Software Engineer Jobs for OPT Students
Software Engineer is one of the most OPT-friendly roles in the U.S. job market, with hundreds of employers actively filing H-1B sponsorship each year. Your 12-month OPT period (plus a 24-month STEM extension if your degree qualifies) gives you real runway to land a role and build toward long-term status.
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Our Team:
Chewy Plus Team is building innovative and exciting solutions towards chewy’s mission to be the most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents and partners everywhere. We take time to understand the “why” before we start shaping up the “how.” We celebrate engineering successes and promote a continuous learning and improvement engineering culture. We set the bar high for delivering production-ready code by adopting CI/CD (continuous integration & continuous deployment) and DevOps engineering guidelines. We encourage our engineers to contribute ideas and solutions in tech stacks across the company.
Your Role
As a Software Engineer - Frontend, you will have the ability to craft, enhance or create new functionalities for pet parents. As a full stack developer, you will have the ability to experience working with UI, microservice based backend and data processing for solving challenging customer and business problems. Your work will directly impact millions of customers who care for their furry family members every day. You will be a part of an amazing team and contributing to a growth initiative.
- Design, develop and implement solutions using varied technologies focusing on scalability, latency, and resiliency.
- Build or enhance front end components using front end technology such as ReactJS.
- Build and Integrate APIs, contribute to the development of microservices using backend technology such as Java and Spring boot.
- Actively participate in architecture and code reviews to deliver high quality code.
- Actively participate in scrum ceremonies such as grooming, planning, demos and retros.
- Make meaningful contributions to the team's service architecture, data architecture, dev-ops, infrastructure as code, deployment pipelines and public cloud services as part of a software development team.
- Adhere to enterprise architecture and coding standards.
- Participate in on-call rotations, troubleshooting production issues and operational excellence.
- Guide and mentor junior engineers to deliver high-quality code through design and code reviews.
Minimum Qualifications
- 4+ years of strong programming experience with frontend technologies, including ReactJS, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
- Experience developing and integrating RESTful APIs using Java and frameworks like Spring Boot or Spring Web Flux.
- Experience in working with SQL databases such as Postgres.
- Strong understanding of algorithms and data structures.
- Experience with high-performing, scalable systems.
- Ability to think independently and break down product requirements into well-defined tasks.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science (or a related field) or equivalent work experience.
- Experience in monitoring production environment, troubleshooting, triaging and addressing production issues.
Preferred
- Experience in designing, building and deploying backend solutions using Java.
- Experience with Playwright or similar automated testing tools.
- Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms.
- Experience developing CI/CD pipelines in Jenkins or similar tool.
The base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $190,000.00. The specific salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, education, and work location. In addition, this position is eligible for 401k and a new hire and annual equity grant. C08+ positions may also be eligible for annual bonus.
We offer different types of insurance and benefits, such as medical/Rx, vision, dental, life, disability, hospital indemnity, critical illness, and accident. We offer parental leave, family services benefits, backup dependent care, flexible spending accounts, telemedicine, pet adoption reimbursement, employee assistance program, and many discounts including 10% off pet insurance and 20% off at Chewy.com. Exempt salary team members have unlimited PTO, subject to manager approval. Team members will receive six paid holidays per year. Team members may be eligible for paid sick and family leave in compliance with applicable state and local regulations.
Chewy is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, citizenship, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran status, as well as any other legally-protected characteristic. If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, and you need an accommodation during the application process or to perform these job requirements, or if you need a religious accommodation, please contact CAAR@chewy.com.
To access Chewy's California CPRA Job Applicant Privacy Policy, please click here.
Job Description
Our Team:
Chewy Plus Team is building innovative and exciting solutions towards chewy’s mission to be the most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents and partners everywhere. We take time to understand the “why” before we start shaping up the “how.” We celebrate engineering successes and promote a continuous learning and improvement engineering culture. We set the bar high for delivering production-ready code by adopting CI/CD (continuous integration & continuous deployment) and DevOps engineering guidelines. We encourage our engineers to contribute ideas and solutions in tech stacks across the company.
Your Role
As a Software Engineer - Frontend, you will have the ability to craft, enhance or create new functionalities for pet parents. As a full stack developer, you will have the ability to experience working with UI, microservice based backend and data processing for solving challenging customer and business problems. Your work will directly impact millions of customers who care for their furry family members every day. You will be a part of an amazing team and contributing to a growth initiative.
- Design, develop and implement solutions using varied technologies focusing on scalability, latency, and resiliency.
- Build or enhance front end components using front end technology such as ReactJS.
- Build and Integrate APIs, contribute to the development of microservices using backend technology such as Java and Spring boot.
- Actively participate in architecture and code reviews to deliver high quality code.
- Actively participate in scrum ceremonies such as grooming, planning, demos and retros.
- Make meaningful contributions to the team's service architecture, data architecture, dev-ops, infrastructure as code, deployment pipelines and public cloud services as part of a software development team.
- Adhere to enterprise architecture and coding standards.
- Participate in on-call rotations, troubleshooting production issues and operational excellence.
- Guide and mentor junior engineers to deliver high-quality code through design and code reviews.
Minimum Qualifications
- 4+ years of strong programming experience with frontend technologies, including ReactJS, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
- Experience developing and integrating RESTful APIs using Java and frameworks like Spring Boot or Spring Web Flux.
- Experience in working with SQL databases such as Postgres.
- Strong understanding of algorithms and data structures.
- Experience with high-performing, scalable systems.
- Ability to think independently and break down product requirements into well-defined tasks.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science (or a related field) or equivalent work experience.
- Experience in monitoring production environment, troubleshooting, triaging and addressing production issues.
Preferred
- Experience in designing, building and deploying backend solutions using Java.
- Experience with Playwright or similar automated testing tools.
- Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms.
- Experience developing CI/CD pipelines in Jenkins or similar tool.
The base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $190,000.00. The specific salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, education, and work location. In addition, this position is eligible for 401k and a new hire and annual equity grant. C08+ positions may also be eligible for annual bonus.
We offer different types of insurance and benefits, such as medical/Rx, vision, dental, life, disability, hospital indemnity, critical illness, and accident. We offer parental leave, family services benefits, backup dependent care, flexible spending accounts, telemedicine, pet adoption reimbursement, employee assistance program, and many discounts including 10% off pet insurance and 20% off at Chewy.com. Exempt salary team members have unlimited PTO, subject to manager approval. Team members will receive six paid holidays per year. Team members may be eligible for paid sick and family leave in compliance with applicable state and local regulations.
Chewy is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, citizenship, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran status, as well as any other legally-protected characteristic. If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, and you need an accommodation during the application process or to perform these job requirements, or if you need a religious accommodation, please contact CAAR@chewy.com.
To access Chewy's California CPRA Job Applicant Privacy Policy, please click here.
How to Get Visa Sponsorship as a Software Engineer
Apply before your OPT start date
Hiring cycles for engineering roles take four to eight weeks. Start applying two to three months before your OPT begins so your authorization is active by the time an offer arrives and background checks clear.
Address OPT early in recruiter conversations
Mention your OPT status in the first recruiter call, not after a final-round interview. Framing it as 12 months plus a 24-month STEM extension gives employers a clearer picture of your available work timeline.
Highlight your STEM extension eligibility
Computer science, electrical engineering, and related STEM degrees qualify for the 24-month extension. Calling this out explicitly tells hiring managers you have up to three years of work authorization before any H-1B sponsorship is required.
Focus your search on mid-size tech companies
Large enterprises often have rigid sponsorship policies, while startups may lack HR infrastructure. Mid-size companies with 50 to 500 engineers frequently sponsor OPT candidates and move faster through their hiring process.
Use Migrate Mate to filter for OPT-ready employers
Migrate Mate surfaces software engineering roles at companies with verified sponsorship history. Filtering by OPT eligibility upfront saves significant time compared to screening hundreds of listings that never mention work authorization.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Software Engineer on OPT without employer sponsorship?
Yes. During your OPT period, you're authorized to work for any qualifying employer without them filing anything on your behalf initially. Your employer does not sponsor your OPT, USCIS grants it based on your F-1 status. Sponsorship only becomes relevant if you want to transition to an H-1B or another long-term visa after OPT ends.
Does my software engineering job need to be related to my degree field?
Yes, and this is enforced. OPT employment must be directly related to your degree field. A computer science graduate working as a software engineer is a clear match. A business administration graduate doing the same role would likely violate OPT terms. If your degree is adjacent, document how the work connects to your major before accepting an offer.
How does the 24-month STEM OPT extension work for software engineers?
If your degree is in a STEM-designated field such as computer science, software engineering, or electrical engineering, you can apply for a 24-month extension after your initial 12-month OPT period. Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify, and both you and your employer must complete a formal training plan. This gives you up to 36 months of total OPT authorization.
Where can I find software engineering jobs that sponsor OPT students?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for international students on OPT and F-1 status. It surfaces software engineering roles at employers with verified sponsorship history, so you're not guessing which companies are open to work authorization. Filtering by OPT eligibility narrows your search to positions where your status is already expected and accounted for by the hiring team.
Can I do freelance or contract software engineering work on OPT?
Yes, with conditions. OPT permits self-employment and contract work as long as each engagement is directly related to your degree field and you work at least 20 hours per week in aggregate. You cannot be unemployed for more than 90 cumulative days during standard OPT, or 150 days on a STEM extension, so maintaining consistent billable work is essential for staying in status.
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