Staff Devops Engineer Jobs for OPT Students
Staff DevOps Engineer roles are well-suited for F-1 OPT students with backgrounds in computer science, systems engineering, or software engineering. Most positions qualify as STEM OPT extensions, giving you up to 36 months of work authorization. Employers in this space regularly sponsor H-1B visas for strong performers.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Artisan
We're building AI employees. Not chatbots. Not copilots. Autonomous digital workers that do real jobs.
Our first, Ava, is an AI BDR used by hundreds of companies. She researches leads, writes and sends emails in a customer's voice, runs multi-step outbound sequences, manages her own deliverability infrastructure, self-optimizes over time, and handles objections and meeting booking. She's not a tool someone uses. She's a teammate.
We're a YC W24 company, have raised $35M+ from investors including Y Combinator, and are at $8M+ ARR. Right now we're building Ava 2.0, a step change in what an AI employee can do. The engineering problems are hard and the surface area is enormous.
Role overview
You'll be the first Data Engineer on the Artisan team! We're managing a database of hundreds of millions of leads and creating real-time intent signals which monitor data fields for those leads. You'll own everything data-related at Artisan.
- Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines that process and transform large volumes of structured and unstructured data
- Manage ingestion from third-party APIs, internal systems, and customer datasets
- Develop and maintain data models, data schemas, and storage systems optimized for ML and product performance
- Collaborate with ML engineers to prepare model-ready datasets, embeddings, feature stores, and evaluation data
- Implement data quality monitoring, validation, and observability
- Work closely with product engineers to support new features that rely on complex data flows
- Optimize systems for performance, cost, and reliability
- Contribute to early architecture decisions, infrastructure design, and best practices for data governance
- Build tooling that enables the entire team to access clean, well-structured data
Location: San Francisco, New York, or Remote USA
Team: Engineering
Reports to: CPTO, Sam Stallings
Who you are
- 3+ years of experience as a Data Engineer
- Proficiency in Python, SQL, and modern data tooling (dbt, Airflow, Dagster, or similar)
- Comfort working in fast, ambiguous environments
- Experience designing and operating ETL/ELT pipelines in production
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
- Familiarity with data lakes, warehouses, and vector databases
- Experience integrating APIs and working with semi-structured data (JSON, logs, event streams)
- Strong understanding of data modeling and optimization
- Bonus: experience supporting LLMs, embeddings, or ML training pipelines
- Bonus: startup experience
Interview process
1. Introductory chat with our recruiter
2. 1 hour technical interview with an engineer
3. 1 hour technical interview with an engineer
4. 30-minute interview with Sam, our CPTO
5. 15-minute culture and values interview with Jaspar, our CEO
Our culture and values
- Founder mindset. Everyone acts like an owner: take initiative, think big, challenge ideas, and push for 10× outcomes
- Obsessed with impact. We apply the 80/20 rule, kill sunk costs quickly, and focus on what actually moves the needle
- Customer-first, always. Every decision is made with the customer experience at the center
- High standards, every detail. Quality matters in everything we ship, from product and code to copy and design
- Clear, direct communication. We value candor, fast responses, and feedback
- Winning team energy. We bring positive vibes, low ego, zero drama, and genuinely enjoy building together
About Artisan
We're building AI employees. Not chatbots. Not copilots. Autonomous digital workers that do real jobs.
Our first, Ava, is an AI BDR used by hundreds of companies. She researches leads, writes and sends emails in a customer's voice, runs multi-step outbound sequences, manages her own deliverability infrastructure, self-optimizes over time, and handles objections and meeting booking. She's not a tool someone uses. She's a teammate.
We're a YC W24 company, have raised $35M+ from investors including Y Combinator, and are at $8M+ ARR. Right now we're building Ava 2.0, a step change in what an AI employee can do. The engineering problems are hard and the surface area is enormous.
Role overview
You'll be the first Data Engineer on the Artisan team! We're managing a database of hundreds of millions of leads and creating real-time intent signals which monitor data fields for those leads. You'll own everything data-related at Artisan.
- Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines that process and transform large volumes of structured and unstructured data
- Manage ingestion from third-party APIs, internal systems, and customer datasets
- Develop and maintain data models, data schemas, and storage systems optimized for ML and product performance
- Collaborate with ML engineers to prepare model-ready datasets, embeddings, feature stores, and evaluation data
- Implement data quality monitoring, validation, and observability
- Work closely with product engineers to support new features that rely on complex data flows
- Optimize systems for performance, cost, and reliability
- Contribute to early architecture decisions, infrastructure design, and best practices for data governance
- Build tooling that enables the entire team to access clean, well-structured data
Location: San Francisco, New York, or Remote USA
Team: Engineering
Reports to: CPTO, Sam Stallings
Who you are
- 3+ years of experience as a Data Engineer
- Proficiency in Python, SQL, and modern data tooling (dbt, Airflow, Dagster, or similar)
- Comfort working in fast, ambiguous environments
- Experience designing and operating ETL/ELT pipelines in production
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
- Familiarity with data lakes, warehouses, and vector databases
- Experience integrating APIs and working with semi-structured data (JSON, logs, event streams)
- Strong understanding of data modeling and optimization
- Bonus: experience supporting LLMs, embeddings, or ML training pipelines
- Bonus: startup experience
Interview process
1. Introductory chat with our recruiter
2. 1 hour technical interview with an engineer
3. 1 hour technical interview with an engineer
4. 30-minute interview with Sam, our CPTO
5. 15-minute culture and values interview with Jaspar, our CEO
Our culture and values
- Founder mindset. Everyone acts like an owner: take initiative, think big, challenge ideas, and push for 10× outcomes
- Obsessed with impact. We apply the 80/20 rule, kill sunk costs quickly, and focus on what actually moves the needle
- Customer-first, always. Every decision is made with the customer experience at the center
- High standards, every detail. Quality matters in everything we ship, from product and code to copy and design
- Clear, direct communication. We value candor, fast responses, and feedback
- Winning team energy. We bring positive vibes, low ego, zero drama, and genuinely enjoy building together
How to Get Visa Sponsorship as a Staff Devops Engineer
Target STEM OPT-eligible roles specifically
Staff DevOps Engineer positions at technology companies almost universally fall under STEM OPT CIP codes 11.0101 or 14.0901. Confirm your degree field qualifies before applying so you can accurately represent your 36-month authorization window to employers.
Lead with infrastructure impact in your resume
Hiring managers at the staff level want evidence of scope. Quantify the systems you've managed: cluster sizes, uptime improvements, deployment frequency gains. Concrete metrics signal senior-level experience and reduce employer hesitation around OPT sponsorship timelines.
Focus on platform engineering and SRE-adjacent titles
Staff DevOps roles increasingly overlap with Site Reliability Engineering and Platform Engineering. These adjacent titles appear frequently at H-1B-sponsoring employers like Google, Meta, and Amazon, widening your pool of OPT-friendly opportunities significantly.
Use Migrate Mate to filter for sponsoring employers
Browsing general job boards wastes time on roles that won't sponsor. Migrate Mate surfaces Staff DevOps Engineer positions from employers with documented sponsorship history, so your applications go to companies already prepared to support OPT workers.
Staff Devops Engineer jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Does a Staff DevOps Engineer role qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
Yes, in most cases. Staff DevOps Engineer positions typically fall under STEM CIP codes for computer science (11.0101) or computer engineering (14.0901), which are both on the STEM Designated Degree Program List. Your degree must be in a qualifying STEM field, and the role must be directly related to that field of study for your DSO to authorize the 24-month STEM extension on top of your initial 12 months.
How much OPT time do I realistically need to land and complete a Staff DevOps Engineer role?
With STEM OPT, you have up to 36 months total. Staff-level roles typically have longer hiring cycles than entry-level positions, sometimes eight to twelve weeks from first interview to offer. Starting your search three to six months before your current OPT expires is a practical buffer. If you secure the role and the employer files an H-1B petition before your OPT ends, you can remain authorized through cap-gap protections while the petition is pending.
What types of employers sponsor H-1B visas for Staff DevOps Engineers?
Large technology companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are among the most consistent H-1B filers for DevOps and infrastructure roles at the staff level. Mid-size SaaS companies and financial technology firms also sponsor frequently. You can verify any employer's filing history through the Department of Labor's OFLC disclosure data before applying. Migrate Mate also filters job listings by sponsorship track record, saving you significant research time.
Can I work as a contractor or on a short-term engagement as an F-1 OPT student in this role?
OPT work authorization requires that your employment be directly related to your degree field, but it does not require a permanent full-time position. Contract, consulting, and fixed-term roles are permitted as long as they are paid, substantive, and field-relevant. However, most employers willing to invest in H-1B sponsorship for staff-level engineers prefer direct employment relationships, so contract roles may not lead to long-term visa support the way full-time roles typically do.
What should I do if my OPT expires before an H-1B is approved?
If your employer files an H-1B petition before your OPT authorization expires, cap-gap protection automatically extends your work authorization through September 30 of that fiscal year, or until the petition is adjudicated, whichever comes first. If the petition is filed on time and you remain in the same job, there is no gap in your ability to work. Your DSO can issue an updated I-20 reflecting the cap-gap extension, which serves as proof of continued authorization alongside your EAD.
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