OPT Scientist Jobs
Scientist roles in the U.S. span research, biotech, pharmaceuticals, environmental science, and government labs, many of which actively hire on OPT. STEM-designated positions qualify for the 24-month OPT extension, giving you up to three years of work authorization while building a research career.
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WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?
As a Data Scientist you will problem solve, analyze, design, implement and monitor machine learning applications using state of the art tools and algorithms. As part of the US Wealth Management Applied AI team, your day-to-day work will include many exciting fields in applied statistics and machine learning, including causal inference and experimentation, time-series forecasting, predictive marketing and advertising, and model interpretation.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
- Collaborate with key business partners and stakeholders to understand business objectives/opportunities and problem statements in order to provide solutions that align to business needs that are actionable with a tangible outcome
- Prepare, analyze, and transform data from structured and unstructured sources
- Develop, implement, and deploy statistical and ML models at scale
- Leverage visualization tools/packages to story-tell and to convey data-driven insights with actionable recommendations to key stakeholders
- Quickly learn new methods, tools and technologies presented in research communities to implement, adapt and innovate
- Effectively communicate findings to business partners and executives
- Developing predictive data models, quantitative analyses and visualization of targeted, big data sources
- Assist Senior Data Scientists throughout the ML lifecycle
- Perform offline model evaluation and validation
- Build dashboards and communicate insights
- Monitor production models for drift and performance
- Document experiments and support AI governance
- Present findings to technical and business stakeholders
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SUCCEED?
Must have:
- Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or Physics
- 2-3 years of experience in data solutions and applying data techniques
- Strong knowledge of design, development, and implementation experience utilizing data science technologies
- 3+ years of experience in machine learning, predictive analytics, and statistical modeling
- Experience with causal inference and experimentation, time-series forecasting, predictive marketing and advertising, and model interpretation
- Experience with libraries such as:
- ML/DL: sklearn, tensorflow, pytorch
- Analysis: pandas, pySpark, scala Spark, SQL, Hive
- Excellent analytical, problem solving, time management and organizational skills
- Experience delivering presentations to wide audiences, both technical and non-technical
- Basic understanding of Generative AI and LLMs
- Familiarity with RAG concepts
- Experience using OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or Azure OpenAI APIs
- Understanding of prompt engineering
- Ability to evaluate LLM outputs
- Awareness of hallucinations and responsible AI
Nice-to-have:
- Good understanding of AWS Big Data services such as Amazon S3, EMR and Glue; and ML capabilities including Sagemaker
- Experienced with Jupyter Notebooks, IntelliJ, Visual Studio Code other notebook environments
- Experience with visualization tools such as Tableau, QuickSight, Looker
- Experience working in Unix/Linux environments
- Experience working as part of an agile team using Github and JIRA
- Experience with digital data collection tools such as Google Analytics
- Exposure to Snowflake, Databricks, Sparr, Power BI or Tableau
- MLflow, NLP, embeddings, semantic sea
- Feature stores and model monitoring, REST APIs and FastAPI
What’s in it for you?
We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.
- A comprehensive Total Rewards Program includes competitive compensation and flexible benefits, such as 401(k) program with company-matching contributions, health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance, and paid-time off
- Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities
- Ability to make a difference and lasting impact
- Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
- Opportunities to do challenging work
- Opportunities to build close relationships with clients
The expected salary range for this particular position is $80,000-$140,000 depending on your experience, skills, and registration status, market conditions and business needs.
You have the potential to earn more through RBC’s discretionary variable compensation program which gives you an opportunity to increase your total compensation, provided the business meets its performance targets and you meet your individual goals.
RBC’s compensation philosophy and principles recognize the importance of a highly qualified global workforce and plays a critical role in attracting, engaging and retaining talent that:
- Drives RBC’s high-performance culture
- Enables collective achievement of our strategic goals
- Generate sustainable shareholder returns and above market shareholder value
LI-POST
TECHPJ
Job Skills
Actuarial Modeling, Big Data Management, Commercial Acumen, Data Mining, Data Science, Decision Making, Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Predictive Analytics, Python (Programming Language)
Additional Job Details
Address: 250 NICOLLET MALL:MINNEAPOLIS
City: Minneapolis
Country: United States of America
Work hours/week: 40
Employment Type: Full time
Platform: WEALTH MANAGEMENT
Job Type: Regular
Pay Type: Salaried
Posted Date: 2026-08-07
Application Deadline: 2026-08-28
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above
Our Employment Opportunities
At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.
Join our Talent Community
Stay in-the-know about great career opportunities at RBC. Sign up and get customized info on our latest jobs, career tips and Recruitment events that matter to you.
Expand your limits and create a new future together at RBC. Find out how we use our passion and drive to enhance the well-being of our clients and communities at jobs.rbc.com.
RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.
Job Description
WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?
As a Data Scientist you will problem solve, analyze, design, implement and monitor machine learning applications using state of the art tools and algorithms. As part of the US Wealth Management Applied AI team, your day-to-day work will include many exciting fields in applied statistics and machine learning, including causal inference and experimentation, time-series forecasting, predictive marketing and advertising, and model interpretation.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
- Collaborate with key business partners and stakeholders to understand business objectives/opportunities and problem statements in order to provide solutions that align to business needs that are actionable with a tangible outcome
- Prepare, analyze, and transform data from structured and unstructured sources
- Develop, implement, and deploy statistical and ML models at scale
- Leverage visualization tools/packages to story-tell and to convey data-driven insights with actionable recommendations to key stakeholders
- Quickly learn new methods, tools and technologies presented in research communities to implement, adapt and innovate
- Effectively communicate findings to business partners and executives
- Developing predictive data models, quantitative analyses and visualization of targeted, big data sources
- Assist Senior Data Scientists throughout the ML lifecycle
- Perform offline model evaluation and validation
- Build dashboards and communicate insights
- Monitor production models for drift and performance
- Document experiments and support AI governance
- Present findings to technical and business stakeholders
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SUCCEED?
Must have:
- Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or Physics
- 2-3 years of experience in data solutions and applying data techniques
- Strong knowledge of design, development, and implementation experience utilizing data science technologies
- 3+ years of experience in machine learning, predictive analytics, and statistical modeling
- Experience with causal inference and experimentation, time-series forecasting, predictive marketing and advertising, and model interpretation
- Experience with libraries such as:
- ML/DL: sklearn, tensorflow, pytorch
- Analysis: pandas, pySpark, scala Spark, SQL, Hive
- Excellent analytical, problem solving, time management and organizational skills
- Experience delivering presentations to wide audiences, both technical and non-technical
- Basic understanding of Generative AI and LLMs
- Familiarity with RAG concepts
- Experience using OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or Azure OpenAI APIs
- Understanding of prompt engineering
- Ability to evaluate LLM outputs
- Awareness of hallucinations and responsible AI
Nice-to-have:
- Good understanding of AWS Big Data services such as Amazon S3, EMR and Glue; and ML capabilities including Sagemaker
- Experienced with Jupyter Notebooks, IntelliJ, Visual Studio Code other notebook environments
- Experience with visualization tools such as Tableau, QuickSight, Looker
- Experience working in Unix/Linux environments
- Experience working as part of an agile team using Github and JIRA
- Experience with digital data collection tools such as Google Analytics
- Exposure to Snowflake, Databricks, Sparr, Power BI or Tableau
- MLflow, NLP, embeddings, semantic sea
- Feature stores and model monitoring, REST APIs and FastAPI
What’s in it for you?
We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.
- A comprehensive Total Rewards Program includes competitive compensation and flexible benefits, such as 401(k) program with company-matching contributions, health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance, and paid-time off
- Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities
- Ability to make a difference and lasting impact
- Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
- Opportunities to do challenging work
- Opportunities to build close relationships with clients
The expected salary range for this particular position is $80,000-$140,000 depending on your experience, skills, and registration status, market conditions and business needs.
You have the potential to earn more through RBC’s discretionary variable compensation program which gives you an opportunity to increase your total compensation, provided the business meets its performance targets and you meet your individual goals.
RBC’s compensation philosophy and principles recognize the importance of a highly qualified global workforce and plays a critical role in attracting, engaging and retaining talent that:
- Drives RBC’s high-performance culture
- Enables collective achievement of our strategic goals
- Generate sustainable shareholder returns and above market shareholder value
LI-POST
TECHPJ
Job Skills
Actuarial Modeling, Big Data Management, Commercial Acumen, Data Mining, Data Science, Decision Making, Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Predictive Analytics, Python (Programming Language)
Additional Job Details
Address: 250 NICOLLET MALL:MINNEAPOLIS
City: Minneapolis
Country: United States of America
Work hours/week: 40
Employment Type: Full time
Platform: WEALTH MANAGEMENT
Job Type: Regular
Pay Type: Salaried
Posted Date: 2026-08-07
Application Deadline: 2026-08-28
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above
Our Employment Opportunities
At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.
Join our Talent Community
Stay in-the-know about great career opportunities at RBC. Sign up and get customized info on our latest jobs, career tips and Recruitment events that matter to you.
Expand your limits and create a new future together at RBC. Find out how we use our passion and drive to enhance the well-being of our clients and communities at jobs.rbc.com.
RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.
See all 3,212+ OPT Scientist Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Scientist Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Scientist
Confirm your role qualifies for the STEM OPT extension
Scientist positions typically fall under STEM-designated CIP codes in life sciences, chemistry, or environmental fields. Verify your degree's CIP code with your DSO before accepting an offer, this directly affects whether you qualify for 24 additional months.
Target employers with established research infrastructure
Large biotech firms, pharmaceutical companies, national laboratories, and research universities have dedicated HR teams familiar with OPT and E-Verify requirements. These employers are far less likely to withdraw an offer due to work authorization concerns than smaller startups.
Disclose your OPT status early in the process
Bring up your OPT authorization before the offer stage, not after. Frame it clearly: you have current work authorization, and STEM-eligible roles give the employer up to three years before any sponsorship decision becomes necessary.
Align your job title to your degree field precisely
USCIS scrutinizes whether your role directly relates to your STEM degree for OPT extension eligibility. A title like 'Research Scientist' backed by a biology or chemistry degree is strong. Misaligned titles can jeopardize your extension application.
Get your training plan documented from day one
STEM OPT requires a formal training plan (Form I-983) signed by your employer. Ask your supervisor to outline specific learning objectives tied to your degree field before your extension start date, delays in this step can create serious compliance gaps.
Research employers who have sponsored scientists before
Prior H-1B visa sponsorship for research roles is a reliable signal that an employer understands immigration pathways. Employers who have sponsored Scientist and Research Scientist titles before are significantly more likely to do so again after your OPT period ends.
Scientist OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Do Scientist roles qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Most do, but it depends on your degree's CIP code, not just the job title. Degrees in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, environmental science, and related STEM fields typically qualify. Your DSO confirms eligibility based on your degree, not your employer's job description. Confirm this before accepting any offer.
How do I find Scientist jobs that are open to OPT candidates?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for OPT-friendly employers, so you're not wasting time applying to roles where work authorization is a dealbreaker. Search Scientist and Research Scientist listings on Migrate Mate to identify employers already comfortable with F-1 OPT candidates and familiar with E-Verify requirements.
What is the E-Verify requirement for my STEM OPT employer?
Any employer who hires you on a STEM OPT extension must be enrolled in E-Verify. This is a federal requirement, not optional. Before signing an offer letter for a role where you plan to use the 24-month extension, confirm your employer's E-Verify enrollment status. If they're not enrolled, you cannot legally work the extension there.
Can I work at a government lab or national research facility on OPT?
Yes, federal contractors and national laboratories can hire OPT students, though some positions require U.S. citizenship or security clearances that OPT students cannot obtain. Look for postdoctoral researcher or contractor scientist roles at facilities like national labs, these are commonly accessible to OPT holders with the right background clearance profile.
What happens to my OPT if my research contract ends before my authorization expires?
You enter a 60-day grace period once your employment ends. During this window, you can search for a new Scientist role and begin working once a new employer is reported to your DSO. You cannot work during the grace period itself. If you do not secure new employment within 60 days, you must leave the U.S. or change status.