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.
See All Founding Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 29+ Founding Engineer jobs
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
See all Founding Engineer jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Founding Engineer roles.
Get Access To All JobsABOUT THE JOB
At BuildOps, we’re building a groundbreaking software solution designed to empower today’s commercial contractors. From service management to project execution, we’re reimagining how our customers operate. Our team thrives on ambition, innovation, and collaboration—qualities we look for in every new hire.
As our Founding Engineer, Agentic Business Transformation, you will embed directly within business functions across the organization, deeply understand how teams operate today, and fundamentally reimagine how they should operate tomorrow. This is not about bolting automation onto existing processes; it's about redesigning how work gets done with agentic tooling transforming (and eliminating) workflows. You will partner with leaders across GTM and G&A to surface high-impact opportunities, architect intelligent solutions, and deliver measurable gains in productivity, output quality, and the experiences we deliver to our customers and employees. You will define what "AI-native operations" looks like inside a high-growth B2B SaaS company—well before most companies have even started asking the question. This is a high visibility role and will involve daily contact with the CEO, Chief of Staff, Chief Revenue Officer, and other members of the BuildOps Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Embed within internal business functions, including Revenue, RevOps, Customer Success, Customer Support, Finance, People, and Talent, to develop a deep, firsthand understanding of current workflows, pain points, and decision-making processes
- Conduct structured discovery, shadowing teams, interviewing stakeholders, and mapping end-to-end processes, to identify where AI can eliminate, redesign, or dramatically accelerate work
- Reimagine workflows from first principles rather than automating existing steps; challenge assumptions about what requires human involvement and what doesn’t
- Design, build, and deploy AI-powered automations, agents, and internal tools that reduce time spent on repetitive, low-value-add tasks while improving the quality and consistency of outputs
- Integrate large language models, agentic frameworks, and automation platforms into production-grade internal workflows with appropriate guardrails, error handling, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints
- Measure everything: establish baselines before intervention, track adoption and usage patterns post-deployment, and quantify productivity impact in terms of hours saved, error rates reduced, and cycle times compressed
- Serve as a trusted advisor to functional leaders on what AI can and cannot do for their teams; translate business problems into technical solutions and technical constraints into business language
- Stay abreast of the rapidly evolving AI tooling landscape (e.g., LLM capabilities, orchestration frameworks, RPA-to-AI convergence, no-code/low-code platforms) and calibrate our internal stack accordingly
- Build reusable patterns, templates, and playbooks so that successful automations in one function can be adapted and scaled across others
- Collaborate closely with the engineering and product organizations to ensure internal automation efforts align with our broader technology strategy and do not create shadow IT risk
QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of professional experience building automations, intelligent workflows, or AI-powered solutions in a business context—whether that foundation was in robotic process automation, software engineering, solutions engineering, or applied AI
- Demonstrated ability to work directly with non-technical business teams: you have spent meaningful time understanding how people actually work before designing what to build
- Hands-on experience with modern AI tooling, including large language models (e.g., Claude, GPT), prompt engineering, and at least one orchestration or agentic framework (e.g., LangChain, CrewAI, n8n, or similar)
- Strong scripting and integration skills with the ability to connect APIs, build data pipelines, and stand up end-to-end workflows in production—not just prototypes
- Track record of automating processes that previously required human judgment—not just rules-based tasks, but work involving unstructured data, natural language inputs, or contextual decision-making
- Process-oriented mindset: you naturally decompose complex workflows into discrete steps, identify bottlenecks, and think in terms of inputs, outputs, and handoffs
- Comfort operating with high autonomy in a fast-moving environment; you don’t wait to be told what to build — you go find the highest-leverage problem and propose a solution
- Excellent communication skills: you can present a business case to the CEO, C-suite executives, or VPs, run a discovery session with an ops team, and write clear documentation for a workflow you’ve built
- Experience in B2B SaaS, vertical software, or a similarly complex operational environment is a strong plus
- Familiarity with process mining, workflow analytics, or structured methodologies for identifying automation candidates (e.g., lean, six sigma, or consulting-style process improvement) is a plus
COMPENSATION
- [$188,000 to $273,000 base] + bonus opportunity (LA or SF Hub)
What we offer:
- Generous equity grant, become an owner in our company!
- A comprehensive benefits package
- Flexible PTO and hybrid work schedules
- One-time work-from-home allowance
- Hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Raleigh with hybrid work schedules and lunch provided for in-office days
- Company events and team-building activities, both in-person and virtual
- Fast-paced, collaborative, and dynamic work environment
- Opportunities for growth and career advancement
- Chance to work with cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions
- The chance to get in on the ground floor and build something truly groundbreaking for ourselves and our amazing customers
We welcome applicants from across the U.S. where we are registered to do business and able to support employment. Currently, this excludes the following states: Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. This list is based solely on operational and compliance considerations and is reviewed from time to time as our footprint grows.
ABOUT BUILDOPS
Join BuildOps, the largest commercial trade platform in the country, as we transform the multi-billion dollar commercial contracting industry!
We’re not just talking incremental improvements—we’re talking a full-scale revolution, empowering the hardworking heroes who build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps our world running. See why contractors choose BuildOps here.
This is your chance to be part of a rocketship. We’re fresh off a $1 billion valuation and a $127M Series C funding round (part of over $275M raised to date) led by industry-leading investors like Meritech Capital, BOND, and SE Ventures, backed by Schneider Electric. Our latest investors join our team of industry heavyweights like Next47, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, former Salesforce President Gavin Patterson, and Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols. Their investment is fueling our aggressive growth and our commitment to equipping contractors with AI-driven tools to conquer chaos, boost efficiency, skyrocket profitability, and ultimately, deliver exceptional service.
At BuildOps, we’re changing the game and doing the best work of our careers. You’ll be a key player in a company that’s truly making a difference for the backbone of our economy. If you’re ready to tackle big challenges, work with a passionate team, and build something extraordinary, BuildOps is the place for you. 🚀
BuildOps is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
BuildOps will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act pursuant to applicable local and state laws.
ABOUT THE JOB
At BuildOps, we’re building a groundbreaking software solution designed to empower today’s commercial contractors. From service management to project execution, we’re reimagining how our customers operate. Our team thrives on ambition, innovation, and collaboration—qualities we look for in every new hire.
As our Founding Engineer, Agentic Business Transformation, you will embed directly within business functions across the organization, deeply understand how teams operate today, and fundamentally reimagine how they should operate tomorrow. This is not about bolting automation onto existing processes; it's about redesigning how work gets done with agentic tooling transforming (and eliminating) workflows. You will partner with leaders across GTM and G&A to surface high-impact opportunities, architect intelligent solutions, and deliver measurable gains in productivity, output quality, and the experiences we deliver to our customers and employees. You will define what "AI-native operations" looks like inside a high-growth B2B SaaS company—well before most companies have even started asking the question. This is a high visibility role and will involve daily contact with the CEO, Chief of Staff, Chief Revenue Officer, and other members of the BuildOps Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Embed within internal business functions, including Revenue, RevOps, Customer Success, Customer Support, Finance, People, and Talent, to develop a deep, firsthand understanding of current workflows, pain points, and decision-making processes
- Conduct structured discovery, shadowing teams, interviewing stakeholders, and mapping end-to-end processes, to identify where AI can eliminate, redesign, or dramatically accelerate work
- Reimagine workflows from first principles rather than automating existing steps; challenge assumptions about what requires human involvement and what doesn’t
- Design, build, and deploy AI-powered automations, agents, and internal tools that reduce time spent on repetitive, low-value-add tasks while improving the quality and consistency of outputs
- Integrate large language models, agentic frameworks, and automation platforms into production-grade internal workflows with appropriate guardrails, error handling, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints
- Measure everything: establish baselines before intervention, track adoption and usage patterns post-deployment, and quantify productivity impact in terms of hours saved, error rates reduced, and cycle times compressed
- Serve as a trusted advisor to functional leaders on what AI can and cannot do for their teams; translate business problems into technical solutions and technical constraints into business language
- Stay abreast of the rapidly evolving AI tooling landscape (e.g., LLM capabilities, orchestration frameworks, RPA-to-AI convergence, no-code/low-code platforms) and calibrate our internal stack accordingly
- Build reusable patterns, templates, and playbooks so that successful automations in one function can be adapted and scaled across others
- Collaborate closely with the engineering and product organizations to ensure internal automation efforts align with our broader technology strategy and do not create shadow IT risk
QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of professional experience building automations, intelligent workflows, or AI-powered solutions in a business context—whether that foundation was in robotic process automation, software engineering, solutions engineering, or applied AI
- Demonstrated ability to work directly with non-technical business teams: you have spent meaningful time understanding how people actually work before designing what to build
- Hands-on experience with modern AI tooling, including large language models (e.g., Claude, GPT), prompt engineering, and at least one orchestration or agentic framework (e.g., LangChain, CrewAI, n8n, or similar)
- Strong scripting and integration skills with the ability to connect APIs, build data pipelines, and stand up end-to-end workflows in production—not just prototypes
- Track record of automating processes that previously required human judgment—not just rules-based tasks, but work involving unstructured data, natural language inputs, or contextual decision-making
- Process-oriented mindset: you naturally decompose complex workflows into discrete steps, identify bottlenecks, and think in terms of inputs, outputs, and handoffs
- Comfort operating with high autonomy in a fast-moving environment; you don’t wait to be told what to build — you go find the highest-leverage problem and propose a solution
- Excellent communication skills: you can present a business case to the CEO, C-suite executives, or VPs, run a discovery session with an ops team, and write clear documentation for a workflow you’ve built
- Experience in B2B SaaS, vertical software, or a similarly complex operational environment is a strong plus
- Familiarity with process mining, workflow analytics, or structured methodologies for identifying automation candidates (e.g., lean, six sigma, or consulting-style process improvement) is a plus
COMPENSATION
- [$188,000 to $273,000 base] + bonus opportunity (LA or SF Hub)
What we offer:
- Generous equity grant, become an owner in our company!
- A comprehensive benefits package
- Flexible PTO and hybrid work schedules
- One-time work-from-home allowance
- Hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Raleigh with hybrid work schedules and lunch provided for in-office days
- Company events and team-building activities, both in-person and virtual
- Fast-paced, collaborative, and dynamic work environment
- Opportunities for growth and career advancement
- Chance to work with cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions
- The chance to get in on the ground floor and build something truly groundbreaking for ourselves and our amazing customers
We welcome applicants from across the U.S. where we are registered to do business and able to support employment. Currently, this excludes the following states: Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. This list is based solely on operational and compliance considerations and is reviewed from time to time as our footprint grows.
ABOUT BUILDOPS
Join BuildOps, the largest commercial trade platform in the country, as we transform the multi-billion dollar commercial contracting industry!
We’re not just talking incremental improvements—we’re talking a full-scale revolution, empowering the hardworking heroes who build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps our world running. See why contractors choose BuildOps here.
This is your chance to be part of a rocketship. We’re fresh off a $1 billion valuation and a $127M Series C funding round (part of over $275M raised to date) led by industry-leading investors like Meritech Capital, BOND, and SE Ventures, backed by Schneider Electric. Our latest investors join our team of industry heavyweights like Next47, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, former Salesforce President Gavin Patterson, and Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols. Their investment is fueling our aggressive growth and our commitment to equipping contractors with AI-driven tools to conquer chaos, boost efficiency, skyrocket profitability, and ultimately, deliver exceptional service.
At BuildOps, we’re changing the game and doing the best work of our careers. You’ll be a key player in a company that’s truly making a difference for the backbone of our economy. If you’re ready to tackle big challenges, work with a passionate team, and build something extraordinary, BuildOps is the place for you. 🚀
BuildOps is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
BuildOps will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act pursuant to applicable local and state laws.
See all Founding Engineer jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Founding Engineer roles.
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.
Founding Engineer jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
Find Founding Engineer JobsFounding Engineer H-1B Visa: 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.
See which Founding Engineer employers are hiring and sponsoring visas right now.
Search Founding Engineer Jobs