J-1 Visa Principal Jobs
Principal roles in U.S. K-12 schools can support J-1 visa sponsorship under the Teacher or Specialist program category, connecting international school leaders with host districts that work alongside a State Department-designated sponsor to issue your DS-2019 and guide you through the exchange visitor process.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Gusto
At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff — payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR — so owners can focus on their craft and their customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we support more than 400,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy. AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done at Gusto. We expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.
About The Role
Are you looking for an opportunity to transform a business? Gusto is looking for a strategic, customer-focused leader to leverage customer feedback and operational key metrics to develop actionable insights and strategies that shape our product and service, and positively impact customer love. Working with the Product, Engineering, Design and Customer Experience teams, you will be expected to tackle both highly strategic and deeply operational initiatives to deliver value for customers and Gusto. You’ll be customer-obsessed, business-minded, strategic, detail-oriented, and highly creative. In this role, you'll help stand up the operational and service foundation for a new Gusto product, using both deep human judgment and emerging AI tools to move faster and make better decisions. If this sounds exciting to you, we’d love to connect!
About The Team
The Benefits Product Operations team at Gusto is made up of committed, creative, collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to enable Benefits for all small and mid-sized businesses and their employees. We’re a highly cross-functional team focused on ensuring our product and service are co-designed and co-developed along the product lifecycle to deliver a best in class customer experience; Gusto is listening to, synthesizing and acting on customer and front-line team feedback; and that cross-functional teams are collaborating and swimming together to build the best version of Gusto for our customers.
Here’s What You’ll Do Day-to-day
- Shape and support product development and its integration into service strategy for existing customers across the product lifecycle, in collaboration with Engineering, Design, Product Management, and Customer Experience teams.
- Understand our product and end-to-end service experience and organizations in intimate detail, including internal and external pain points and feedback. Collaborate to ensure customer support considerations are integrated into broader company decisions.
- Lead and partner on product launches between Product Management and Customer Experience (CX) teams to ensure readiness and deliver insights post-launch to ensure a positive experience for customers and internal teams.
- Provide business insights and recommendations based on quantitative and qualitative data to influence strategy and operational design in both product and service roadmaps.
- Identify and drive cross-functional initiatives that will deliver value for customers and Gusto. Help develop and communicate a clear roadmap for enhancing service capabilities and experiences.
- Hypothesis-driven problem solving to drive our business.
- Contribute to advancing the Product Operations craft at Gusto and build AI fluency within the team:
- Model how to use AI tools to accelerate service design, insight synthesis, and agent-driven operational workflows.
- Identify and build AI-assisted operational workflows, including agents, to accelerate VoC synthesis, launch readiness monitoring, and cross-functional signal aggregation.
- Use AI tools to prototype service solutions and surface requirements faster, compressing the feedback loop between customer signal and product/service response — before full engineering investment.
Here’s What We're Looking For
- 10+ years of relevant work experience at growing startups in operating roles (i.e., biz ops/strategy roles, product operations, project/program management, and/or consulting):
- Experience scaling service strategy alongside growing SaaS products, including incubating products, building and managing product betas, and/or integrating new products into a scalable best-in-class service model.
- Highly adaptable and resilient to changes in business needs or requirements, with the ability to navigate challenges and make decisions even when information is incomplete.
- Demonstrated self-starter and organized problem-solver. Self-sufficient, resourceful, and bias for action towards continuous improvement.
- Experienced with managing a variety of cross-functional stakeholders on complex strategic initiatives, including influencing senior leaders in Product or Customer Experience orgs.
- Strong data literacy and results-orientation, with the ability to identify the right questions, interpret quantitative and qualitative signals, and translate findings into decisions — including comfort using AI-assisted tools for analysis and synthesis.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex subjects to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated AI fluency in an operational and product context — comfort using AI tools to synthesize qualitative data, identify automation opportunities in service workflows, and building or directing AI agents to reduce manual operational lift:
- Experience prototyping with AI (e.g., Claude, Cursor, Codex or similar) is a plus.
- Experience with service design and/or service blueprinting.
- Experience working in the healthcare or benefits space (PEO, health insurance, etc.) is a plus; candidates with new product incubation experience in any complex regulated space are strongly encouraged to apply.
Compensation
- Our cash compensation amount for this role is $148,000/yr to $182,000/yr in Denver, and $167,000/yr to $217,000/yr for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Location
Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale. Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas. When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.
Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer. Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.
About Gusto
At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff — payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR — so owners can focus on their craft and their customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we support more than 400,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve. All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build Gusto should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy. AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done at Gusto. We expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.
About The Role
Are you looking for an opportunity to transform a business? Gusto is looking for a strategic, customer-focused leader to leverage customer feedback and operational key metrics to develop actionable insights and strategies that shape our product and service, and positively impact customer love. Working with the Product, Engineering, Design and Customer Experience teams, you will be expected to tackle both highly strategic and deeply operational initiatives to deliver value for customers and Gusto. You’ll be customer-obsessed, business-minded, strategic, detail-oriented, and highly creative. In this role, you'll help stand up the operational and service foundation for a new Gusto product, using both deep human judgment and emerging AI tools to move faster and make better decisions. If this sounds exciting to you, we’d love to connect!
About The Team
The Benefits Product Operations team at Gusto is made up of committed, creative, collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to enable Benefits for all small and mid-sized businesses and their employees. We’re a highly cross-functional team focused on ensuring our product and service are co-designed and co-developed along the product lifecycle to deliver a best in class customer experience; Gusto is listening to, synthesizing and acting on customer and front-line team feedback; and that cross-functional teams are collaborating and swimming together to build the best version of Gusto for our customers.
Here’s What You’ll Do Day-to-day
- Shape and support product development and its integration into service strategy for existing customers across the product lifecycle, in collaboration with Engineering, Design, Product Management, and Customer Experience teams.
- Understand our product and end-to-end service experience and organizations in intimate detail, including internal and external pain points and feedback. Collaborate to ensure customer support considerations are integrated into broader company decisions.
- Lead and partner on product launches between Product Management and Customer Experience (CX) teams to ensure readiness and deliver insights post-launch to ensure a positive experience for customers and internal teams.
- Provide business insights and recommendations based on quantitative and qualitative data to influence strategy and operational design in both product and service roadmaps.
- Identify and drive cross-functional initiatives that will deliver value for customers and Gusto. Help develop and communicate a clear roadmap for enhancing service capabilities and experiences.
- Hypothesis-driven problem solving to drive our business.
- Contribute to advancing the Product Operations craft at Gusto and build AI fluency within the team:
- Model how to use AI tools to accelerate service design, insight synthesis, and agent-driven operational workflows.
- Identify and build AI-assisted operational workflows, including agents, to accelerate VoC synthesis, launch readiness monitoring, and cross-functional signal aggregation.
- Use AI tools to prototype service solutions and surface requirements faster, compressing the feedback loop between customer signal and product/service response — before full engineering investment.
Here’s What We're Looking For
- 10+ years of relevant work experience at growing startups in operating roles (i.e., biz ops/strategy roles, product operations, project/program management, and/or consulting):
- Experience scaling service strategy alongside growing SaaS products, including incubating products, building and managing product betas, and/or integrating new products into a scalable best-in-class service model.
- Highly adaptable and resilient to changes in business needs or requirements, with the ability to navigate challenges and make decisions even when information is incomplete.
- Demonstrated self-starter and organized problem-solver. Self-sufficient, resourceful, and bias for action towards continuous improvement.
- Experienced with managing a variety of cross-functional stakeholders on complex strategic initiatives, including influencing senior leaders in Product or Customer Experience orgs.
- Strong data literacy and results-orientation, with the ability to identify the right questions, interpret quantitative and qualitative signals, and translate findings into decisions — including comfort using AI-assisted tools for analysis and synthesis.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex subjects to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated AI fluency in an operational and product context — comfort using AI tools to synthesize qualitative data, identify automation opportunities in service workflows, and building or directing AI agents to reduce manual operational lift:
- Experience prototyping with AI (e.g., Claude, Cursor, Codex or similar) is a plus.
- Experience with service design and/or service blueprinting.
- Experience working in the healthcare or benefits space (PEO, health insurance, etc.) is a plus; candidates with new product incubation experience in any complex regulated space are strongly encouraged to apply.
Compensation
- Our cash compensation amount for this role is $148,000/yr to $182,000/yr in Denver, and $167,000/yr to $217,000/yr for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Location
Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale. Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas. When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.
Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.
Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer. Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.
See all 14+ Principal jobs
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding J-1 Visa Sponsorship in Principal
Verify your credentials meet state licensure standards
Most states require principal candidates to hold a master's degree and valid administrative licensure. Confirm your home-country credentials translate to U.S. equivalency before applying, since host districts review these before engaging a designated sponsor.
Target districts with active exchange visitor programs
Not every school district has an established relationship with a State Department-designated J-1 sponsor. Search Migrate Mate to filter Principal openings by employers already familiar with exchange visitor hosting requirements.
Distinguish between Teacher and Specialist category eligibility
The Teacher category covers classroom instruction, while the Specialist category fits roles centered on curriculum leadership or instructional coaching. Your primary job duties, not your title alone, determine which program category your designated sponsor will use on your DS-2019.
Clarify who issues your DS-2019 before accepting an offer
Your host district is not your visa sponsor. A State Department-designated organization issues the DS-2019 and remains responsible for your program compliance. Confirm the district has an active sponsor relationship before signing any employment agreement.
Check whether your category carries the two-year home residency requirement
Many J-1 exchange visitors funded by a government or subject to skills-shortage designations must return home for two years after their program ends. USCIS and the State Department determine this based on your nationality, funding source, and program category, not your employer's preference.
Prepare a detailed training plan aligned to your program objectives
Your designated sponsor will require a formal plan outlining your role, learning objectives, and supervision structure. Principals should document specific school improvement goals and administrative competencies to satisfy the exchange visitor program's structured training requirement.
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Find Principal JobsPrincipal J-1 Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Which J-1 program category applies to Principal roles?
Most Principal positions fall under the Teacher or Specialist category, depending on your primary duties. If your role centers on instructional leadership, curriculum development, or staff coaching rather than direct classroom teaching, the Specialist category is typically the better fit. Your designated sponsor makes the final determination based on your job description and qualifications.
Is my host school district my J-1 visa sponsor?
No. The school district where you work is your host organization, not your visa sponsor. A separate State Department-designated sponsor organization, such as a university or recognized exchange program administrator, issues your DS-2019, monitors your program compliance, and serves as your official sponsor throughout your exchange visitor status.
How do I find Principal openings where the district already understands J-1 hosting?
Use Migrate Mate to search Principal roles and identify U.S. employers with experience hosting international exchange visitors. Districts unfamiliar with J-1 hosting requirements often stall during the offer stage, so targeting employers already engaged with the exchange visitor system saves significant time in your search.
Can a J-1 Principal role lead to permanent employment in the U.S.?
J-1 status does not create a direct path to permanent residence and in many cases carries a two-year home residency requirement that must be completed or formally waived before you can change to most immigrant or dual-intent visa categories. If you intend to pursue long-term U.S. employment, confirm your waiver eligibility with your designated sponsor and an immigration attorney before accepting an offer.
What documents should I gather before a host district contacts a designated sponsor on my behalf?
Prepare a certified credential evaluation confirming your degree equivalency, evidence of administrative licensure or eligibility from your home country, a detailed statement of your professional objectives, and references from current or former supervisors. Designated sponsors review these materials to confirm you meet program eligibility before issuing a DS-2019, and incomplete files routinely delay program start dates.
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