J-1 Visa Platform Engineering Lead Jobs
Platform Engineering Lead roles in the U.S. are accessible to international professionals through the J-1 visa under the Trainee or Research Scholar category, depending on your career stage. Securing sponsorship requires a designated sponsor organization to issue your DS-2019, separate from your host employer's offer.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community.
Rakuten Advertising provides advertising technology and consumer insights to the world’s leading brands and retailers. Working with agencies and brands around the world, Rakuten Advertising unites technology, client strategy and consumer insights to deliver advertising experiences that drive increased brand awareness and marketing performance. With access to Rakuten’s diverse media properties and audiences, combined with an award-winning performance network and proprietary consumer research, Rakuten Advertising creates the right conditions to reach new customers and sustain long-lasting loyalty.
JOB SUMMARY
We are seeking a Graduate Intern to join our team and work on building an AI-powered, agent-based Incident & On-Call Copilot inside Backstage. This role focuses on integrating AI agents into a real developer platform Backstage to help engineers during incidents by correlating service metadata, incident context, recent deployments, runbooks and all within Backstage.
The Intern Experience: At Rakuten, we pride ourselves on giving interns a genuine, immersive experience that has a direct impact on company objectives. You will do meaningful work, and with us, you'll be a true member of the team. We are also invested in your growth as an individual and professional. That's why you can expect curated events such as professional development workshops, interactions with Rakuten leadership, and relationship building opportunities with other interns and professionals at the company. You can visit our company website and our Muse profile, to learn more about Rakuten's culture and values, as well as hear from previous interns.
INTERNSHIP PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project: Agent-Based Incident Copilot for Backstage
Engineers responding to incidents often lose valuable time manually gathering context from multiple tools such as logs, metrics, incident management systems, CI/CD and runbooks. This project addresses that challenge by embedding an interactive AI-powered incident copilot directly inside Backstage. The copilot acts as a context-aware AI agent that engineers can interact with using natural language to quickly understand what is happening, what has changed recently, and how similar incidents were resolved in the past.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Backstage plugin development (frontend & backend)
- AI agent workflows using LangChain, AutoGen, or similar SDKs
- Prompt design and AI interaction patterns
- Read-only integrations with logs, incident, CI/CD and documentation systems
- Responsible AI guardrails
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Master’s in computer science or related field
- Programming fundamentals in JavaScript or TypeScript, Python
- Basic understanding of LLMs and AI agents
- Foundational knowledge of Lang Chain, AutoGen or similar Agent SDKs
- Familiarity with Git
NICE TO HAVE:
- React or Node.js exposure
- Cloud platform familiarity (GCP, AWS, Azure)
- Interest in incident management or SRE
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
- Degree in progress
SUCCESS CRITERIA:
- Deliver an interactive AI Incident Copilot in Backstage
- Demonstrate safe and responsible AI usage
- Present MVP to engineering leadership
At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the hourly rate for this role will be between $35 - $50 per hour. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location.
FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESS
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.
- Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
- Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
- Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
- Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
- Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team
Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.
INTRODUCTION
Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community.
Rakuten Advertising provides advertising technology and consumer insights to the world’s leading brands and retailers. Working with agencies and brands around the world, Rakuten Advertising unites technology, client strategy and consumer insights to deliver advertising experiences that drive increased brand awareness and marketing performance. With access to Rakuten’s diverse media properties and audiences, combined with an award-winning performance network and proprietary consumer research, Rakuten Advertising creates the right conditions to reach new customers and sustain long-lasting loyalty.
JOB SUMMARY
We are seeking a Graduate Intern to join our team and work on building an AI-powered, agent-based Incident & On-Call Copilot inside Backstage. This role focuses on integrating AI agents into a real developer platform Backstage to help engineers during incidents by correlating service metadata, incident context, recent deployments, runbooks and all within Backstage.
The Intern Experience: At Rakuten, we pride ourselves on giving interns a genuine, immersive experience that has a direct impact on company objectives. You will do meaningful work, and with us, you'll be a true member of the team. We are also invested in your growth as an individual and professional. That's why you can expect curated events such as professional development workshops, interactions with Rakuten leadership, and relationship building opportunities with other interns and professionals at the company. You can visit our company website and our Muse profile, to learn more about Rakuten's culture and values, as well as hear from previous interns.
INTERNSHIP PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project: Agent-Based Incident Copilot for Backstage
Engineers responding to incidents often lose valuable time manually gathering context from multiple tools such as logs, metrics, incident management systems, CI/CD and runbooks. This project addresses that challenge by embedding an interactive AI-powered incident copilot directly inside Backstage. The copilot acts as a context-aware AI agent that engineers can interact with using natural language to quickly understand what is happening, what has changed recently, and how similar incidents were resolved in the past.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Backstage plugin development (frontend & backend)
- AI agent workflows using LangChain, AutoGen, or similar SDKs
- Prompt design and AI interaction patterns
- Read-only integrations with logs, incident, CI/CD and documentation systems
- Responsible AI guardrails
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Master’s in computer science or related field
- Programming fundamentals in JavaScript or TypeScript, Python
- Basic understanding of LLMs and AI agents
- Foundational knowledge of Lang Chain, AutoGen or similar Agent SDKs
- Familiarity with Git
NICE TO HAVE:
- React or Node.js exposure
- Cloud platform familiarity (GCP, AWS, Azure)
- Interest in incident management or SRE
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
- Degree in progress
SUCCESS CRITERIA:
- Deliver an interactive AI Incident Copilot in Backstage
- Demonstrate safe and responsible AI usage
- Present MVP to engineering leadership
At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the hourly rate for this role will be between $35 - $50 per hour. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location.
FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESS
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.
- Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
- Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
- Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
- Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
- Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team
Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding J-1 Visa Sponsorship in Platform Engineering Lead
Align your credentials to Trainee category requirements
The J-1 visa Trainee category requires a degree plus one year of related work experience, or five years of experience without a degree. Document your platform engineering tenure, certifications, and infrastructure scope before approaching any designated sponsor organization.
Target host employers with established J-1 infrastructure
Employers who have hosted J-1 participants before already have working relationships with designated sponsor organizations. Look for engineering teams at research universities, national labs, and technology-focused multinationals, where training plan documentation is a known workflow.
Search J-1-friendly Platform Engineering Lead roles on Migrate Mate
Use Migrate Mate to filter U.S. employers and roles that align with J-1 sponsorship pathways. Filtering by role type and host employer category saves significant time compared to cold-applying and then asking each employer about their J-1 hosting history.
Negotiate the training plan before accepting an offer
Your designated sponsor organization, such as CIEE or Cultural Vistas, must approve a detailed training plan outlining your objectives, supervision structure, and skill-development timeline. Get your host employer to draft this document before the offer is finalized, not after.
Confirm your role's wage meets prevailing wage standards
Designated sponsor organizations verify that host employer compensation is commensurate with the role. Use the OFLC Wage Search or O*NET to look up the prevailing wage for Platform Engineering Lead positions in your target location before salary discussions begin.
Check for the two-year home residency requirement early
If your home country appears on the Exchange Visitor Skills List or your J-1 is government-funded, a two-year home residency requirement may attach to your visa. Confirming this with your designated sponsor organization before arrival avoids significant complications with any future U.S. immigration intent.
Platform Engineering Lead J-1 Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Which J-1 program category fits a Platform Engineering Lead role?
Most Platform Engineering Lead professionals qualify under the J-1 Trainee category, which is designed for foreign nationals gaining practical experience in their field of expertise outside a formal academic program. If the role is based at a research university or national laboratory and involves applied infrastructure research, the Research Scholar category may be more appropriate. Your designated sponsor organization determines category eligibility based on your credentials and the host employer's training plan.
Who actually sponsors my J-1 visa if the employer is just the host?
The J-1 visa sponsor is a U.S. Department of State-designated organization, not your employer. Organizations such as IIE, Cultural Vistas, and CIEE are authorized to issue the DS-2019 form that establishes your exchange visitor status. Your host employer provides the job, compensation, and training environment, but they do not hold designation authority and cannot independently sponsor your J-1 status.
How do I find U.S. employers open to hosting a J-1 Platform Engineering Lead?
Migrate Mate lets you search U.S. roles and employers that align with J-1 sponsorship pathways, which is far more efficient than filtering general job boards and then separately researching each employer's hosting history. Prioritize employers at research institutions, technology-focused government contractors, and large engineering organizations, where J-1 hosting is an established practice rather than an unfamiliar request.
What does the training plan requirement mean for a senior engineering role?
Your designated sponsor organization requires a written training plan that maps specific skills you will develop, the supervision structure, and measurable milestones. For a Platform Engineering Lead position, this typically means documenting objectives around infrastructure architecture, platform reliability practices, or engineering team leadership. Your host employer must co-sign this plan, so involving your future manager in its drafting before your DS-2019 is issued avoids delays.
Does the two-year home residency requirement affect Platform Engineering Leads from certain countries?
Yes. If your home country is on the Department of State's Exchange Visitor Skills List, or if your J-1 program is funded by your home government or the U.S. government, the two-year home residency requirement applies. This means you must return to your home country for two years before applying for an H-1B visa, O-1 visa, or immigrant visa. Confirm this with your designated sponsor organization before your DS-2019 is issued, since a waiver process exists but adds complexity and time.