Research Manager Jobs for OPT Students
Research Manager jobs on OPT require employers who can support H-1B sponsorship after your 24-month STEM extension, since most research roles qualify under life sciences, social sciences, or data-related CIP codes. Cap-gap protection matters here: research positions often involve multi-year project timelines that depend on continuous work authorization.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Semgrep
Semgrep, the leader in code security for builders, empowers invention without friction. Teams catch, flag, and fix real issues before they ship, powered by security that learns as they build. Semgrep secures code as it’s written and provides guardrails that pave the road for developers to move fast and stay secure. Built for builders and trusted by security, Semgrep lives where developers work, delivering fixes without breaking flow, and giving security teams visibility, control, and confidence. Semgrep gets smarter as you build, with AI that learns your context to cut false positives and prioritize reachable vulnerabilities, validated by 95% of security reviewers across 6M+ findings. Semgrep makes zero false positives a reality with AppSec teams triaging 80% fewer false positives across Code and Supply Chain, dramatically shrinking the backlog.
Founded in San Francisco and backed by Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, Semgrep is recognized by Gartner in Application Security Testing and is trusted by leading organizations, including Snowflake, Dropbox, and Figma.
About the role
You will lead the team of Security Researchers responsible for driving the coverage through rules for Secrets, Code, and Supply Chain: across all of our products. This team owns:
- Writing high-quality detection rules
- Advancing research and automation to make rule writing faster and more accurate
- Measuring and improving the overall quality and coverage of detections
As the Manager of the Security Research Coverage team, you’ll report to the Head of Security Research. You’ll set the roadmap, partner with Product Management to focus on the most impactful detection areas, and drive continuous improvements in both accuracy and breadth of our vulnerability coverage. Success in this role means leading a team that delivers world-class detections, scales rule generation through automation and AI, and pushes the boundaries of what modern vulnerability research can achieve.
You will:
- Hire, develop, and grow the team, cultivating a productive, engaging, diverse, and inclusive work environment that aligns with Semgrep's core values
- Work closely with product management, sales, and product development teams across all product lines
- Understand, measure, and elevate the velocity and quality of Semgrep detection rule delivery
- Prioritize your team’s work and schedules, balancing current product needs with strategic research that will help scale the team through AI and automation
- Contribute to the technical direction and to the research (depending on your profile)
- Directly impact the security posture of many customers by improving the quality of our detection
You are ideal for this role if you have:
- 2+ years experience as a People Manager
- 5+ years experience as a Tech Lead in the Security space: App Sec Engineer, Security Researcher, Vulnerability Researcher, etc
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environments where prototypes are rapidly iterated or discarded
- Comfortable tech leading and mentoring Security Researchers
- Excellent proactive communication skills, both verbal and written
- Fit in our low-ego high-impact culture
- Excitement about building for customers, iterating fast, and seeing solutions solve real developer problems
- Curiosity and a love of new technologies, especially AI/ML
- Comfortable writing code, especially in Python or Rust
Some example projects you might work on include:
- Improve and scale Semgrep’s automated pipelines for generating and validating high-confidence detection rules
- Lead a team to identify and analyze vulnerability patterns (CVEs or from first-principle) across languages and ecosystems, and turn those into detection rules. Example: Improve supply chain reachability product for a given language, Code product can report security issues that cross the Android JNI interfaces, etc.
- Put in place unified measurements for performance of detection to ensure the best quality across our customers
The estimated starting annual salary range for this position is $255,200 to $319,000 USD. The actual base salary will be determined based on a number of factors, which may include job-related skills, relevant experience, qualifications, location, internal equity, and market data. In addition to base salary, total compensation may include equity, variable compensation, and benefits. We view equity as a meaningful part of our compensation philosophy and a way for employees to share in the long-term value they help create. Compensation ranges are reviewed regularly and may be adjusted as the role, individual performance, or market conditions evolve.
What we offer (FTE only)
Our goal is to competitively and fairly compensate every Semgrep employee with a system that equally rewards those who are vocal and those who are less comfortable making demands during the final steps of the hiring process. To that end, we generate internal compensation bands that are used when discussing and negotiating salaries. We update these based on market data to make sure they’re above the average for comparable roles.
We invest in our employees’ well-being and long-term success through a competitive, market-aligned benefits program that meets or exceeds local market standards across all of the regions in which we hire. Benefits offerings vary by location to reflect local requirements and norms.
Who we are
We bring together people from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines—from physics and philosophy to formal methods research and full-fledged corporations. We’re new parents and new grads, dog lovers and dogfooders. We get together often to bike, bake, and meet up in parks. In our interactions, we believe respect and honesty go hand in hand, and prioritize both.
Semgrep is an equal-opportunity employer seeking a diverse range of backgrounds. We value who you are — including your cultural heritage, your socioeconomic status, your age, your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, your disabilities. We value what’s vitally important to you — your family, your religion, your politics. We value what you love in this world — your music, your weekend pursuits. We believe in welcoming varied professional backgrounds, educations, and interests. If you’re exceptional in your role, believe in Semgrep’s mission, and treat Semgrep’s values as your own, you belong here.
Please Note: For US-based roles open to remote work, we are currently able to hire employees in the following states only: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
About Semgrep
Semgrep, the leader in code security for builders, empowers invention without friction. Teams catch, flag, and fix real issues before they ship, powered by security that learns as they build. Semgrep secures code as it’s written and provides guardrails that pave the road for developers to move fast and stay secure. Built for builders and trusted by security, Semgrep lives where developers work, delivering fixes without breaking flow, and giving security teams visibility, control, and confidence. Semgrep gets smarter as you build, with AI that learns your context to cut false positives and prioritize reachable vulnerabilities, validated by 95% of security reviewers across 6M+ findings. Semgrep makes zero false positives a reality with AppSec teams triaging 80% fewer false positives across Code and Supply Chain, dramatically shrinking the backlog.
Founded in San Francisco and backed by Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, Semgrep is recognized by Gartner in Application Security Testing and is trusted by leading organizations, including Snowflake, Dropbox, and Figma.
About the role
You will lead the team of Security Researchers responsible for driving the coverage through rules for Secrets, Code, and Supply Chain: across all of our products. This team owns:
- Writing high-quality detection rules
- Advancing research and automation to make rule writing faster and more accurate
- Measuring and improving the overall quality and coverage of detections
As the Manager of the Security Research Coverage team, you’ll report to the Head of Security Research. You’ll set the roadmap, partner with Product Management to focus on the most impactful detection areas, and drive continuous improvements in both accuracy and breadth of our vulnerability coverage. Success in this role means leading a team that delivers world-class detections, scales rule generation through automation and AI, and pushes the boundaries of what modern vulnerability research can achieve.
You will:
- Hire, develop, and grow the team, cultivating a productive, engaging, diverse, and inclusive work environment that aligns with Semgrep's core values
- Work closely with product management, sales, and product development teams across all product lines
- Understand, measure, and elevate the velocity and quality of Semgrep detection rule delivery
- Prioritize your team’s work and schedules, balancing current product needs with strategic research that will help scale the team through AI and automation
- Contribute to the technical direction and to the research (depending on your profile)
- Directly impact the security posture of many customers by improving the quality of our detection
You are ideal for this role if you have:
- 2+ years experience as a People Manager
- 5+ years experience as a Tech Lead in the Security space: App Sec Engineer, Security Researcher, Vulnerability Researcher, etc
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environments where prototypes are rapidly iterated or discarded
- Comfortable tech leading and mentoring Security Researchers
- Excellent proactive communication skills, both verbal and written
- Fit in our low-ego high-impact culture
- Excitement about building for customers, iterating fast, and seeing solutions solve real developer problems
- Curiosity and a love of new technologies, especially AI/ML
- Comfortable writing code, especially in Python or Rust
Some example projects you might work on include:
- Improve and scale Semgrep’s automated pipelines for generating and validating high-confidence detection rules
- Lead a team to identify and analyze vulnerability patterns (CVEs or from first-principle) across languages and ecosystems, and turn those into detection rules. Example: Improve supply chain reachability product for a given language, Code product can report security issues that cross the Android JNI interfaces, etc.
- Put in place unified measurements for performance of detection to ensure the best quality across our customers
The estimated starting annual salary range for this position is $255,200 to $319,000 USD. The actual base salary will be determined based on a number of factors, which may include job-related skills, relevant experience, qualifications, location, internal equity, and market data. In addition to base salary, total compensation may include equity, variable compensation, and benefits. We view equity as a meaningful part of our compensation philosophy and a way for employees to share in the long-term value they help create. Compensation ranges are reviewed regularly and may be adjusted as the role, individual performance, or market conditions evolve.
What we offer (FTE only)
Our goal is to competitively and fairly compensate every Semgrep employee with a system that equally rewards those who are vocal and those who are less comfortable making demands during the final steps of the hiring process. To that end, we generate internal compensation bands that are used when discussing and negotiating salaries. We update these based on market data to make sure they’re above the average for comparable roles.
We invest in our employees’ well-being and long-term success through a competitive, market-aligned benefits program that meets or exceeds local market standards across all of the regions in which we hire. Benefits offerings vary by location to reflect local requirements and norms.
Who we are
We bring together people from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines—from physics and philosophy to formal methods research and full-fledged corporations. We’re new parents and new grads, dog lovers and dogfooders. We get together often to bike, bake, and meet up in parks. In our interactions, we believe respect and honesty go hand in hand, and prioritize both.
Semgrep is an equal-opportunity employer seeking a diverse range of backgrounds. We value who you are — including your cultural heritage, your socioeconomic status, your age, your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, your disabilities. We value what’s vitally important to you — your family, your religion, your politics. We value what you love in this world — your music, your weekend pursuits. We believe in welcoming varied professional backgrounds, educations, and interests. If you’re exceptional in your role, believe in Semgrep’s mission, and treat Semgrep’s values as your own, you belong here.
Please Note: For US-based roles open to remote work, we are currently able to hire employees in the following states only: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
How to Get Visa Sponsorship as a Research Manager
Target research-intensive employers with H-1B track records
Universities, national labs, pharmaceutical companies, and federal contractors sponsor H-1B visas at high rates for research roles. These organizations expect multi-year timelines and budget for immigration costs as part of standard research operations.
Confirm your degree qualifies for STEM OPT extension
Research Manager roles most commonly qualify under CIP codes in biological sciences, social sciences, data science, or engineering. Verify your specific degree code with your DSO before accepting an offer, since the extension depends on your field of study, not the job title.
Apply at least 90 days before your OPT end date
Research Manager hiring cycles move slowly. Budget and headcount approvals at universities and research institutes can take months. Starting your search early gives you time to clear those internal processes before your authorization window closes.
Emphasize project management credentials alongside research experience
Employers hiring Research Managers want evidence you can lead teams and manage budgets, not just conduct research. Certifications like PMP or experience managing grant-funded projects signal readiness for a supervisory role and strengthen your candidacy significantly.
Ask about sponsorship before the final interview stage
Research-focused employers are generally accustomed to sponsorship conversations, but timing matters. Raising it early filters out employers who cannot commit, saving you weeks of process time you may not have left on your OPT authorization.
Understand how cap-gap protection applies to your offer timeline
If you receive an H-1B selection before your OPT expires, cap-gap automatically extends your work authorization through September 30. Knowing this lets you negotiate start dates with research employers who prefer October 1 transitions aligned to fiscal year budgets.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Research Manager on OPT?
Yes, Research Manager roles are fully compatible with OPT work authorization, including the 24-month STEM extension, provided the position is directly related to your degree field. Most research management roles in life sciences, social sciences, engineering, or data-related disciplines satisfy the STEM OPT practical training requirement. Your DSO confirms eligibility when you apply for the extension.
Do Research Manager jobs commonly offer H-1B sponsorship?
Research Manager positions at universities, research hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and national laboratories sponsor H-1B visas regularly. These employers operate on multi-year project cycles and treat immigration sponsorship as a standard part of research hiring. Smaller private-sector employers are less consistent, so it is worth filtering specifically for sponsorship-confirmed roles. Migrate Mate lists Research Manager jobs verified for OPT and sponsorship compatibility.
Does a Research Manager role qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your degree, not the job title. If your degree is classified under a STEM-designated CIP code, such as biological sciences, computer science, statistics, or engineering, and the Research Manager role uses that training directly, you qualify for the 24-month extension. Check your CIP code with your DSO and confirm the position description ties back to your field of study.
What does an employer need to do to support my STEM OPT as a Research Manager?
Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify, sign a formal training plan on Form I-983, and provide you with a mentoring structure and learning objectives tied to your degree field. The role must be paid and full-time equivalent. Research organizations are typically familiar with these requirements, but you should confirm E-Verify enrollment before accepting any offer, since without it your STEM extension is invalid.
How should I explain my OPT authorization timeline to a research employer?
Be direct and give them specific dates. Tell them when your current OPT expires, whether you are eligible for the STEM extension, and when you plan to apply for H-1B sponsorship. Research institutions work with grant cycles and fiscal year budgets, so they respond well to candidates who present a clear timeline. Frame it as planning information, not a complication.
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