OPT Corporate Counsel Jobs
Corporate Counsel roles qualify for OPT work authorization because they require at minimum a J.D. degree, meeting the specialty occupation standard STEM-designated law programs may also qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension. Most in-house legal teams at mid-size and large companies actively hire OPT candidates for contract review, compliance, and regulatory work.
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Get Access To All JobsAt Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.
As a Software Engineer on the Snowflake Openflow team, you will:
- Design and implement features in Openflow’s control plane and data plane, contributing to reliable, scalable, and secure services that power real-time, bi-directional data movement for our customers.
- Contribute to distributed systems for batch and streaming workloads, enabling high-throughput, low-latency data pipelines across Snowflake and non-Snowflake environments, for both structured and multi-modal unstructured data.
- Design, scope, and deliver small projects end to end - from requirements clarification and technical design through implementation, testing, rollout, and follow-up improvements - with guidance from senior engineers. Contribute to medium-sized projects with appropriate support.
- Operate and support the components you build, including monitoring, on-call participation, incident response, and contributing to post-incident reviews and reliability improvements.
- Apply solid engineering practices in your area, including clean code, robust testing, observability, security, and documentation, to keep our platform easy to operate and evolve.
- Collaborate closely with peers across engineering, product, and design to clarify requirements, create technical plans, break work into milestones, and communicate progress and risks.
- Analyze and improve performance, scalability, and reliability of existing services and pipelines, using metrics, profiling, and experimentation to guide optimizations.
- Contribute to code reviews, design discussions, and team knowledge sharing, including mentoring interns or onboarding newer engineers.
- Contribute to shared platform tooling and patterns, helping make it easier for Openflow teams to build, deploy, and operate high-quality connectors and runtimes.
Our ideal Software Engineer will have:
- 2+ years of industry experience building and operating backend or platform services, including hands-on work with distributed systems.
- Strong computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, and systems design, with the ability to apply them pragmatically in production code.
- Practical experience with distributed systems concepts such as concurrency, replication, partitioning, streaming, and fault tolerance, and how they impact correctness, performance, and operability.
- Solid understanding of operating systems and networking basics, including multithreading, memory management, storage, and debugging performance and scale issues.
- Proficiency in Java or a similar object-oriented language, such as Scala, Go, or C++, and experience working in large, shared codebases.
- Experience building cloud-native services on at least one major cloud provider, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, using containers, CI/CD, and modern monitoring and logging stacks.
- A track record of delivering high-quality, maintainable solutions to non-trivial engineering problems, balancing speed with long-term reliability and simplicity.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with teammates across locations, give and receive feedback, and explain technical trade-offs clearly.
- BS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience building and shipping distributed systems.
- Bonus: Experience with data integration, observability, or streaming/flow technologies such as Apache NiFi, Kafka, Flink, or Airflow, or with analytics/data platforms.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:
- The estimated base salary range for this role is $160,000 - $230,000.
- Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Snowflake’s bonus and equity plan.
The successful candidate’s starting salary will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills, experience, and geographic location. This role is also eligible for a competitive benefits package that includes: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending & health savings account; at least 12 paid holidays; paid time off; parental leave; employee assistance program; and other company benefits.
At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.
As a Software Engineer on the Snowflake Openflow team, you will:
- Design and implement features in Openflow’s control plane and data plane, contributing to reliable, scalable, and secure services that power real-time, bi-directional data movement for our customers.
- Contribute to distributed systems for batch and streaming workloads, enabling high-throughput, low-latency data pipelines across Snowflake and non-Snowflake environments, for both structured and multi-modal unstructured data.
- Design, scope, and deliver small projects end to end - from requirements clarification and technical design through implementation, testing, rollout, and follow-up improvements - with guidance from senior engineers. Contribute to medium-sized projects with appropriate support.
- Operate and support the components you build, including monitoring, on-call participation, incident response, and contributing to post-incident reviews and reliability improvements.
- Apply solid engineering practices in your area, including clean code, robust testing, observability, security, and documentation, to keep our platform easy to operate and evolve.
- Collaborate closely with peers across engineering, product, and design to clarify requirements, create technical plans, break work into milestones, and communicate progress and risks.
- Analyze and improve performance, scalability, and reliability of existing services and pipelines, using metrics, profiling, and experimentation to guide optimizations.
- Contribute to code reviews, design discussions, and team knowledge sharing, including mentoring interns or onboarding newer engineers.
- Contribute to shared platform tooling and patterns, helping make it easier for Openflow teams to build, deploy, and operate high-quality connectors and runtimes.
Our ideal Software Engineer will have:
- 2+ years of industry experience building and operating backend or platform services, including hands-on work with distributed systems.
- Strong computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, and systems design, with the ability to apply them pragmatically in production code.
- Practical experience with distributed systems concepts such as concurrency, replication, partitioning, streaming, and fault tolerance, and how they impact correctness, performance, and operability.
- Solid understanding of operating systems and networking basics, including multithreading, memory management, storage, and debugging performance and scale issues.
- Proficiency in Java or a similar object-oriented language, such as Scala, Go, or C++, and experience working in large, shared codebases.
- Experience building cloud-native services on at least one major cloud provider, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, using containers, CI/CD, and modern monitoring and logging stacks.
- A track record of delivering high-quality, maintainable solutions to non-trivial engineering problems, balancing speed with long-term reliability and simplicity.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with teammates across locations, give and receive feedback, and explain technical trade-offs clearly.
- BS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience building and shipping distributed systems.
- Bonus: Experience with data integration, observability, or streaming/flow technologies such as Apache NiFi, Kafka, Flink, or Airflow, or with analytics/data platforms.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:
- The estimated base salary range for this role is $160,000 - $230,000.
- Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Snowflake’s bonus and equity plan.
The successful candidate’s starting salary will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills, experience, and geographic location. This role is also eligible for a competitive benefits package that includes: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending & health savings account; at least 12 paid holidays; paid time off; parental leave; employee assistance program; and other company benefits.
See all 73+ OPT Corporate Counsel Jobs
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship in Corporate Counsel
Target companies with established legal departments
Large corporations with dedicated legal teams are more likely to have HR infrastructure to support OPT work authorization. Focus on companies with 500-plus employees where in-house counsel headcount justifies hiring international graduates.
Emphasize your J.D. and bar admission status
Employers hiring Corporate Counsel need someone who can practice law. Lead with your J.D., the state you're admitted to practice in, and any pending bar applications. Sponsorship conversations go smoother when your credentials are unambiguous.
Apply before your OPT start date, not after
Corporate legal hiring moves slowly. Background checks, conflict screenings, and onboarding paperwork for attorneys take four to eight weeks. Start applying three to four months before your OPT authorization begins to avoid gaps.
Frame H-1B sponsorship as a low-lift for legal employers
In-house legal departments already work with outside counsel on immigration matters. Many are more comfortable sponsoring H-1B visa than hiring managers in other departments. Address sponsorship directly and offer to explain the process if needed.
Use your STEM OPT extension if your law program qualifies
Some J.D. programs with a technology law or data privacy concentration carry STEM designation. If yours does, you may have 36 months of OPT total, giving employers significantly more runway before H-1B sponsorship becomes necessary.
Prioritize contract, compliance, and privacy roles first
Contract management, regulatory compliance, and data privacy are the highest-volume Corporate Counsel entry points. These areas have persistent demand and are commonly filled by candidates still on OPT at companies comfortable with work authorization timelines.
Corporate Counsel OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work as Corporate Counsel on OPT?
Yes. Corporate Counsel roles require a J.D. degree at minimum, which satisfies the specialty occupation standard that makes OPT work authorization valid for the position. You'll need to be authorized to practice law in the state where you'll be working, so bar admission status matters alongside your OPT authorization.
Do Corporate Counsel jobs typically come with H-1B sponsorship?
Many do, particularly at companies with 500-plus employees that already work with outside immigration counsel. In-house legal teams tend to understand the H-1B process better than other departments. The most straightforward way to find Corporate Counsel roles where employers are open to OPT and sponsorship is to browse Migrate Mate, which filters specifically for visa-friendly opportunities.
Does my law school's STEM designation affect my OPT timeline as a Corporate Counsel candidate?
It can meaningfully. If your J.D. program holds a STEM designation, typically programs with a technology law, cybersecurity law, or data privacy concentration, you may qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension on top of your initial 12 months. That gives you 36 months of total work authorization, which makes employers significantly more willing to hire before committing to H-1B sponsorship.
What practice areas hire Corporate Counsel on OPT most often?
Contract management, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and employment law are the most active hiring areas for entry-level Corporate Counsel on OPT. These functions have high transaction volume and persistent headcount needs at technology companies, financial services firms, and healthcare organizations. Roles tied to specific regulatory frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, or SOX compliance are especially common.
How should I handle the OPT and bar admission conversation with employers?
Address both upfront and together. Confirm your OPT end date, whether you're pursuing STEM extension eligibility, and your bar admission status or timeline in your first substantive conversation. Employers evaluating Corporate Counsel candidates need to know you can legally practice in their jurisdiction. Combining both topics in one clear statement prevents confusion and builds credibility with hiring managers.