H-1B Visa Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer Jobs
Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer roles sit in H-1B specialty occupation territory, requiring a directly related bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, statistics, or a closely aligned field. Employers file an LCA with DOL before sponsoring, and most large tech and AI-focused companies have active H-1B filing histories for this level.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.
The Community You Will Join:
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are at the heart of the Airbnb product. From Trust to Payments, and from Customer Service to Marketing we rely on ML to ensure that guests and hosts have the best possible experience with Airbnb.
The CS AI product team is responsible for driving CSxAI (Customer Support x Artificial Intelligence) initiatives by adopting the Generative AI technologies to enable an intelligent, scalable and exceptional service experience. The team develops and enhances various AI models, ML services and tools including LLM fine-tuning, alignment and optimization, RAG/Search, LLM evaluation and testing automation, feedback-based learning and guardrail for a wide range of applications in Airbnb.
The Difference You Will Make:
As a principle machine learning engineer, you will be responsible for fine-tuning state-of-the-art LLMs for diverse use cases while optimizing models for high-performance deployment on Airbnb’s ML Infrastructure. You will partner with product managers, software engineers, data scientists and operation teams to brainstorm, design and develop AI products such as AI Assistant, Autonomous agent, recommendation, travel planning, and many more products that make meaningful impacts in the world of travel.
A Typical Day:
- Work with large scale structured and unstructured data; explore, experiment, build and continuously improve foundation models for Airbnb product, business and operational use cases.
- Create a multi-year tech roadmap that enables our team to stay on the leading edge of the rapidly evolving AI landscape and leverage the best in class technologies to deliver customer benefits.
- Continuously evaluate recent and upcoming large foundational models, ensuring the selection and refinement of the highest quality models for enhanced performance and efficiency.
- Hands-on prototype, develop and productionize LLM models and pipelines at scale, including both batch and real-time use cases.
- Drive key AI architectural decisions for products, and contribute to Airbnb’s ML platform architecture and strategy.
Your Expertise:
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, or related technical field.
- 10+ years of experience with developing machine learning models and products at scale from inception to business impact.
- Programming experience in Python and hands-on experience with frameworks such as PyTorch.
- Proven record of training, fine tuning, optimizing models and inference run-time.
- Post-training experience in areas like data processing for fine-tuning; responsible LLMs; LLM alignment; reinforcement learning; efficient training and inference; language model evaluation; and/or multilingual and multimodal modeling.
- Or specialized experience in runtime optimizations, model quantization, compression, on-device inference, GPU inference, pytorch, kernel development.
Your Location:
This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Click here for the up-to-date list of excluded states. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.
Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:
Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.
We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.
We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.
COMPENSATION
- Pay Range: $248,000—$310,000 USD
Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.
INTRODUCTION
Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.
The Community You Will Join:
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are at the heart of the Airbnb product. From Trust to Payments, and from Customer Service to Marketing we rely on ML to ensure that guests and hosts have the best possible experience with Airbnb.
The CS AI product team is responsible for driving CSxAI (Customer Support x Artificial Intelligence) initiatives by adopting the Generative AI technologies to enable an intelligent, scalable and exceptional service experience. The team develops and enhances various AI models, ML services and tools including LLM fine-tuning, alignment and optimization, RAG/Search, LLM evaluation and testing automation, feedback-based learning and guardrail for a wide range of applications in Airbnb.
The Difference You Will Make:
As a principle machine learning engineer, you will be responsible for fine-tuning state-of-the-art LLMs for diverse use cases while optimizing models for high-performance deployment on Airbnb’s ML Infrastructure. You will partner with product managers, software engineers, data scientists and operation teams to brainstorm, design and develop AI products such as AI Assistant, Autonomous agent, recommendation, travel planning, and many more products that make meaningful impacts in the world of travel.
A Typical Day:
- Work with large scale structured and unstructured data; explore, experiment, build and continuously improve foundation models for Airbnb product, business and operational use cases.
- Create a multi-year tech roadmap that enables our team to stay on the leading edge of the rapidly evolving AI landscape and leverage the best in class technologies to deliver customer benefits.
- Continuously evaluate recent and upcoming large foundational models, ensuring the selection and refinement of the highest quality models for enhanced performance and efficiency.
- Hands-on prototype, develop and productionize LLM models and pipelines at scale, including both batch and real-time use cases.
- Drive key AI architectural decisions for products, and contribute to Airbnb’s ML platform architecture and strategy.
Your Expertise:
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, or related technical field.
- 10+ years of experience with developing machine learning models and products at scale from inception to business impact.
- Programming experience in Python and hands-on experience with frameworks such as PyTorch.
- Proven record of training, fine tuning, optimizing models and inference run-time.
- Post-training experience in areas like data processing for fine-tuning; responsible LLMs; LLM alignment; reinforcement learning; efficient training and inference; language model evaluation; and/or multilingual and multimodal modeling.
- Or specialized experience in runtime optimizations, model quantization, compression, on-device inference, GPU inference, pytorch, kernel development.
Your Location:
This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity. Click here for the up-to-date list of excluded states. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.
Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:
Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.
We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process.
We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.
COMPENSATION
- Pay Range: $248,000—$310,000 USD
Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship as a Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer
Align your degree to the role
USCIS scrutinizes specialty occupation claims at the staff and principal engineer level. Make sure your degree field maps directly to ML engineering, not just software or data broadly. A credential evaluation helps if your degree is from outside the U.S.
Target employers with LCA filing history
Use Migrate Mate to filter for companies that have filed H-1B LCAs for machine learning or AI engineering roles, so you're applying to employers who've already demonstrated sponsorship willingness at this seniority level.
Check the prevailing wage before negotiating
At Sr Staff level, your offered salary must meet DOL's Level III or IV wage for your job's SOC code in your metro area. Run the OFLC Wage Search before you receive an offer so you know the floor and can negotiate from an informed position.
Ask about cap-exempt status early
Universities, nonprofit research institutions, and certain government-affiliated labs are cap-exempt, meaning your H-1B can start any time of year without waiting for the October 1 lottery start date. Confirm the employer's exemption status during early interview stages.
Front-load your publication and patent record
USCIS often issues RFEs for staff-level ML roles challenging whether the position requires a specific degree rather than any bachelor's. A documented record of peer-reviewed work, patents, or model deployments tied to your title strengthens the specialty occupation argument.
Understand the 60-day grace period timeline
If your current H-1B employer initiates layoffs or termination, USCIS allows a 60-day grace period to find a new sponsoring employer, file a change of status, or depart. At Sr Staff level, premium processing your new I-129 can compress that timeline significantly.
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Find Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer JobsSr Staff Machine Learning Engineer H-1B Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
Yes, in most cases. USCIS classifies specialty occupation roles as those requiring at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related field. Sr Staff ML Engineer positions typically require a degree in computer science, mathematics, or statistics. If the job description accepts any bachelor's degree, that weakens the specialty occupation argument and can trigger an RFE, so the job posting's language matters.
Which SOC code applies to Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer for H-1B purposes?
Most Sr Staff ML Engineer roles are filed under SOC 15-2051 (Data Scientists) or 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other), though some employers use 15-1252 (Software Developers) depending on the role's emphasis. The SOC code determines which prevailing wage level applies, so verifying it with your employer before the LCA is filed affects your salary floor directly.
How do I find employers actively sponsoring H-1B visas for ML engineering roles at this level?
Browse Migrate Mate to see companies with verified H-1B LCA filing history filtered by ML and AI engineering roles. DOL disclosure data shows which employers have recently filed LCAs at the Staff and Principal Engineer wage levels, giving you a concrete shortlist of sponsors rather than relying on company career pages that don't disclose sponsorship intent upfront.
Can I transfer my H-1B to a new employer if I'm already a Sr Staff ML Engineer?
Yes. H-1B portability under AC21 lets you start working for a new employer as soon as they file a new I-129 petition on your behalf, as long as your current H-1B has been approved for at least 180 days. The new employer must file a new LCA matching your role's SOC code and the prevailing wage for your work location before filing the transfer petition.
What makes an RFE more likely for a Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer H-1B petition?
USCIS issues RFEs when the job description doesn't clearly require a degree in a specific field, when the SOC code used has a high variance in educational requirements, or when the offered salary falls at a wage level inconsistent with a senior individual-contributor role. Including detailed job duties tied to your degree field, along with evidence of prior approvals or O*NET occupation data, helps the employer build a stronger petition.
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