TN Visa Founding Engineer Jobs
Founding Engineer roles qualify for TN visa sponsorship under the engineer category when the position requires a bachelor's degree or higher in engineering or computer science. Canadian citizens can present their support letter at the port of entry with no cap concerns. Mexican citizens need a consular appointment. Startups should have the employer support letter prepared before your start date to keep everything ready for your application.
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Get Access To All JobsABOUT THE ROLE
We're a small, dynamic team based in San Francisco, and we're looking for a founding engineer to join us. In this in-person role, you'll have the opportunity to wear multiple hats, interact directly with our customers, and play a vital part in shaping the future of our product. This is a challenging and dynamic role where you'll be working at the forefront of distributed systems, infrastructure and data engineering.
WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT AND EXAMPLES OF DAY-DAY TASKS
- Talking to customers (who are technical and have an engineering background) to streamline their workflows and improve the UX of our product
- Building new features into our product such as column exclusion, encryption, schema change alerts and more
- Improving our internal tooling and build automation to make it easier to ship features and manage our infrastructure
About us
Artie is a real-time database replication solution for databases and data warehouses. We do this by leveraging Kafka and change data capture (CDC). We're growing fast - we launched our cloud product a year ago and have surpassed 1M ARR. We're backed by Pathlight Ventures, General Catalyst and other world class investors like Benn Stancil (Mode), Lenny Rachitsky (Lenny's NewsLetter), and others.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Strong fundamentals in computer science or related field
- 4+ years of experience with web development and working at startups
- Pragmatic and care more about building the right thing vs. being right
- Comfortable jumping around the stack and wearing different hats
- Someone that is passionate about building products that are easy to use and extensible
- Proficiency writing in Go is preferred, but not necessary
- Happy to work in-person 5 days/week in San Francisco’s Financial District with the rest of the team.
TECH STACK
- Frontend: TypeScript (React and Material UI)
- Backend: Go, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka and Elasticsearch
- Infra: Terraform, Kubernetes, and Helm on GCP and AWS
LOCATION
Location: San Francisco, CA
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're a small, dynamic team based in San Francisco, and we're looking for a founding engineer to join us. In this in-person role, you'll have the opportunity to wear multiple hats, interact directly with our customers, and play a vital part in shaping the future of our product. This is a challenging and dynamic role where you'll be working at the forefront of distributed systems, infrastructure and data engineering.
WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT AND EXAMPLES OF DAY-DAY TASKS
- Talking to customers (who are technical and have an engineering background) to streamline their workflows and improve the UX of our product
- Building new features into our product such as column exclusion, encryption, schema change alerts and more
- Improving our internal tooling and build automation to make it easier to ship features and manage our infrastructure
About us
Artie is a real-time database replication solution for databases and data warehouses. We do this by leveraging Kafka and change data capture (CDC). We're growing fast - we launched our cloud product a year ago and have surpassed 1M ARR. We're backed by Pathlight Ventures, General Catalyst and other world class investors like Benn Stancil (Mode), Lenny Rachitsky (Lenny's NewsLetter), and others.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Strong fundamentals in computer science or related field
- 4+ years of experience with web development and working at startups
- Pragmatic and care more about building the right thing vs. being right
- Comfortable jumping around the stack and wearing different hats
- Someone that is passionate about building products that are easy to use and extensible
- Proficiency writing in Go is preferred, but not necessary
- Happy to work in-person 5 days/week in San Francisco’s Financial District with the rest of the team.
TECH STACK
- Frontend: TypeScript (React and Material UI)
- Backend: Go, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka and Elasticsearch
- Infra: Terraform, Kubernetes, and Helm on GCP and AWS
LOCATION
Location: San Francisco, CA
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding TN Visa Sponsorship as a Founding Engineer
Verify your degree maps to engineering
TN classification requires your degree field to match the engineering category. A computer science or software engineering degree works. A business or communications degree does not, even if your founding engineer duties are technical.
Target startups with prior TN filings
Early-stage companies sponsoring their first TN visa may face more scrutiny than established employers. Look for startups that have previously hired Canadian or Mexican engineers, which signals HR familiarity with visa sponsorship processes and the documentation required for TN applications at the border or consulate.
Negotiate support letter details before your start date
Your employer must prepare a support letter outlining your role and qualifications before you start work. For founding engineer positions with equity or delayed start dates, confirm the support letter is ready for your port of entry presentation (for Canadians) or consulate application (for Mexicans), and that your start date aligns with when you'll actually begin work, not the offer signing date.
Prepare a specialty occupation letter for startups
CBP officers sometimes question whether a founding engineer role at a pre-revenue company constitutes a specialty occupation. A detailed offer letter outlining required degree, specific technical duties, and reporting structure reduces that risk significantly.
Use Migrate Mate to filter TN-sponsored roles
Founding engineer jobs rarely advertise TN sponsorship explicitly. Use Migrate Mate to identify companies actively sponsoring TN visas for engineering roles so you're applying where the process is already understood.
Mexican citizens should book consular appointments early
Mexican nationals cannot use a port-of-entry TN approval the way Canadians can. Schedule your U.S. consular appointment immediately after the employer prepares your support letter, since founding engineer start dates at startups are often firm and interview slots fill weeks out.
Founding Engineer jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
Find Founding Engineer JobsFounding Engineer TN Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a founding engineer role qualify for TN visa sponsorship?
Yes, if the position requires a bachelor's degree or higher in engineering or a related technical field and your duties align with the engineering TN category. The job title itself does not determine eligibility. CBP reviews the actual duties, degree requirement, and the relationship between your credentials and the role when making that determination.
How does the TN visa compare to H-1B for founding engineer positions?
TN has no annual lottery and no cap for Canadian citizens, so you can start as soon as your employer provides a support letter and your entry is approved at the U.S. border or port of entry. H-1B requires winning a lottery with roughly a one-in-four chance before any petition is filed. For founding engineer roles with time-sensitive start dates at early-stage companies, TN is substantially more predictable than H-1B.
Where can I find founding engineer jobs that offer TN visa sponsorship?
Most founding engineer postings do not explicitly state TN sponsorship, which makes filtering by employer history important. Migrate Mate lets you search for engineering roles at companies with active TN visa filing history, so you can focus your applications on employers already familiar with the process rather than educating every hiring manager from scratch.
Can my startup employer file a TN petition if they have no prior immigration experience?
Yes, but expect more preparation. The employer must provide a detailed offer letter for CBP review at the port of entry. Startups without HR infrastructure often need guidance on specialty occupation language and demonstrating that the role requires a bachelor's degree in a relevant field. For Canadians, this support letter is presented directly at the border; for Mexicans, it's submitted to a U.S. consulate. The employer owns the responsibility of preparing this documentation regardless of their immigration experience level.
What happens to my TN status if the startup shuts down or I leave the founding engineer role?
TN status is employer-specific and tied to the approved position. If you leave or the company folds, your TN authorization ends. You have a grace period of up to 60 days to find a new TN-eligible employer and initiate a new sponsorship process, or to depart the United States. You cannot transfer the TN to a new employer without restarting the process at a U.S. port of entry (for Canadians) or U.S. consulate (for Mexicans).
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