OPT AI Developer Jobs
AI Developer roles qualify for OPT and STEM OPT extension, giving you up to three years of work authorization. Most positions involve machine learning, model development, or NLP, which align directly with the STEM degree requirements that support a 24-month STEM OPT extension after your initial 12 months.
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Get Access To All JobsSUMMARY
Act as the technical engine that accelerates our organization's AI ambitions by leading the technical design and validation of new opportunities. Your work proves the viability of hyper scalable and innovative human-centered AI solutions designed to deliver accurate, timely, and compelling metadata and the highest quality video/audio for our content across Movies, TV, Live Sports, and Apple Originals. You will own the technical validation lifecycle, from partnering with product management to translate a pitch into a feasible solution, through the development of a rapid POC to prove its viability. Throughout this journey, your work will be fueled by continuous research into the cutting-edge of AI, ensuring every "go/no-go" recommendation is backed by rigorous, data-driven evidence.
DESCRIPTION
Collaborate closely with the Operations Product Manager to shape proposed solutions, acting as the technical expert to assess technical feasibility while adhering to responsible AI principles. Curate and own the "golden datasets" and evals used for training, testing, and benchmarking, ensuring all performance claims are grounded in high-quality, representative data. Lead the execution of rapid proofs-of-concept (POCs) to validate technical viability by creating a testing plan and measuring performance against baselines. Own the technical handoff to engineering, translating POC findings into clear reports, demos, and hands-on guidance to ensure a successful production build-out. Lead post-launch validation by benchmarking the production system's performance against the original POC results and, where applicable, human-level parity. Drive the team's long-term technical strategy by continuously researching the cutting-edge of the AI landscape and translating those insights into actionable recommendations for the product roadmap and tooling. Build POCs and automated workflows that combine Apple-approved LLMs and multimodal models (text, image, video, audio) with tools and data to carry out multi-step tasks. This includes prompt design, structured outputs, retrieval, and failure handling. Design and run evaluations: work with domain experts to build ground-truth datasets, choose metrics that answer the business question, and run controlled experiments across models, prompts, preprocessing, and scoring. Turn results into clear recommendations: technical write-ups, demos, and handoff guidance for engineering, with honest reporting of limits and failure modes.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Data Science, or a related field (completed or expected by the start date).
- Strong Python skills, including data manipulation and analysis (pandas, SQL), REST APIs, and structured data (JSON/XML).
- Hands-on experience building AI applications on LLM APIs (prompting, structured outputs, RAG, or tool-using workflows) through coursework, research, internships, or projects, plus judgment about when to use an LLM, a classical ML model, or a deterministic approach.
- Working knowledge of ML evaluation: precision/recall/F1, building test sets, experiment design, and validating results against baselines and benchmarks.
- Understanding of AI guardrails, including safety, privacy, compliance, and responsible deployment.
- Proficiency with LLM-assisted coding tools to design, implement, and iterate on software.
- Clear written and verbal communication, including technical documentation and explaining complex results to non-technical stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Internship or research experience building and benchmarking an AI system end to end, from data to model to evaluation to recommendation.
- Shown ability to work independently and deliver working prototypes quickly as requirements change, through a thesis, publications, or public projects.
- Experience translating business requirements into implementable solutions, and writing technical specifications and handoff materials for engineering.
- Experience with multimodal models, video/audio processing, LLM-as-judge evaluation, or open-weight model serving.
- Experience with agent frameworks, observability or monitoring for LLM systems, or cloud/ML infrastructure.
- Front-end experience (React/TypeScript) for building demos and internal tools.
- Familiarity with content operations, such as sports data, video metadata, content quality, or similar data-heavy operational settings.
COMPENSATION
- Base pay range for this role is between $129,300 and $194,700, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation.
Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.
Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.
At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.
Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.
SUMMARY
Act as the technical engine that accelerates our organization's AI ambitions by leading the technical design and validation of new opportunities. Your work proves the viability of hyper scalable and innovative human-centered AI solutions designed to deliver accurate, timely, and compelling metadata and the highest quality video/audio for our content across Movies, TV, Live Sports, and Apple Originals. You will own the technical validation lifecycle, from partnering with product management to translate a pitch into a feasible solution, through the development of a rapid POC to prove its viability. Throughout this journey, your work will be fueled by continuous research into the cutting-edge of AI, ensuring every "go/no-go" recommendation is backed by rigorous, data-driven evidence.
DESCRIPTION
Collaborate closely with the Operations Product Manager to shape proposed solutions, acting as the technical expert to assess technical feasibility while adhering to responsible AI principles. Curate and own the "golden datasets" and evals used for training, testing, and benchmarking, ensuring all performance claims are grounded in high-quality, representative data. Lead the execution of rapid proofs-of-concept (POCs) to validate technical viability by creating a testing plan and measuring performance against baselines. Own the technical handoff to engineering, translating POC findings into clear reports, demos, and hands-on guidance to ensure a successful production build-out. Lead post-launch validation by benchmarking the production system's performance against the original POC results and, where applicable, human-level parity. Drive the team's long-term technical strategy by continuously researching the cutting-edge of the AI landscape and translating those insights into actionable recommendations for the product roadmap and tooling. Build POCs and automated workflows that combine Apple-approved LLMs and multimodal models (text, image, video, audio) with tools and data to carry out multi-step tasks. This includes prompt design, structured outputs, retrieval, and failure handling. Design and run evaluations: work with domain experts to build ground-truth datasets, choose metrics that answer the business question, and run controlled experiments across models, prompts, preprocessing, and scoring. Turn results into clear recommendations: technical write-ups, demos, and handoff guidance for engineering, with honest reporting of limits and failure modes.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Data Science, or a related field (completed or expected by the start date).
- Strong Python skills, including data manipulation and analysis (pandas, SQL), REST APIs, and structured data (JSON/XML).
- Hands-on experience building AI applications on LLM APIs (prompting, structured outputs, RAG, or tool-using workflows) through coursework, research, internships, or projects, plus judgment about when to use an LLM, a classical ML model, or a deterministic approach.
- Working knowledge of ML evaluation: precision/recall/F1, building test sets, experiment design, and validating results against baselines and benchmarks.
- Understanding of AI guardrails, including safety, privacy, compliance, and responsible deployment.
- Proficiency with LLM-assisted coding tools to design, implement, and iterate on software.
- Clear written and verbal communication, including technical documentation and explaining complex results to non-technical stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Internship or research experience building and benchmarking an AI system end to end, from data to model to evaluation to recommendation.
- Shown ability to work independently and deliver working prototypes quickly as requirements change, through a thesis, publications, or public projects.
- Experience translating business requirements into implementable solutions, and writing technical specifications and handoff materials for engineering.
- Experience with multimodal models, video/audio processing, LLM-as-judge evaluation, or open-weight model serving.
- Experience with agent frameworks, observability or monitoring for LLM systems, or cloud/ML infrastructure.
- Front-end experience (React/TypeScript) for building demos and internal tools.
- Familiarity with content operations, such as sports data, video metadata, content quality, or similar data-heavy operational settings.
COMPENSATION
- Base pay range for this role is between $129,300 and $194,700, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation.
Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.
Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.
At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.
Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.
See all 275+ OPT AI Developer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT AI Developer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as an AI Developer
Lead with your technical stack
Hiring managers scan for specific tools fast. List your frameworks prominently: PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, Hugging Face. Concrete technical credentials reduce hesitation about OPT sponsorship because your skills speak before your visa status does.
Target STEM-designated degree holders
Your Computer Science, Data Science, or Engineering degree is what unlocks the 24-month STEM OPT extension. Confirm your program's CIP code qualifies before applying, so you can accurately tell employers you have up to three years of work authorization.
Apply to companies already hiring on OPT
Companies that have sponsored F-1 OPT students before understand the E-Verify requirement and reporting obligations. Focusing your search on those employers dramatically shortens the education process and improves your chances of getting an offer.
Frame OPT as a low-barrier trial
Employers pay no government filing fees for OPT. Positioning your status honestly, as a straightforward work authorization with no upfront cost to them, removes a common objection before it surfaces in the interview process.
Build a portfolio of deployed work
AI Developer roles are highly competitive. A GitHub repository showing a fine-tuned model, a production API, or a Kaggle competition result gives hiring managers something concrete to evaluate beyond your resume and reduces sponsorship risk in their minds.
Know your OPT timeline before interviewing
Employers will ask how long you can work without H-1B visa sponsorship. Have a precise answer ready: your OPT end date, whether you qualify for STEM extension, and the earliest date you would need employer-sponsored status to continue working legally.
AI Developer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Do AI Developer roles qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes, in most cases. If your degree is in Computer Science, Data Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related STEM field with a qualifying CIP code, you can apply for a 24-month STEM OPT extension after your initial 12-month OPT period. That gives you up to three years of total work authorization, which covers most H-1B lottery cycles.
Do employers need to file paperwork to hire me on OPT?
The main employer requirement is E-Verify enrollment. Unlike H-1B, there are no government filing fees and no USCIS petition required for OPT. For STEM OPT extension, your employer must sign a training plan (Form I-983) and be enrolled in E-Verify. Many tech companies already meet this requirement, making AI Developer roles relatively accessible on OPT.
How do I find AI Developer jobs that are open to OPT students?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for F-1 OPT students and filters for employers who are open to sponsoring work authorization. Browsing AI Developer listings on Migrate Mate lets you focus on roles where OPT is already expected, rather than spending time on applications where your visa status will disqualify you at the screening stage.
What happens to my OPT status if I work as a contractor or on a project basis?
OPT allows contract and project-based work as long as the work is directly related to your degree field and you average at least 20 hours per week. You must also report any employer changes to your DSO within 10 days. Short gaps between contracts are permitted, but cumulative unemployment cannot exceed 90 days during standard OPT.
Can I work on AI Developer roles at startups, or is it safer to target large companies?
Both are viable. Large companies often have established OPT and E-Verify processes, which reduces friction. Early-stage startups may move faster and care more about your technical skills than your visa status, but they may not be E-Verify enrolled, which is required for STEM OPT extension. Confirm E-Verify status before accepting an offer if you plan to apply for the extension.