AI Researcher Jobs for OPT Students
AI Researcher roles qualify for OPT under computer science, data science, and related STEM degrees, making them eligible for the 24-month STEM OPT extension on top of the standard 12 months. Most employers filing H-1B sponsorship for this role do so through the annual lottery, so starting your job search early matters.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
We’re looking for exceptional research interns who are passionate about AI, graphics, and building world-class products together with us.
ROLE
As a core member of the team of research scientists and machine learning engineers at Meshy, you will drive the development of our core 3D-native generative foundational model. In this role, you will join our foundational research to advance 3D AI, apply learnings from other fields of ML, and push the state of the art. You will also work towards long-term ambitious research goals, while identifying intermediate milestones.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Able to commit to a full-time internship for 12 weeks or longer
- Intend to join Meshy full-time after graduation (ideally graduating from 9/2026-9/2027, but later is also acceptable)
- Open to undergraduate, master's, or PhD students
- Strong in technical fundamentals, with a spirit of innovation and willingness to challenge yourself
WHO YOU ARE
You are a talented, hands-on researcher who thrives in a fast-paced environment, is self-directed, a team player, and knows how to get things done efficiently. You have a deep understanding of the transformer architecture, have strong python and tensor programming skills, have a vision for AI beyond linear sequences, and you believe in "the scaling law." You can translate high-level goals into concrete research and implementation steps, set an approach, and follow through. When it's time to explain your ideas, you bring clarity to complex technical issues. You are not afraid of confronting new ideas, and you are eager to share your knowledge with the team. You use these skills to create real-world benefits for our researchers, engineers, and millions of users, and you are excited to help advance our effort to push the state of the art of AI that understands and generates 3D worlds.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
The essential functions include, but are not limited to the following:
- Design, train, and refine large-scale 3D generative models from covering pre-training, post-training, and emerging paradigms in diffusion, flow matching, and multi-modal learning.
- Bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and product, deploy models in real products used by millions of creators, using human feedback and creative evaluation.
- Create novel model architectures to make 3D generation faster, higher-quality, and more controllable.
- Collaborate with infrastructure and systems teams to build scalable training, and data pipelines across GPU clusters and cloud environments.
- Bring engineering discipline into a fast-paced research environment: elegant code, reproducible experiments, and building software as a team.
- Share insights and breakthroughs through internal demos, open-source contributions, or technical reports that advance the field of 3D generative AI.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong engineering skills in Python and deep learning frameworks (preferably PyTorch); comfortable moving between research prototypes and production systems.
- Familiar with Transformers and modern generative AI models (Diffusion / flow matching, VAE, etc.).
- Curiosity and passion for multi-modal AI, and have an intuitive understanding of how models perceive, represent, and generate 3D worlds.
- Familiar with computer graphics, including rendering, geometry processing is a plus.
- Familiar with high performance training on large scale infrastructure (e.g., SLURM, Ray, k8s) is a plus.
- Contributions to popular open-source machine learning projects or publications in top-tier CV / ML conferences is a plus.
INTERNSHIP TRACKS
Star Intern
- Base salary: $70/hour
- Role: Collaborate with research engineers to drive progress in AI and graphics R&D
- Requirements: First-author publications in top-tier conferences such as SIGGRAPH, ICLR, etc.
Rising Intern
- Base pay: $50/hour
- Role: Collaborate with research engineers to drive progress in AI and graphics R&D
- Requirements: Hands-on experience in multimodal AI or computer graphics, either through research or engineering work
LOCATION
We are based in Sunnyvale, California.
ABOUT MESHY
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Meshy is the leading 3D generative AI company on a mission to Unleash 3D Creativity by transforming the content creation pipeline. Meshy makes it effortless for both professional artists and hobbyists to create unique 3D assets — turning text and images into stunning 3D models in just minutes. What once took weeks and cost $1,000 now takes just 2 minutes and $1.
Our world-class team of top experts in computer graphics, AI, and art includes alumni from MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, as well as veterans from Nvidia and Microsoft. Our talent spans the globe, with team members distributed across North America, Asia, and Oceania, fostering a diverse and innovative multi-regional culture focused on solving global 3D challenges. Meshy is trusted by top developers, backed by premiere venture capital firms like Sequoia and GGV, and has successfully raised $52 Million in funding.
Meshy is the market leader, recognized as the No.1 in popularity among 3D AI tools (according to 2024 A16Z Games) and No.1 in website traffic (according to SimilarWeb, with 3 Million monthly visits). The platform boasts over 5 Million users and has generated 40 Million models.
Founder and CEO Yuanming (Ethan) Hu earned his Ph.D. in graphics and AI from MIT, where he developed the acclaimed Taichi GPU programming language (27K stars on GitHub, used by 300+ institutes). His work is highly influential, including an honorable mention for the SIGGRAPH 2022 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award and over 2,700 research citations.
INTRODUCTION
We’re looking for exceptional research interns who are passionate about AI, graphics, and building world-class products together with us.
ROLE
As a core member of the team of research scientists and machine learning engineers at Meshy, you will drive the development of our core 3D-native generative foundational model. In this role, you will join our foundational research to advance 3D AI, apply learnings from other fields of ML, and push the state of the art. You will also work towards long-term ambitious research goals, while identifying intermediate milestones.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Able to commit to a full-time internship for 12 weeks or longer
- Intend to join Meshy full-time after graduation (ideally graduating from 9/2026-9/2027, but later is also acceptable)
- Open to undergraduate, master's, or PhD students
- Strong in technical fundamentals, with a spirit of innovation and willingness to challenge yourself
WHO YOU ARE
You are a talented, hands-on researcher who thrives in a fast-paced environment, is self-directed, a team player, and knows how to get things done efficiently. You have a deep understanding of the transformer architecture, have strong python and tensor programming skills, have a vision for AI beyond linear sequences, and you believe in "the scaling law." You can translate high-level goals into concrete research and implementation steps, set an approach, and follow through. When it's time to explain your ideas, you bring clarity to complex technical issues. You are not afraid of confronting new ideas, and you are eager to share your knowledge with the team. You use these skills to create real-world benefits for our researchers, engineers, and millions of users, and you are excited to help advance our effort to push the state of the art of AI that understands and generates 3D worlds.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
The essential functions include, but are not limited to the following:
- Design, train, and refine large-scale 3D generative models from covering pre-training, post-training, and emerging paradigms in diffusion, flow matching, and multi-modal learning.
- Bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and product, deploy models in real products used by millions of creators, using human feedback and creative evaluation.
- Create novel model architectures to make 3D generation faster, higher-quality, and more controllable.
- Collaborate with infrastructure and systems teams to build scalable training, and data pipelines across GPU clusters and cloud environments.
- Bring engineering discipline into a fast-paced research environment: elegant code, reproducible experiments, and building software as a team.
- Share insights and breakthroughs through internal demos, open-source contributions, or technical reports that advance the field of 3D generative AI.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong engineering skills in Python and deep learning frameworks (preferably PyTorch); comfortable moving between research prototypes and production systems.
- Familiar with Transformers and modern generative AI models (Diffusion / flow matching, VAE, etc.).
- Curiosity and passion for multi-modal AI, and have an intuitive understanding of how models perceive, represent, and generate 3D worlds.
- Familiar with computer graphics, including rendering, geometry processing is a plus.
- Familiar with high performance training on large scale infrastructure (e.g., SLURM, Ray, k8s) is a plus.
- Contributions to popular open-source machine learning projects or publications in top-tier CV / ML conferences is a plus.
INTERNSHIP TRACKS
Star Intern
- Base salary: $70/hour
- Role: Collaborate with research engineers to drive progress in AI and graphics R&D
- Requirements: First-author publications in top-tier conferences such as SIGGRAPH, ICLR, etc.
Rising Intern
- Base pay: $50/hour
- Role: Collaborate with research engineers to drive progress in AI and graphics R&D
- Requirements: Hands-on experience in multimodal AI or computer graphics, either through research or engineering work
LOCATION
We are based in Sunnyvale, California.
ABOUT MESHY
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Meshy is the leading 3D generative AI company on a mission to Unleash 3D Creativity by transforming the content creation pipeline. Meshy makes it effortless for both professional artists and hobbyists to create unique 3D assets — turning text and images into stunning 3D models in just minutes. What once took weeks and cost $1,000 now takes just 2 minutes and $1.
Our world-class team of top experts in computer graphics, AI, and art includes alumni from MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, as well as veterans from Nvidia and Microsoft. Our talent spans the globe, with team members distributed across North America, Asia, and Oceania, fostering a diverse and innovative multi-regional culture focused on solving global 3D challenges. Meshy is trusted by top developers, backed by premiere venture capital firms like Sequoia and GGV, and has successfully raised $52 Million in funding.
Meshy is the market leader, recognized as the No.1 in popularity among 3D AI tools (according to 2024 A16Z Games) and No.1 in website traffic (according to SimilarWeb, with 3 Million monthly visits). The platform boasts over 5 Million users and has generated 40 Million models.
Founder and CEO Yuanming (Ethan) Hu earned his Ph.D. in graphics and AI from MIT, where he developed the acclaimed Taichi GPU programming language (27K stars on GitHub, used by 300+ institutes). His work is highly influential, including an honorable mention for the SIGGRAPH 2022 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award and over 2,700 research citations.
How to Get Visa Sponsorship in AI Researcher
Target STEM-designated programs
Confirm your degree program has an approved STEM CIP code before applying. AI Researcher roles typically qualify under computer science or electrical engineering, giving you up to 36 months of total OPT work authorization to find long-term sponsorship.
Prioritize H-1B cap-exempt employers
Universities, nonprofit research institutions, and government-affiliated labs are exempt from the H-1B annual lottery. AI Researcher roles at these organizations offer a more reliable path to visa sponsorship without depending on a roughly 20 percent selection rate.
Document your research contributions clearly
USCIS requires H-1B specialty occupation evidence. Keep a running list of published papers, patents, conference presentations, and technical reports. Strong documentation of original research significantly strengthens your employer's sponsorship petition for an AI Researcher position.
Apply well before your OPT start date
AI Researcher hiring cycles at research labs and tech companies often run three to six months. Starting your search at least six months before your OPT expires gives employers enough time to onboard you and initiate H-1B sponsorship before your authorization lapses.
Distinguish applied AI from fundamental research on your resume
Employers and immigration attorneys need to classify your role accurately for visa purposes. Clearly separate research contributions from engineering work. Pure research roles carry stronger specialty occupation arguments, which can make H-1B or O-1A sponsorship considerably more straightforward.
Explore the O-1A visa as an alternative
AI Researchers with published papers, peer review experience, or recognized awards may qualify for the O-1A extraordinary ability visa. Unlike H-1B, there is no lottery and no annual cap, making it a viable path if your research profile is sufficiently strong.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Do AI Researcher jobs qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes, AI Researcher roles almost always qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, provided your degree program has an approved STEM CIP code in fields like computer science, electrical engineering, or data science. This extends your total OPT authorization to 36 months. You must work for an E-Verify enrolled employer and file Form I-983 training plans with your DSO to maintain STEM OPT status.
How do I find AI Researcher employers that sponsor OPT and H-1B?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for OPT-eligible and visa-sponsoring employers, so you can search AI Researcher roles without guessing which companies will support your authorization. Research labs at major technology companies, national laboratories, and university AI institutes are historically strong H-1B sponsors for this role. Checking Department of Labor LCA disclosure data for your target employer's past filings also confirms sponsorship history.
Does an AI Researcher role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
AI Researcher positions generally meet the H-1B specialty occupation standard because they normally require at minimum a bachelor's degree in a specific technical field like computer science or machine learning. Roles involving original research, model development, or novel algorithm design carry particularly strong arguments. Your employer's immigration attorney will document how the position's duties require this level of specialized knowledge, so maintaining clear records of your research contributions matters.
Can I work as a self-employed AI Researcher on OPT?
Self-employment on OPT is permitted under certain conditions, but it's complex. You must demonstrate a legitimate employer-employee relationship or show that you are actively working in your field through an incorporated entity. For STEM OPT, self-employment is not allowed since the extension requires an E-Verify enrolled employer and a formal training plan. Consulting your DSO before pursuing self-employment is strongly recommended.
What happens to my OPT if my AI Researcher position is eliminated during a layoff?
If you lose your AI Researcher position while on OPT, you enter a 60-day grace period during which you must find new employment, transfer to a different immigration status, or depart the United States. For STEM OPT, the same 60-day window applies. Unemployment cannot exceed 90 days on standard OPT or 150 days total across standard and STEM OPT combined. Notifying your DSO immediately after job loss is required to stay in compliance.
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