J-1 Visa Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs
Senior AI Software Engineer roles in the U.S. are most commonly available to J-1 exchange visitors under the Trainee or Research Scholar program category. Securing J-1 sponsorship requires a designated State Department sponsor organization to issue your DS-2019 before you can begin work with a U.S. host employer.
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INTRODUCTION
As a Software Engineer on the ML Infrastructure team, you will design and build platforms for scalable, reliable, and efficient serving of LLMs. Our platform powers cutting-edge research and production systems, supporting both internal and external use cases across various environments. The ideal candidate combines strong ML fundamentals with deep expertise in backend system design. You’ll work in a highly collaborative environment, bridging research and engineering to deliver seamless experiences to our customers and accelerate innovation across the company.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
You will:
- Build and maintain fault-tolerant, high-performance systems for serving LLMs workloads at scale.
- Build an internal platform to empower LLM capability discovery.
- Collaborate with researchers and engineers to integrate and optimize models for production and research use cases.
- Conduct architecture and design reviews to uphold best practices in system design and scalability.
- Develop monitoring and observability solutions to ensure system health and performance.
- Lead projects end-to-end, from requirements gathering to implementation, in a cross-functional environment.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
Ideally you'd have:
- 5+ years of experience building large-scale, high-performance backend systems.
- Strong programming skills in one or more languages (e.g., Python, Go, Rust, C++).
- Experience with LLM serving and routing fundamentals (e.g. rate limiting, token streaming, load balancing, budgets, etc.).
- Experience with LLM capabilities and concepts such as reasoning, tool calling, prompt templates, etc.
- Experience with containers and orchestration tools (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
- Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform).
- Proven ability to solve complex problems and work independently in fast-moving environments.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Nice to haves:
- Experience with modern LLM serving frameworks such as vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, or text-generation-inference.
COMPENSATION
Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You’ll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.
LOCATION
Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $216,200—$270,250 USD.
PLEASE NOTE:
Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.
About us:
At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Cisco, DLA Piper, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.
We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information. We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.
PLEASE NOTE:
We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding J-1 Visa Sponsorship as a Senior AI Software Engineer
Align your CV to specialty occupation standards
J-1 Trainee and Research Scholar categories require documented proof of specialized knowledge. Structure your CV around measurable AI deliverables, published research, and specific model architectures to satisfy a designated sponsor's eligibility review.
Verify your host employer accepts J-1 trainees
Not every U.S. tech company has experience hosting J-1 exchange visitors. Ask hiring managers explicitly whether the company has an existing relationship with a State Department-designated sponsor organization before advancing in the interview process.
Use Migrate Mate to find J-1-aligned AI roles
Searching for host employers open to J-1 exchange visitors is faster when you filter by sponsorship history. Use Migrate Mate to identify U.S. companies that have hosted J-1 engineers and actively recruit for senior AI software positions.
Check the two-year home residency requirement early
Certain J-1 participants, including those funded by their home government or working in fields on the Exchange Visitor Skills List, must return home for two years after their program. Confirm your eligibility status with your designated sponsor before signing any offer.
Build a training plan around measurable AI milestones
Your designated sponsor requires a detailed Training or Internship Placement Plan. Outline specific phases such as model deployment, MLOps pipeline work, and cross-functional research collaboration so the plan reflects genuine skill development, not a standard employment description.
Time your DS-2019 request to match your offer timeline
Your designated sponsor must issue the DS-2019 before you schedule a consular interview. Factor in the sponsor's processing time, typically two to four weeks, when negotiating your start date with the host employer so both sides are aligned.
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Find Senior AI Software Engineer JobsSenior AI Software Engineer J-1 Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Which J-1 program category fits a Senior AI Software Engineer?
The Trainee category fits candidates who have a degree in computer science or a related field and at least one year of post-graduation work experience in AI or software engineering. The Research Scholar category fits those conducting independent research at a university or research institution. Current students completing a degree may qualify under the Intern category instead, provided the role is directly related to their field of study.
Who actually sponsors a J-1 visa for an AI engineering role?
A U.S. Department of State-designated sponsor organization, such as IIE, CIEE, Cultural Vistas, or AIPT, issues the DS-2019 form and acts as the official J-1 sponsor. Your U.S. employer is the host, not the sponsor. The host agrees to a training plan and provides the work environment, but the designated sponsor is responsible for monitoring your program compliance and maintaining your SEVIS record throughout your stay.
Can a startup or small AI company host a J-1 exchange visitor?
Yes, but the host company must meet the designated sponsor's vetting requirements, which typically include demonstrating financial stability, having qualified supervisors, and committing to a structured training environment. Smaller companies without prior J-1 hosting experience may need to go through a sponsor's approval process before your program can begin. Build extra lead time into your offer negotiation if your prospective host is new to hosting J-1 participants.
How do I find U.S. employers open to hosting J-1 AI engineers?
Most job postings don't advertise J-1 hosting history, so direct filtering is difficult on general job boards. Migrate Mate lets you search for U.S. companies and roles that align with J-1 sponsorship, giving you a focused starting point rather than requiring you to manually screen hundreds of listings. From there, you confirm J-1 hosting capacity directly with the recruiter or hiring manager during early conversations.
Does the two-year home residency requirement affect AI engineering candidates?
It can. The two-year home-country physical presence requirement applies if your J-1 program was funded by your home government, if you came from a country on the Exchange Visitor Skills List, or if your program was in a field the U.S. government has designated as scarce. Computer science and AI-related disciplines sometimes appear on that list depending on your home country. Confirm your status with your designated sponsor before you begin the program, since a waiver later requires separate USCIS processing and is not guaranteed.
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