OPT ML Software Engineer Jobs
ML Software Engineer jobs are among the most OPT-friendly roles in tech, with strong employer demand for F-1 students from computer science, data science, and electrical engineering backgrounds. Most roles qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, giving you up to three years of total work authorization.
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Get Access To All JobsLocation:
San Jose
Team:
Technology
Employment Type:
Regular
Job Code:
A143350B
Responsibilities:
- Convert and compile ML models for execution on edge NPUs, and apply quantization mechanisms.
- Profile and analyze model performance and power consumption on simulators, emulators, and silicon platforms.
- Identify bottlenecks related to compute, memory bandwidth, data movement, and scheduling.
- Apply hardware-aware optimization strategies, such as quantization, compression and operator fusion, to meet latency, memory and power targets.
- Work closely with algorithm, compiler, firmware and hardware teams to debug functional and performance issues.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 3+ years of industry experience in machine learning software engineering, model deployment, or ML systems for production environments.
- Strong understanding of deep learning architectures, including CNNs and Transformers.
- Knowledge of ML accelerators' architectures, operator fusion, memory hierarchies, and data movements.
- Practical experience with popular ML frameworks, like PyTorch / TensorFlow.
- Proficiency in Python and C/C++.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of industry experience in machine learning software engineering, model deployment, or ML systems for production environments.
- Understanding of model inference constraints on edge devices, including latency, power, and accuracy trade-offs and optimization techniques.
- Understanding of quantization techniques, such as PTQ and QAT.
COMPENSATION
- The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $212800 - $450000 annually.
Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
-
Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
-
Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
-
Exercising sound judgment.
About Pico
Founded in April 2015, Pico is a VR company committed to developing immersive and interactive VR experiences for people around the world. Pico also provides tailor-made solutions for our enterprise clients in the fields of education and healthcare.
Why Join ByteDance
Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life – a mission we work towards every day.
As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
Reasonable Accommodation
ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
Location:
San Jose
Team:
Technology
Employment Type:
Regular
Job Code:
A143350B
Responsibilities:
- Convert and compile ML models for execution on edge NPUs, and apply quantization mechanisms.
- Profile and analyze model performance and power consumption on simulators, emulators, and silicon platforms.
- Identify bottlenecks related to compute, memory bandwidth, data movement, and scheduling.
- Apply hardware-aware optimization strategies, such as quantization, compression and operator fusion, to meet latency, memory and power targets.
- Work closely with algorithm, compiler, firmware and hardware teams to debug functional and performance issues.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 3+ years of industry experience in machine learning software engineering, model deployment, or ML systems for production environments.
- Strong understanding of deep learning architectures, including CNNs and Transformers.
- Knowledge of ML accelerators' architectures, operator fusion, memory hierarchies, and data movements.
- Practical experience with popular ML frameworks, like PyTorch / TensorFlow.
- Proficiency in Python and C/C++.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of industry experience in machine learning software engineering, model deployment, or ML systems for production environments.
- Understanding of model inference constraints on edge devices, including latency, power, and accuracy trade-offs and optimization techniques.
- Understanding of quantization techniques, such as PTQ and QAT.
COMPENSATION
- The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $212800 - $450000 annually.
Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
-
Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
-
Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
-
Exercising sound judgment.
About Pico
Founded in April 2015, Pico is a VR company committed to developing immersive and interactive VR experiences for people around the world. Pico also provides tailor-made solutions for our enterprise clients in the fields of education and healthcare.
Why Join ByteDance
Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life – a mission we work towards every day.
As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
Reasonable Accommodation
ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
See all 1,362+ OPT ML Software Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT ML Software Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a ML Software Engineer
Emphasize your STEM OPT eligibility upfront
Most ML roles qualify for the 24-month STEM extension, giving you three years total. Mention your STEM OPT eligibility in your cover letter so hiring managers know you're not a short-term hire requiring immediate H-1B visa action.
Target companies with established ML teams
Companies already running ML infrastructure are far more likely to sponsor OPT and H-1B than those hiring their first ML engineer. Look for job postings that reference existing model pipelines, MLOps systems, or production AI deployments.
Showcase deployed projects, not just coursework
Employers sponsoring OPT want evidence you can ship. Include GitHub links to models you've trained and deployed, not just academic projects. Real-world inference pipelines, fine-tuned models, or published Kaggle results carry more weight than grades.
Frame your OPT timeline around their H-1B cycle
H-1B registration opens in March for an October start. If your OPT expires before October, explain how the STEM extension bridges the gap. Proactively mapping your timeline reduces the employer's perceived risk of hiring you.
Specialize to stand out in a competitive field
ML is broad. Candidates who clearly own a niche, such as NLP, computer vision, recommendation systems, or reinforcement learning, are easier for hiring managers to match to open roles and more likely to receive sponsorship consideration.
Use Migrate Mate to find OPT-ready ML employers
Browsing general job boards wastes time on roles that won't sponsor. Migrate Mate surfaces ML Software Engineer roles at employers who have actively hired OPT and visa candidates, so your applications go where they have a real chance.
ML Software Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Does an ML Software Engineer role qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension?
Yes, in most cases. ML Software Engineer roles typically fall under CIP codes tied to computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering, all of which are on the STEM OPT designated degree list. Your degree field, not just your job title, determines eligibility, so confirm your CIP code with your DSO before applying for the extension.
How do I find ML Software Engineer employers that sponsor OPT students?
The most efficient approach is to focus your search on companies with existing ML infrastructure and a track record of sponsoring F-1 employees. Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for OPT-friendly employers, so you can browse ML Software Engineer roles without wading through postings that exclude visa candidates entirely.
Can I work as a contractor or on a 1099 basis on OPT as an ML Software Engineer?
No. OPT requires a standard employer-employee relationship. You must be paid as a W-2 employee, meaning the company withholds taxes and you work under their direction. Independent contracting, freelance work, or 1099 arrangements do not meet OPT employment requirements and could jeopardize your status.
What happens to my OPT authorization if my ML Software Engineer role is eliminated in a layoff?
You have a 60-day grace period from your last day of employment to find new authorized work, transfer to another visa status, or leave the United States. Report the employment end date to your DSO immediately. If you secure a new ML Software Engineer role within 60 days, your OPT authorization continues with the new employer.
Does my ML Software Engineer job need to directly match my degree field to count as valid OPT employment?
Yes. Your role must be directly related to the field of study listed on your OPT authorization. A computer science graduate working in ML engineering is a clear match. If your degree is in a less obvious field, such as statistics or mathematics, document how your program prepared you for ML work and discuss it with your DSO before accepting an offer.