance to join early in our U.S. journey, take on real ownership, and help build something from the ground up.
The Role
We’re looking for a Founding Market Lead to launch and scale the Illinois region — one of our most strategic markets in the U.S.
This is not a traditional sales role. You’ll operate as the owner of the region, responsible for building pipeline, closing flagship partnerships, and laying the foundation for a high-performing team.
You’ll start as a hands-on builder — opening doors, closing deals, and shaping our go-to-market motion — and evolve into a leader, hiring and developing the team that will scale the region.
Roles like this are rare: you’ll have the autonomy of a founder, the backing of a global company, and the opportunity to shape how an entire region — and eventually the U.S. — grows.
What You’ll Do
Own and grow the Illinois territory:
Build Innovamat’s presence across the region by identifying priority districts, shaping a focused territory strategy, and creating strong momentum in the market. Lead district partnerships end-to-end — from outbound and first conversations to pilots and closing long-term agreements.
Operate with full ownership of the Illinois market:
Take a holistic view of the region — owning revenue, partnerships, and local strategy — while working closely with the GM as a trusted right hand. Drive performance and outcomes with a strong sense of accountability, treating the territory as your business.
Build and lead a high performing team:
Hire, onboard, and develop a high-performing regional team (AEs, Math Success Managers, etc.) as we scale. Set the bar for performance and culture from day one.
Open doors with districts:
Generate pipeline through strategic outreach, networking, conferences, and strong presence in the education ecosystem.
Lead consultative conversations:
Engage district leaders in meaningful discussions about their math challenges and introduce Innovamat’s research-backed approach.
Collaborate to close:
Partner closely with Math Success, Strategy, and Marketing to deliver compelling demos, pilots, and proposals.
Refine the go-to-market motion:
Identify patterns, improve messaging, and help build the playbook for scaling district partnerships across new regions.
Be the face of Innovamat locally:
Represent Innovamat at conferences, events, and district meetings to build credibility and brand presence.
What We’re Looking For
Entrepreneurial spirit: You create momentum from scratch. You’ve built, shipped, or taken ownership of something meaningful before.
Experience in fast-paced environments: A proven track record of grit, resilience, and performance in another fast paced environment where ownership and results matter (e.g. investment banking, consulting, private equity, engineering, operations, tech or early-stage startups).
Founder mentality: You operate beyond your role, improving systems, processes, and outcomes for the broader team. You might be a former founder, a consultant ready to own outcomes, an MBA who prefers execution over theory, or someone from growth/product/strategy/ops who loves closing.
Operator mindset: You combine strategy with execution. You can zoom out to define the plan and zoom in to make it happen.
Closing ability: Experience owning the full sales cycle or consistently delivering results in a high-performance environment.
Team builder: You’re excited to hire, develop, and lead a team. You set a high bar and create environments where people perform at their best.
Resilience: You’re energized by opening doors and navigating complex, multi-stakeholder decision processes.
Relationship intelligence: You build trust with senior stakeholders and understand how institutions make decisions.
Learning mindset: Excited to deeply understand math education and how districts adopt new solutions.
Location: Based in Chicago and willing to travel ~50%.
What Makes You Stand Out
- You’ve helped launch or scale something from 0 to 1
- You take ownership beyond your job description
- You naturally improve systems, strategy, and execution
- You’re curious about education, learning science, and systemic change
- You thrive in high-impact, high-responsibility environments
What We Offer You
Compensation: OTE 170K, with uncapped earning potential.
401(k) match: 5% company match to support your long-term financial wellbeing.
Comprehensive health benefits: Medical, dental, and vision — we cover 100% of the premium for you.
Work alongside exceptional people: Collaborate with leading educators, mathematicians, and researchers shaping the future of math education.
A high-trust, collaborative team: We value ownership, candor, and genuine teamwork.
Meaningful ownership and visibility: As an early member of the U.S. expansion, your work will directly shape how we grow.
Cross-functional exposure: Work closely with Growth, Strategy, Marketing, and Math Success teams.
Mission-driven work: Be part of a systemic shift in education, transforming how students experience and learn math.
Time to recharge: Enjoy 22+ days of PTO, plus an additional week off during our company-wide holiday shutdown.
Connection & culture: Regular team meetups, team-building activities and an annual summer company offsite.
Innovamat is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building an inclusive team and welcome candidates from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
We process personal data as part of our recruitment procedures. Please consult our Candidate Privacy Notices for more information.
Innovamat is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout our hiring process. If you require assistance or accommodations, please contact us.
See all 41+ H-1B Visa Founding Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new H-1B Visa Founding Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship as a Founding Engineer
Verify your role meets specialty occupation
USCIS scrutinizes broad titles like Founding Engineer more closely than standard software roles. Pull the O*NET profile for your specific function and confirm your job duties map to a degree-requiring occupation before your employer files.
Target startups with prior H-1B filing history
Use Migrate Mate to filter Founding Engineer openings by employers who have filed H-1B Labor Condition Applications before. First-time sponsors carry higher petition risk and longer internal approval timelines at the early-stage level.
Request premium processing before your start date
Founding Engineer offers often come with fast-moving timelines. Ask your employer to elect premium processing on the I-129 petition so USCIS adjudicates within 15 business days, reducing the gap between offer acceptance and authorized start.
Confirm the LCA wage level matches your actual scope
Founding Engineers frequently operate at Level III or IV on the DOL wage scale given their ownership responsibilities. Run your job title and location through the OFLC Wage Search to catch any mismatch before the LCA is certified.
Negotiate equity vesting around your H-1B timeline
Standard four-year vesting cliffs can conflict with H-1B petition and renewal windows. Structure your offer so the one-year cliff falls well inside your authorized period of stay, avoiding a gap between vest date and valid status.
Document your technical contributions from day one
When your employer files your H-1B extension, USCIS may issue an RFE asking for evidence the role still qualifies. Maintain a running record of architecture decisions, code ownership, and cross-functional leadership to support that filing.
H-1B Visa Founding Engineer: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Founding Engineer role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
It depends on how the position is defined. USCIS evaluates specialty occupation based on whether the role normally requires at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field, not just the job title. A Founding Engineer focused on systems architecture or full-stack product development typically qualifies. A role described as general technical leadership with no defined degree requirement may face an RFE. Your employer should tie the job description to specific technical domains before filing.
How do I find startups that will actually sponsor my H-1B as a Founding Engineer?
Early-stage companies vary widely in sponsorship willingness and experience. Migrate Mate surfaces Founding Engineer roles filtered by employers who have filed Labor Condition Applications, so you can focus on companies with a documented track record rather than asking cold. First-time sponsors aren't disqualified, but they require more internal runway to complete the process correctly.
Can a startup sponsor my H-1B if it has never done so before?
Yes. Any U.S. employer with an Employer Identification Number can file an H-1B petition, regardless of company size or prior sponsorship history. The practical risk is execution: first-time sponsors often underestimate the LCA certification timeline through DOL, the documentation requirements, and the cost. Working with an experienced immigration attorney reduces the likelihood of avoidable delays or denials.
What happens to my H-1B status if the startup shuts down or lays me off?
If your employer terminates your employment, your H-1B authorization ends with it. USCIS provides a 60-day grace period for involuntary terminations, during which you can transfer your H-1B to a new employer, change to another visa status, or prepare to depart. The clock starts from the last day of employment, not from when USCIS is notified. Start your job search immediately if your company shows signs of instability.
Does holding significant equity in the startup affect my H-1B eligibility?
Equity alone doesn't disqualify you, but USCIS looks closely at employer-employee relationships when the H-1B beneficiary holds a controlling ownership stake. If you own more than 50% of the company sponsoring your visa, USCIS may question whether a qualifying employment relationship exists. Minority equity stakes are generally not an issue. If your equity is substantial, your employer should address the control question explicitly in the petition.