OPT Software Engineer AI Jobs
Software Engineer AI jobs are among the most actively sponsored OPT roles in tech right now. Employers filing H-1B visa and O-1 visa petitions for these positions routinely accept STEM OPT extensions, giving you up to three years of work authorization to build your career in machine learning, LLMs, and AI systems.
Find OPT Software Engineer AI JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 385+ Software Engineer AI jobs
See all 385+ Software Engineer AI Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Software Engineer AI roles.
Get Access To All JobsAbout the Company
BeaconFire is based in Central NJ, specializing in Software Development, Web Development, and Business Intelligence; looking for a strong agentic AI developer who can build and productionize Vertex AI–based RAG systems (Vertex AI Search / Vertex AI RAG patterns), design reliable tool-using agents, and work comfortably with vector databases and graph databases.
About the Role
You’ll own end-to-end delivery: ingestion, retrieval, agent orchestration, evaluation, and deployment.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with the team to design and develop high quality Web applications using Python, Flask, Django, and related technologies.
- Write clean and efficient code, and ensure code maintainability and reusability.
- Design and implement RAG pipelines on Google Cloud / Vertex AI (chunking, embeddings, indexing, retrieval, reranking, grounding).
- Build agentic workflows (tool use, planning, reflection/guardrails, structured outputs) using Python-first frameworks.
- Perform code reviews to ensure code quality and consistency.
- Conduct testing to ensure application quality and reliability.
- Create and maintain technical documentation for web applications.
- Participate in project planning, estimation, and prioritization.
- Stay up to date with the latest technologies for Python development.
- Define and run evaluation (retrieval metrics, answer quality, hallucination/grounding checks), and improve system quality iteratively.
- Ship to production: APIs, monitoring/observability, cost/performance optimization, CI/CD, and security best practices.
Qualifications
- Experience in software development in Python3.
- Decent understanding of the software development/testing life cycle.
- Knowledge of relational databases (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc).
- Experience with version control tools, such as Git.
- Experience building RAG solutions (hybrid search, reranking, chunking strategies, embeddings, prompt + schema design).
- Familiar with at least one agentic framework (e.g., LangGraph/LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen) and tool/function calling patterns.
- Solid knowledge of vector search concepts and at least one vector DB in production.
- Strong engineering practices: code reviews, testing, telemetry, secure-by-design, reliability mindset.
Preferred Skills
- Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
- 1+ year professional experience in Python web application development with either Flask or Django.
- Experience in RESTful API development in Python.
- Understanding of Python web application frameworks such as Flask or Django.
- Experience with Cloud services, such as AWS.
- Experience with Vertex AI and GCP fundamentals (IAM, logging/monitoring, CloudRun/GKE, storage).
- Knowledge graphs for RAG (entity linking, graph traversal + retrieval fusion).
- Streaming/messaging (Pub/Sub, Kafka), document pipelines (Document AI), and multilingual retrieval.
- Experience with evaluation tooling (RAGAS, TruLens, custom eval harnesses), prompt/version management.
- Frontend integration (basic React/Next.js) or platform enablement (internal developer tooling).
Pay range and compensation package
BeaconFire is an E-verified company and provides equal employment opportunities (visa sponsorship provided).
Equal Opportunity Statement
BeaconFire is committed to diversity and inclusivity.
About the Company
BeaconFire is based in Central NJ, specializing in Software Development, Web Development, and Business Intelligence; looking for a strong agentic AI developer who can build and productionize Vertex AI–based RAG systems (Vertex AI Search / Vertex AI RAG patterns), design reliable tool-using agents, and work comfortably with vector databases and graph databases.
About the Role
You’ll own end-to-end delivery: ingestion, retrieval, agent orchestration, evaluation, and deployment.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with the team to design and develop high quality Web applications using Python, Flask, Django, and related technologies.
- Write clean and efficient code, and ensure code maintainability and reusability.
- Design and implement RAG pipelines on Google Cloud / Vertex AI (chunking, embeddings, indexing, retrieval, reranking, grounding).
- Build agentic workflows (tool use, planning, reflection/guardrails, structured outputs) using Python-first frameworks.
- Perform code reviews to ensure code quality and consistency.
- Conduct testing to ensure application quality and reliability.
- Create and maintain technical documentation for web applications.
- Participate in project planning, estimation, and prioritization.
- Stay up to date with the latest technologies for Python development.
- Define and run evaluation (retrieval metrics, answer quality, hallucination/grounding checks), and improve system quality iteratively.
- Ship to production: APIs, monitoring/observability, cost/performance optimization, CI/CD, and security best practices.
Qualifications
- Experience in software development in Python3.
- Decent understanding of the software development/testing life cycle.
- Knowledge of relational databases (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc).
- Experience with version control tools, such as Git.
- Experience building RAG solutions (hybrid search, reranking, chunking strategies, embeddings, prompt + schema design).
- Familiar with at least one agentic framework (e.g., LangGraph/LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen) and tool/function calling patterns.
- Solid knowledge of vector search concepts and at least one vector DB in production.
- Strong engineering practices: code reviews, testing, telemetry, secure-by-design, reliability mindset.
Preferred Skills
- Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
- 1+ year professional experience in Python web application development with either Flask or Django.
- Experience in RESTful API development in Python.
- Understanding of Python web application frameworks such as Flask or Django.
- Experience with Cloud services, such as AWS.
- Experience with Vertex AI and GCP fundamentals (IAM, logging/monitoring, CloudRun/GKE, storage).
- Knowledge graphs for RAG (entity linking, graph traversal + retrieval fusion).
- Streaming/messaging (Pub/Sub, Kafka), document pipelines (Document AI), and multilingual retrieval.
- Experience with evaluation tooling (RAGAS, TruLens, custom eval harnesses), prompt/version management.
- Frontend integration (basic React/Next.js) or platform enablement (internal developer tooling).
Pay range and compensation package
BeaconFire is an E-verified company and provides equal employment opportunities (visa sponsorship provided).
Equal Opportunity Statement
BeaconFire is committed to diversity and inclusivity.
See all 385+ OPT Software Engineer AI Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Software Engineer AI Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship in Software Engineer AI
Target companies with active AI research teams
Focus on employers who file H-1B visa petitions for AI and ML roles specifically, not just general software engineering. Companies with dedicated AI labs are far more likely to have established OPT and visa sponsorship pipelines already in place.
Highlight your STEM OPT eligibility upfront
AI engineering roles fall squarely under STEM OPT extension eligibility. Mentioning your three-year authorization window early removes employer hesitation and signals you understand the process, which experienced hiring managers appreciate.
Align your projects to the employer's AI stack
Tailor your portfolio to match the specific frameworks a company uses, whether PyTorch, JAX, or LangChain. Employers sponsoring AI roles care more about production-relevant skills than breadth, so depth in their stack accelerates hiring decisions.
Start your job search at least four months before OPT expiry
AI hiring cycles can run eight to twelve weeks from application to offer. Factor in onboarding and DSO reporting deadlines. Starting early gives you negotiating room and avoids the pressure of a countdown affecting your decisions.
Pursue roles with clear H-1B sponsorship history
Use Department of Labor disclosure data to verify whether a company has sponsored AI engineers for H-1B visas before. Past sponsorship is the strongest predictor that an employer understands and is willing to repeat the process for you.
Prepare to explain your authorization timeline confidently
Recruiters often misunderstand STEM OPT duration. Be ready to explain clearly that your authorization runs up to three years post-graduation, and that H-1B filing happens before that window closes, not immediately after you start.
Software Engineer AI OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Do Software Engineer AI jobs typically qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes. Software Engineer AI roles fall under CIP codes tied to computer science, data science, and electrical engineering, all of which qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension. Combined with your initial 12-month OPT, you have up to three years of work authorization. Confirm your degree's CIP code with your DSO before applying.
How do I find Software Engineer AI jobs that sponsor OPT students?
Migrate Mate lists Software Engineer AI roles from employers who have an established record of sponsoring international candidates. Filtering by sponsorship history saves significant time compared to applying broadly and discovering a company's policy only after multiple interview rounds.
Can I work on AI projects as an independent contractor during OPT?
Self-employment is technically permitted on OPT if you establish a legitimate business entity and the work falls within your field of study. However, most Software Engineer AI roles require access to proprietary data, GPUs, and internal systems that make full-time employer-sponsored employment far more practical and straightforward for maintaining valid OPT status.
What happens to my OPT status if an AI company acquires my employer?
An acquisition doesn't automatically invalidate your OPT, but it requires immediate attention. If the new entity changes your job title, scope, or employment terms materially, you must report the update to your DSO within 10 days. If the acquiring company isn't an E-Verify employer and you're on STEM OPT extension, your authorization could be at risk.
Are AI engineering internships on CPT a good path toward full-time OPT sponsorship?
They can be, especially at companies with established AI teams. A CPT internship gives the employer direct evidence of your technical output before committing to full-time sponsorship. The risk is over-using CPT: 12 or more months of full-time CPT eliminates your OPT eligibility entirely, so track your CPT usage carefully with your DSO.