OPT Staff Software Engineer Jobs
Staff Software Engineer roles qualify for OPT work authorization, including the 24-month STEM OPT extension for graduates in computer science, software engineering, and related fields. These senior-level positions typically require seven or more years of experience and involve leading technical architecture, mentoring engineers, and driving large-scale system design.
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Get Access To All JobsWhy join Stryker?
Looking for a place that values your unique talents? Discover Stryker's award-winning culture.
We are proud to offer you our total rewards package which includes bonuses, healthcare, insurance benefits, retirement programs, wellness programs, as well as service and performance awards – not to mention various social and recreational activities, all of which are location specific.
Job description
We are excited to be named one of the World’s Best Workplaces by Fortune Magazine! We are proud to offer you 12 paid holidays annually. For an overview of our benefits and time off, please follow this link to learn more: US Stryker employee benefits.
We are seeking a Staff Embedded Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and documentation of embedded software for medical devices. In this role, you will be responsible for delivering high-quality, reliable, and compliant software solutions while adhering to internal software development lifecycle processes and FDA software development guidance.
In addition to product software development, you will partner with multidisciplinary teams to design and develop software for manufacturing fixtures and provisioning systems that support product configuration, testing, and in-line manufacturing processes. This role requires strong expertise in embedded systems, excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to influence technical direction while delivering solutions that enhance product quality, reliability, and operational efficiency.
What You Will Do
- Design and develop embedded software and supporting documentation for medical devices in accordance with internal software development lifecycle processes and FDA software development guidance.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including R&D, Systems Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Regulatory Affairs, and Advanced Operations, to ensure effective communication and successful product development.
- Support legacy products through root-cause investigation, defect resolution, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Partner with multidisciplinary teams to plan and execute software verification and validation activities.
- Conduct advanced problem solving, identify potential solutions, and evaluate them against system and sub-system requirements.
- Collaborate with Advanced Operations, Manufacturing, and third-party suppliers to develop and review manufacturing fixture software and ensure deliverables meet quality and software documentation standards.
What You Need (Minimum Required Qualifications)
- Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline
- 4+ years of professional work experience
- Experience in C/C++ software development for embedded systems.
- Hands-on experience with Python development, including scripting, automation, and application development.
Preferred Qualifications (Strongly Desired)
- Experience developing embedded software using C/C++ on bare-metal and/or RTOS-based embedded platforms.
- Strong experience in Python programming, including design, development, testing, and maintenance of software applications.
- Experience driving adoption of software lifecycle management and requirements traceability tools and processes.
- Understanding of embedded communication protocols, including CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, USB, Ethernet, or similar technologies.
- Knowledgeable with integrated development environments (IDE) for projects.
- Knowledgeable with tools for static/dynamic analysis, memory management, code coverage and techniques for analyzing software.
- Knowledge in creating estimates for code implementation time/resource for assigned tasks and projects.
- Familiarity with regulatory and compliance standards applied to the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle).
- Experience using source control systems such as GitHub, Perforce or similar, including branching, merging, code reviews, and release management workflows.
- Knowledge in build systems and automation tools such as Jenkins, CMake, or equivalent CI/CD frameworks.
Compensation
- Salary Range: $102,600 - $171,000 USD Annual
Health benefits include: Medical and prescription drug insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, critical illness insurance, accident insurance, hospital indemnity insurance, personalized healthcare support, wellbeing program and tobacco cessation program. Financial benefits include: Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), 401(k) plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), basic life and AD&D insurance, and short-term disability insurance. Stryker offers innovative products and services in MedSurg, Neurotechnology, Orthopaedics and Spine that help improve patient and healthcare outcomes. Alongside its customers around the world, Stryker impacts more than 150 million patients annually. Depending on customer requirements employees and new hires in sales and field roles that require access to customer accounts as a function of the job may be required to obtain various vaccinations as an essential function of their role.
Why join Stryker?
Looking for a place that values your unique talents? Discover Stryker's award-winning culture.
We are proud to offer you our total rewards package which includes bonuses, healthcare, insurance benefits, retirement programs, wellness programs, as well as service and performance awards – not to mention various social and recreational activities, all of which are location specific.
Job description
We are excited to be named one of the World’s Best Workplaces by Fortune Magazine! We are proud to offer you 12 paid holidays annually. For an overview of our benefits and time off, please follow this link to learn more: US Stryker employee benefits.
We are seeking a Staff Embedded Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and documentation of embedded software for medical devices. In this role, you will be responsible for delivering high-quality, reliable, and compliant software solutions while adhering to internal software development lifecycle processes and FDA software development guidance.
In addition to product software development, you will partner with multidisciplinary teams to design and develop software for manufacturing fixtures and provisioning systems that support product configuration, testing, and in-line manufacturing processes. This role requires strong expertise in embedded systems, excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to influence technical direction while delivering solutions that enhance product quality, reliability, and operational efficiency.
What You Will Do
- Design and develop embedded software and supporting documentation for medical devices in accordance with internal software development lifecycle processes and FDA software development guidance.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including R&D, Systems Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Regulatory Affairs, and Advanced Operations, to ensure effective communication and successful product development.
- Support legacy products through root-cause investigation, defect resolution, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Partner with multidisciplinary teams to plan and execute software verification and validation activities.
- Conduct advanced problem solving, identify potential solutions, and evaluate them against system and sub-system requirements.
- Collaborate with Advanced Operations, Manufacturing, and third-party suppliers to develop and review manufacturing fixture software and ensure deliverables meet quality and software documentation standards.
What You Need (Minimum Required Qualifications)
- Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline
- 4+ years of professional work experience
- Experience in C/C++ software development for embedded systems.
- Hands-on experience with Python development, including scripting, automation, and application development.
Preferred Qualifications (Strongly Desired)
- Experience developing embedded software using C/C++ on bare-metal and/or RTOS-based embedded platforms.
- Strong experience in Python programming, including design, development, testing, and maintenance of software applications.
- Experience driving adoption of software lifecycle management and requirements traceability tools and processes.
- Understanding of embedded communication protocols, including CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, USB, Ethernet, or similar technologies.
- Knowledgeable with integrated development environments (IDE) for projects.
- Knowledgeable with tools for static/dynamic analysis, memory management, code coverage and techniques for analyzing software.
- Knowledge in creating estimates for code implementation time/resource for assigned tasks and projects.
- Familiarity with regulatory and compliance standards applied to the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle).
- Experience using source control systems such as GitHub, Perforce or similar, including branching, merging, code reviews, and release management workflows.
- Knowledge in build systems and automation tools such as Jenkins, CMake, or equivalent CI/CD frameworks.
Compensation
- Salary Range: $102,600 - $171,000 USD Annual
Health benefits include: Medical and prescription drug insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, critical illness insurance, accident insurance, hospital indemnity insurance, personalized healthcare support, wellbeing program and tobacco cessation program. Financial benefits include: Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), 401(k) plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), basic life and AD&D insurance, and short-term disability insurance. Stryker offers innovative products and services in MedSurg, Neurotechnology, Orthopaedics and Spine that help improve patient and healthcare outcomes. Alongside its customers around the world, Stryker impacts more than 150 million patients annually. Depending on customer requirements employees and new hires in sales and field roles that require access to customer accounts as a function of the job may be required to obtain various vaccinations as an essential function of their role.
See all 396+ OPT Staff Software Engineer Jobs
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Staff Software Engineer
Target STEM-designated degree holders first
Confirm your degree appears on the official STEM OPT eligible CIP code list before applying. Computer science, electrical engineering, and information systems degrees qualify. This maximizes your authorized work period and makes you more attractive to employers weighing sponsorship timelines.
Emphasize technical scope and ownership
Staff-level roles require demonstrated ownership of large systems, not just task completion. Quantify impact: services you architected, uptime improvements you drove, or team size you influenced. Employers at this level expect candidates who operate with minimal direction and set technical direction.
Address OPT timing proactively in applications
Recruiters screening Staff candidates often assume immigration is complicated. A brief note clarifying your current OPT authorization period and STEM extension eligibility removes hesitation early. Framing it factually and confidently signals you understand the process and have planned accordingly.
Prioritize companies with established H-1B sponsorship history
Large technology companies and well-funded startups that have sponsored H-1B visa petitions before have legal and HR infrastructure already in place. They're far less likely to decline a strong Staff candidate over visa concerns than companies encountering sponsorship for the first time.
Use your technical network to access unadvertised roles
Many Staff Software Engineer positions are filled through referrals before any job listing is published. Reconnect with former colleagues, contribute to open-source projects, and engage engineering communities where principal and staff engineers are active. A warm introduction bypasses early screening filters entirely.
Time your job search around your OPT expiration window
Start applying at least four to five months before your OPT authorization ends. Staff-level hiring processes involve multiple interview rounds and can take six to ten weeks. Beginning early gives you room to negotiate without the pressure of an imminent work authorization gap.
Staff Software Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Staff Software Engineer on OPT without H-1B sponsorship?
Yes. OPT authorizes full-time employment in a role directly related to your field of study, and Staff Software Engineer positions qualify for graduates with degrees in computer science, software engineering, or related STEM fields. You can work for the duration of your OPT period without your employer needing to file any petition on your behalf, though most Staff candidates pursue H-1B sponsorship before OPT expires.
Does the STEM OPT extension apply to Staff Software Engineer roles?
Yes, provided your degree is in a STEM-designated field and your employer is enrolled in E-Verify. The 24-month STEM OPT extension gives you up to three years of total post-graduation work authorization. Staff Software Engineer roles at companies using E-Verify satisfy the employer requirement, which makes this one of the more straightforward job categories for STEM OPT students to navigate.
How hard is it to find Staff Software Engineer jobs that sponsor OPT students?
Staff-level engineering roles are senior enough that employers genuinely compete for qualified candidates, which improves your leverage on visa-related conversations. Companies that have hired at this level before typically have the legal infrastructure to sponsor. Migrate Mate filters specifically for OPT-friendly employers, so you can focus your search on companies that have already demonstrated willingness to work with international candidates rather than guessing from a general job listing.
What happens if I'm on OPT and my Staff Software Engineer contract ends before H-1B is approved?
If your OPT authorization expires and your H-1B petition is pending under cap-gap protection, you may continue working through September 30 of the lottery year if your petition was properly filed on time. If there's no pending petition, you enter the 60-day grace period and cannot work during that window. Planning your contract timeline and H-1B filing schedule carefully with your employer's immigration counsel is critical at the Staff level.
Do Staff Software Engineer roles require any special OPT reporting compared to junior roles?
The reporting obligations are the same regardless of seniority. You must report your employer, job title, start date, and any changes in employment to your DSO within 10 days through your school's system. For Staff roles, the job title and duties should closely align with your degree field in your OPT documentation. Role misalignment is a common audit issue, so keeping your DSO records current and accurate matters.