H-1B Visa R&D Project Manager Jobs
H-1B visa jobs for R&D Project Managers put you at the intersection of technical expertise and project leadership, a combination that consistently qualifies as a specialty occupation under USCIS rules. Sponsoring employers file a certified LCA and I-129 petition on your behalf, covering up to three years of initial H-1B status with extensions available to six years.
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Get Access To All JobsSenior R& D Project Manager - Hybrid | Cary, NC
We’re a leader in data and AI. Through our software and services, we inspire customers around the world to transform data into intelligence - and questions into answers.
If you're looking for a dynamic, fulfilling career with flexibility and a world-class employee experience, you'll find it here. We're recognized around the world for our inclusive, meaningful culture and innovative technologies by organizations like Fast Company, Forbes, Newsweek and more.
About the job
The SaaS team is looking for a Senior R&D Project Manager to lead the planning and execution of projects supporting SAS’s Software as a Service offering. Our team operates at the forefront of software innovation at SAS, helping shape how our products evolve into cloud-native, CI/CD-driven solutions built for the future.
This role is responsible for ensuring projects are delivered predictably, aligned to business goals, and executed with high quality across a dynamic, globally distributed environment. You will partner closely with engineering, product, and cross-functional teams to drive execution, manage dependencies, and ensure alignment across stakeholders. You will operate across the full project lifecycle from planning and estimation through execution and delivery while helping teams navigate complexity in a modern, CI/CD driven SaaS environment.
We’re a collaborative, supportive, and high-performing team that values curiosity, ownership, and continuous improvement—and we’d love for you to be part of what we’re building.
As a Senior R&D Project Manager, you will:
- Lead deadline-driven, team-based projects by facilitating clear objectives, requirements, scope, goals, and committed outcomes with teams and stakeholders.
- Plan, prioritize, forecast, implement, and adjust delivery schedules, scope, resourcing, and quality in consultation with project stakeholders, maintaining focus on committed work.
- Negotiate resource needs and coordinate technical resources for assigned projects, including both domestic and international resources.
- Maintain accurate project plans, delivery forecasts, schedules, decision logs, action items, issue lists, risk registers, and status reports that provide transparent progress and work-item visibility across teams.
- Coordinate and communicate activities across team members and stakeholders, facilitate effective meetings, and drive action-item ownership and follow-up to keep projects on schedule and resolve conflict.
- Identify, track, and coordinate risks and delivery impediments, including blocked or aging work, and drive mitigation and early escalation as appropriate.
- Manage project scope and expectations. Identify and constructively negotiate conflicts or areas of high risk.
- Leverage methodologies, processes, project tools, and best practices to accelerate project delivery.
- Identify and coordinate project dependencies and stakeholder influences; monitor cross-team handoffs and wait states; and work jointly with organizations that share responsibility for delivery.
- Serve as a central point of contact across the Company, including Legal, Marketing, and SAS.com, to maintain alignment and project success.
- Manage multiple large scale complex projects.
- Determine and evolve methods and procedures on new assignments.
- Provide timely, audience-appropriate delivery information to stakeholders and interact with senior and executive management as needed, clearly communicating whether work is on track, what is blocked, which dependencies threaten delivery, and where decisions are pending.
- Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.
Required qualifications
- 8 years of experience in software project management, preferably in agile environments.
- Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field, preferably in Computer Science or a related discipline.
- Proven experience delivering projects end-to-end across planning, execution, and delivery.
- Strong experience working in SaaS or continuous delivery environments.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills, including negotiation, communication, and conflict resolution.
- Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.
Additional competencies, knowledge and skills
- Communication - Conveying information and ideas clearly and concisely to individuals or groups in an engaging manner that helps them understand and retain the message; listening actively to others.
- Driving for results - Setting high goals for personal and group accomplishment; using measurement methods to monitor progress toward goals; tenaciously working to meet or exceed goals while deriving satisfaction from that achievement and continuous improvement.
- Building Trusting Relationships - Using appropriate interpersonal styles to establish effective relationships with customers and internal partners; interacting with others in a way that promotes openness and trust and gives them confidence in one’s intentions.
- Experience with Jira or similar tools.
- PMP, CSM or equivalent certifications.
- Ability to influence without authority.
- Ability to manage pressure, deadlines, and competing priorities.
You are welcome here.
At SAS, it’s not about fitting into our culture – it’s about adding to it. We believe our people make the difference. Our inclusive workforce brings together unique talents and inspires teams to create amazing software that reflects the diversity of our users and customers.
Additional Information:
SAS only sends emails from verified “sas.com” email addresses and never asks for sensitive, personal information or money. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of any type of communication from, or on behalf of SAS, please contact RecruitingSupport@sas.com.
Let's stay in touch! Join our Talent Community to stay up to date on company news, job updates and more.
SAS
Senior R& D Project Manager - Hybrid | Cary, NC
We’re a leader in data and AI. Through our software and services, we inspire customers around the world to transform data into intelligence - and questions into answers.
If you're looking for a dynamic, fulfilling career with flexibility and a world-class employee experience, you'll find it here. We're recognized around the world for our inclusive, meaningful culture and innovative technologies by organizations like Fast Company, Forbes, Newsweek and more.
About the job
The SaaS team is looking for a Senior R&D Project Manager to lead the planning and execution of projects supporting SAS’s Software as a Service offering. Our team operates at the forefront of software innovation at SAS, helping shape how our products evolve into cloud-native, CI/CD-driven solutions built for the future.
This role is responsible for ensuring projects are delivered predictably, aligned to business goals, and executed with high quality across a dynamic, globally distributed environment. You will partner closely with engineering, product, and cross-functional teams to drive execution, manage dependencies, and ensure alignment across stakeholders. You will operate across the full project lifecycle from planning and estimation through execution and delivery while helping teams navigate complexity in a modern, CI/CD driven SaaS environment.
We’re a collaborative, supportive, and high-performing team that values curiosity, ownership, and continuous improvement—and we’d love for you to be part of what we’re building.
As a Senior R&D Project Manager, you will:
- Lead deadline-driven, team-based projects by facilitating clear objectives, requirements, scope, goals, and committed outcomes with teams and stakeholders.
- Plan, prioritize, forecast, implement, and adjust delivery schedules, scope, resourcing, and quality in consultation with project stakeholders, maintaining focus on committed work.
- Negotiate resource needs and coordinate technical resources for assigned projects, including both domestic and international resources.
- Maintain accurate project plans, delivery forecasts, schedules, decision logs, action items, issue lists, risk registers, and status reports that provide transparent progress and work-item visibility across teams.
- Coordinate and communicate activities across team members and stakeholders, facilitate effective meetings, and drive action-item ownership and follow-up to keep projects on schedule and resolve conflict.
- Identify, track, and coordinate risks and delivery impediments, including blocked or aging work, and drive mitigation and early escalation as appropriate.
- Manage project scope and expectations. Identify and constructively negotiate conflicts or areas of high risk.
- Leverage methodologies, processes, project tools, and best practices to accelerate project delivery.
- Identify and coordinate project dependencies and stakeholder influences; monitor cross-team handoffs and wait states; and work jointly with organizations that share responsibility for delivery.
- Serve as a central point of contact across the Company, including Legal, Marketing, and SAS.com, to maintain alignment and project success.
- Manage multiple large scale complex projects.
- Determine and evolve methods and procedures on new assignments.
- Provide timely, audience-appropriate delivery information to stakeholders and interact with senior and executive management as needed, clearly communicating whether work is on track, what is blocked, which dependencies threaten delivery, and where decisions are pending.
- Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.
Required qualifications
- 8 years of experience in software project management, preferably in agile environments.
- Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field, preferably in Computer Science or a related discipline.
- Proven experience delivering projects end-to-end across planning, execution, and delivery.
- Strong experience working in SaaS or continuous delivery environments.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills, including negotiation, communication, and conflict resolution.
- Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.
Additional competencies, knowledge and skills
- Communication - Conveying information and ideas clearly and concisely to individuals or groups in an engaging manner that helps them understand and retain the message; listening actively to others.
- Driving for results - Setting high goals for personal and group accomplishment; using measurement methods to monitor progress toward goals; tenaciously working to meet or exceed goals while deriving satisfaction from that achievement and continuous improvement.
- Building Trusting Relationships - Using appropriate interpersonal styles to establish effective relationships with customers and internal partners; interacting with others in a way that promotes openness and trust and gives them confidence in one’s intentions.
- Experience with Jira or similar tools.
- PMP, CSM or equivalent certifications.
- Ability to influence without authority.
- Ability to manage pressure, deadlines, and competing priorities.
You are welcome here.
At SAS, it’s not about fitting into our culture – it’s about adding to it. We believe our people make the difference. Our inclusive workforce brings together unique talents and inspires teams to create amazing software that reflects the diversity of our users and customers.
Additional Information:
SAS only sends emails from verified “sas.com” email addresses and never asks for sensitive, personal information or money. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of any type of communication from, or on behalf of SAS, please contact RecruitingSupport@sas.com.
Let's stay in touch! Join our Talent Community to stay up to date on company news, job updates and more.
SAS
See all 37+ H-1B Visa R&D Project Manager Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new H-1B Visa R&D Project Manager Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship as a R&D Project Manager
Align your credentials to specialty occupation standards
Pull the R&D Project Manager occupation profile from O*NET and confirm your degree field maps directly to research coordination or engineering management. USCIS scrutinizes degree-to-role fit closely for project management titles, so a mismatch between your transcript and the job duties is the most common petition rejection trigger.
Verify prevailing wages before accepting an offer
Run your target city and SOC code through the OFLC Wage Search before salary negotiations close. Your employer's LCA must certify wages at or above the prevailing wage level for your specific worksite, and underbidding that threshold stalls certification before USCIS ever sees your petition.
Find sponsors through Migrate Mate's verified filing history
Target employers with a documented record of sponsoring R&D roles, not just any company open to H-1B visa in principle. Migrate Mate lists employers with verified LCA filing history by role type, letting you focus outreach on organizations that have already navigated the process for positions like yours.
Flag multi-site project assignments early
R&D Project Managers often rotate across facilities or partner labs. Each worksite requires its own certified LCA before you begin work there. Raise this with your employer's HR or immigration counsel during offer negotiations so worksite amendments don't interrupt your start date or project timeline.
Request premium processing for time-sensitive project starts
If your onboarding ties to a funded research cycle or grant period, ask your employer to file Form I-907 for premium processing. USCIS targets a 15-business-day adjudication window under premium, reducing the risk that standard processing delays push your start date past a critical project milestone.
Document technical depth in your job offer letter
Generic project management titles draw more USCIS scrutiny than role descriptions anchored in specific research methodologies, lab systems, or engineering domains. Work with your hiring manager to ensure the offer letter and job description reference the technical disciplines your role oversees, not just budget and timeline responsibilities.
H-1B Visa R&D Project Manager: Frequently Asked Questions
Does an R&D Project Manager role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
Yes, R&D Project Manager positions typically qualify as a specialty occupation when the role requires applying specialized knowledge in a research domain such as engineering, life sciences, or applied technology, and demands at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related field. The employer's job description must reflect these technical requirements clearly. Generic project coordination duties without a degree-specific requirement can undermine the petition, so the offer letter's duty language matters significantly.
Which employers sponsor H-1B visas for R&D Project Managers?
Pharmaceutical companies, aerospace and defense contractors, semiconductor manufacturers, and national research institutions are among the most consistent H-1B sponsors for R&D Project Manager roles. These organizations file LCAs regularly for research-adjacent positions and have established immigration processes. Migrate Mate shows employers with verified LCA filing history by role type, so you can identify active sponsors without sorting through general job boards that don't surface sponsorship history.
How does the LCA requirement work for R&D Project Managers who travel between project sites?
Each geographic worksite where you perform H-1B duties requires its own certified LCA reflecting the prevailing wage for that location. If your role involves rotating between a corporate lab, a university partner site, or a government facility in different cities, your employer must file separate LCA amendments before you begin work at each new location. Short-term placements under ten days may qualify for a posting exception, but regular multi-site assignments require proactive LCA planning from your employer.
Can I switch R&D employers on an H-1B without losing my status?
Yes, H-1B portability under AC21 lets you start working for a new R&D employer as soon as that employer files a new I-129 petition on your behalf, provided your original petition was approved and you've been in valid H-1B status. You don't need to wait for the new petition to be approved before starting. The new employer still needs to certify a fresh LCA for your worksite, so plan for two to four weeks of LCA processing before the I-129 can be filed.
What documentation strengthens an H-1B petition for an R&D Project Manager?
A strong petition for this role pairs a detailed job description specifying the technical research domains the manager oversees with academic transcripts confirming a degree in a directly related field such as engineering, chemistry, or computer science. Supporting letters from prior employers that describe technical, not just administrative, project responsibilities add weight. If your degree field is adjacent rather than exact, a credential evaluation and expert opinion letter can close the gap before USCIS issues a Request for Evidence.