J-1 Visa Engineering Director Jobs
Engineering Director roles in the U.S. are accessible to qualified international professionals through the J-1 Trainee or Specialist program category, administered by a State Department-designated sponsor organization. Securing sponsorship requires a host employer willing to submit a structured training plan through an approved sponsor. No annual cap applies.
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Get Access To All JobsWho We Are
Verkada is transforming how organizations protect their people and places with an integrated, AI-powered platform. A leader in cloud physical security, Verkada helps organizations strengthen safety and efficiency through one connected software platform that includes solutions for video security, access control, air quality sensors, alarms, intercoms, and visitor management. Over 30,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 100+ companies in the Fortune 500, trust Verkada as their physical security layer for easier management, intelligent control, and scalable deployments. Founded in 2016, Verkada has expanded rapidly with 15 offices and 2,200+ full-time employees.
About The Role
The Cameras team is the cornerstone of Verkada's product ecosystem. We are looking for a Director of Firmware Engineering to lead the embedded software organization behind our flagship camera line. In this role, you will oversee multiple specialized firmware groups, driving the development of highly reliable, performant, and secure firmware deployed to hundreds of thousands of devices worldwide. You will manage and mentor a team of engineering managers and senior individual contributors, partnering closely with Hardware, Cloud, Product, and QA teams to define the roadmap and deliver cutting-edge edge-computing and imaging capabilities.
What You’ll Do
- Partner on New Product Development (NPI): Work side-by-side with the Hardware and Electrical Engineering teams from the conceptual phase through mass production. You will co-design system architectures, evaluate new silicon (SoCs, sensors), provide early firmware requirements for board designs, and ensure seamless hardware-software integration for our next generation of cameras.
- Oversee Core Camera Firmware: the group responsible for the foundation of our camera OS. This includes driving new hardware bring-up, porting vendor SDKs, developing low-level drivers, and managing robust Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware update mechanisms.
- Oversee Camera Imaging Systems: the team dedicated to maximizing image quality. They guide efforts in Image Signal Processor (ISP) tuning, sensor integration, and optimizing the end-to-end imaging and video encoding pipeline.
- Drive Firmware Delivery & Quality: Champion the group responsible for deploying new firmware releases at a massive scale. You will oversee the development of release tooling, refine deployment processes, establish CI/CD best practices, and closely monitor fleet health metrics to ensure exceptional reliability.
- Scale and Mentor the Team: Recruit, hire, and mentor exceptional firmware engineers and engineering managers. Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and cross-functional collaboration.
What You’ll Need
- BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 8+ years of hands-on embedded software or firmware engineering experience, with a proven track record of shipping high-volume consumer or enterprise hardware products.
- 4+ years of engineering management experience, including experience managing other managers and leading organizations of 15+ engineers.
- Technical expertise with Linux and C for embedded systems.
- Experience with ISP tuning and image processing pipelines is highly preferred.
- Strong understanding of modern software delivery practices, including CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and fleet-wide release management.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical decisions into business impact for executive stakeholders.
- Prefer familiarity with modern camera architectures, and camera SoCs (e.g., Ambarella, Qualcomm, or similar).
US Employee Benefits
Verkada is committed to fostering a workplace environment that prioritizes the holistic health and wellbeing of our employees and their families by offering comprehensive wellness perks, benefits, and resources. Our benefits and perks programs include, but are not limited to:
- Healthcare programs that can be tailored to meet the personal health and financial well-being needs - Premiums are 100% covered for the employee under at least one plan and 80% for family premiums under all plans
- Nationwide medical, vision and dental coverage
- Health Saving Account (HSA) with annual employer contributions and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) with tax saving options
- Expanded mental health support
- Paid parental leave policy & fertility benefits
- Time off to relax and recharge through our paid holidays, firmwide extended holidays, flexible PTO and personal sick time
- Professional development stipend
- Fertility Stipend
- Wellness/fitness benefits
- Healthy lunches provided daily
- Commuter benefits
Additional Information
- We do sponsor and take over sponsorship of employment visas for this role. If we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa.
Annual Pay Range
At Verkada, we want to attract and retain the best employees, and compensate them in a way that appropriately and fairly values their individual contribution to the company. With that in mind, we carefully consider a number of factors to determine the appropriate starting pay for an employee, including their primary work location and an assessment of a candidate's skills and experience, as well as market demands and internal parity. A Verkada employee may be eligible for additional forms of compensation, depending on their role, including sales incentives, discretionary bonuses, and/or equity in the company in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Below is the annual on-target earnings (OTE) range for full-time employees for this position, comprised of base compensation and commissions (if applicable). Estimated Annual Pay Range $250,000—$350,000 USD
Verkada Is An Equal Opportunity Employer
As an equal opportunity employer, Verkada is committed to providing employment opportunities to all individuals. All applicants for positions at Verkada will be treated without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
Your application will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
Who We Are
Verkada is transforming how organizations protect their people and places with an integrated, AI-powered platform. A leader in cloud physical security, Verkada helps organizations strengthen safety and efficiency through one connected software platform that includes solutions for video security, access control, air quality sensors, alarms, intercoms, and visitor management. Over 30,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 100+ companies in the Fortune 500, trust Verkada as their physical security layer for easier management, intelligent control, and scalable deployments. Founded in 2016, Verkada has expanded rapidly with 15 offices and 2,200+ full-time employees.
About The Role
The Cameras team is the cornerstone of Verkada's product ecosystem. We are looking for a Director of Firmware Engineering to lead the embedded software organization behind our flagship camera line. In this role, you will oversee multiple specialized firmware groups, driving the development of highly reliable, performant, and secure firmware deployed to hundreds of thousands of devices worldwide. You will manage and mentor a team of engineering managers and senior individual contributors, partnering closely with Hardware, Cloud, Product, and QA teams to define the roadmap and deliver cutting-edge edge-computing and imaging capabilities.
What You’ll Do
- Partner on New Product Development (NPI): Work side-by-side with the Hardware and Electrical Engineering teams from the conceptual phase through mass production. You will co-design system architectures, evaluate new silicon (SoCs, sensors), provide early firmware requirements for board designs, and ensure seamless hardware-software integration for our next generation of cameras.
- Oversee Core Camera Firmware: the group responsible for the foundation of our camera OS. This includes driving new hardware bring-up, porting vendor SDKs, developing low-level drivers, and managing robust Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware update mechanisms.
- Oversee Camera Imaging Systems: the team dedicated to maximizing image quality. They guide efforts in Image Signal Processor (ISP) tuning, sensor integration, and optimizing the end-to-end imaging and video encoding pipeline.
- Drive Firmware Delivery & Quality: Champion the group responsible for deploying new firmware releases at a massive scale. You will oversee the development of release tooling, refine deployment processes, establish CI/CD best practices, and closely monitor fleet health metrics to ensure exceptional reliability.
- Scale and Mentor the Team: Recruit, hire, and mentor exceptional firmware engineers and engineering managers. Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and cross-functional collaboration.
What You’ll Need
- BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 8+ years of hands-on embedded software or firmware engineering experience, with a proven track record of shipping high-volume consumer or enterprise hardware products.
- 4+ years of engineering management experience, including experience managing other managers and leading organizations of 15+ engineers.
- Technical expertise with Linux and C for embedded systems.
- Experience with ISP tuning and image processing pipelines is highly preferred.
- Strong understanding of modern software delivery practices, including CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and fleet-wide release management.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical decisions into business impact for executive stakeholders.
- Prefer familiarity with modern camera architectures, and camera SoCs (e.g., Ambarella, Qualcomm, or similar).
US Employee Benefits
Verkada is committed to fostering a workplace environment that prioritizes the holistic health and wellbeing of our employees and their families by offering comprehensive wellness perks, benefits, and resources. Our benefits and perks programs include, but are not limited to:
- Healthcare programs that can be tailored to meet the personal health and financial well-being needs - Premiums are 100% covered for the employee under at least one plan and 80% for family premiums under all plans
- Nationwide medical, vision and dental coverage
- Health Saving Account (HSA) with annual employer contributions and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) with tax saving options
- Expanded mental health support
- Paid parental leave policy & fertility benefits
- Time off to relax and recharge through our paid holidays, firmwide extended holidays, flexible PTO and personal sick time
- Professional development stipend
- Fertility Stipend
- Wellness/fitness benefits
- Healthy lunches provided daily
- Commuter benefits
Additional Information
- We do sponsor and take over sponsorship of employment visas for this role. If we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa.
Annual Pay Range
At Verkada, we want to attract and retain the best employees, and compensate them in a way that appropriately and fairly values their individual contribution to the company. With that in mind, we carefully consider a number of factors to determine the appropriate starting pay for an employee, including their primary work location and an assessment of a candidate's skills and experience, as well as market demands and internal parity. A Verkada employee may be eligible for additional forms of compensation, depending on their role, including sales incentives, discretionary bonuses, and/or equity in the company in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Below is the annual on-target earnings (OTE) range for full-time employees for this position, comprised of base compensation and commissions (if applicable). Estimated Annual Pay Range $250,000—$350,000 USD
Verkada Is An Equal Opportunity Employer
As an equal opportunity employer, Verkada is committed to providing employment opportunities to all individuals. All applicants for positions at Verkada will be treated without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
Your application will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
See all 6+ Engineering Director jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Engineering Director roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding J-1 Visa Sponsorship in Engineering Director
Document your engineering leadership credentials precisely
J-1 Trainee and Specialist categories require demonstrating that your director-level experience aligns with a structured U.S. training objective. Gather performance reviews, org charts showing reporting lines, and project outcomes that prove senior engineering leadership, not just technical execution.
Target host employers with established J-1 histories
Search Migrate Mate to identify U.S. engineering employers that have hosted J-1 exchange visitors before. Prior hosting experience signals a company already familiar with training plan requirements, DS-2019 timelines, and designated sponsor coordination, reducing friction on your end.
Confirm the Specialist category fits your seniority level
The J-1 Specialist category fits Engineering Directors whose expertise is internationally recognized and unlikely to be replicated by a trainee program. Verify with your prospective designated sponsor whether your role qualifies under Specialist rather than Trainee before the host employer submits any documentation.
Prepare a specific training plan tied to U.S. outcomes
Designated sponsors like CIEE or Cultural Vistas require a detailed training plan showing what you will learn or transfer during your exchange. For a director-level role, this means articulating measurable leadership, systems, or cross-functional outcomes, not broad descriptions of managing engineers.
Ask the host employer about the 2-year home residency requirement early
Some Engineering Director candidates from countries with exchange agreements or who received U.S. government funding face a 2-year home residency requirement before switching to H-1B or a green card. Raise this in your first substantive conversation with the employer, before any offer is extended.
Align your program duration with the project scope
J-1 Trainee programs max out at 18 months and Specialist programs at 1 year, with a possible extension in some cases. Frame your training objectives around a deliverable achievable within that window, so the host employer's legal and HR teams can validate the timeline with the designated sponsor.
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Find Engineering Director JobsEngineering Director J-1 Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Which J-1 program category fits an Engineering Director role?
The J-1 Specialist or Trainee category typically applies. Specialist fits senior Engineering Directors with internationally recognized expertise in a specific engineering discipline. Trainee fits professionals earlier in their leadership path who are developing skills through structured U.S. exposure. Your designated sponsor, not your employer, determines which category applies based on your background and the proposed training plan.
Who is actually the J-1 sponsor for an Engineering Director position?
The J-1 sponsor is a U.S. Department of State-designated organization, such as CIEE or Cultural Vistas, that issues your DS-2019 form and oversees program compliance. Your hiring company is the host employer, not the legal sponsor. This distinction matters because the host employer cannot approve your exchange visit unilaterally. The designated sponsor must review and approve the training plan before any visa documentation is issued.
How do I find U.S. employers open to hosting a J-1 Engineering Director?
Use Migrate Mate to search for Engineering Director roles at U.S. companies with J-1 sponsorship alignment. Many multinational engineering firms, national laboratories, and research-driven manufacturers have hosted J-1 exchange visitors at senior levels before. Filtering by employer type and role scope helps you avoid companies that treat international sponsorship as an exception rather than a standard process.
Does the 2-year home residency requirement affect Engineering Director candidates?
It can, depending on your home country and whether your exchange program is funded by a U.S. government agency or tied to a skills-shortage designation. If the requirement applies, you must return home for two years before switching to H-1B or applying for a green card. Confirm your situation with the designated sponsor during the early stages of the application process, not after accepting an offer.
What does a J-1 training plan need to include for a director-level engineering role?
The training plan must describe specific skills, methodologies, or leadership competencies you will develop or transfer during your U.S. placement. For an Engineering Director, vague descriptions of managing teams will not satisfy the designated sponsor's requirements. Sponsors expect measurable objectives tied to engineering systems, cross-functional processes, or technical program oversight, with clear phase breakdowns across the program duration.
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