AI Architect Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
California leads the country in AI investment, making it the top state for AI architect visa sponsorship jobs. Companies like Google, Meta, Apple, and dozens of AI-native startups in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles actively hire and sponsor international talent for AI architect roles requiring deep expertise in machine learning infrastructure and system design.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Your work days are brighter here.
We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.
ABOUT THE TEAM
At Workday, we believe AI agents will change how people and organizations work. The AI Platform organization builds the foundation that makes this possible: a secure, trusted, and scalable platform that Workday, our customers, and our partners use to build, run, and manage AI agents across some of the world's largest enterprises.
Our team owns the full life of an agent. We govern how agents operate, help organizations build and measure them, and run them reliably at scale. We also manage the models that power them, route each request to the right model and provider, and provide the data and infrastructure underneath it all. Our customers trust Workday with their most sensitive people and financial data, and we hold our platform to that standard.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Sr Principal is the most senior architecture leader in the AI Platform organization. This person owns the end-to-end architecture of the platform, defines the target state and the path to get there, and ensures every pillar builds toward a single, coherent design. The role draws on deep expertise in distributed systems, AI platforms, model engineering, and AI governance.
This is a senior individual contributor role with broad influence across the organization and the company. The successful candidate combines a clear architectural vision with the judgment to make lasting design decisions, the ability to align many teams around shared standards, and the communication skills to advise executives on technical strategy and investment.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
- Architecture Vision and Target State: Define the long-term architecture vision and target state for the AI Platform, along with a practical roadmap to reach it. Ensure the architecture scales with Workday's growing agent ecosystem and stays aligned with business strategy.
- End-to-End Platform Architecture: Own the overall architecture of the platform services that power agents and AI workloads, including runtimes, orchestration, routing, model management, and data infrastructure. Ensure these services fit together as one platform rather than separate systems.
- Distributed Systems Architecture: Set the architectural patterns for the highly available, large-scale distributed systems that underpin the platform. Define the standards for reliability, performance, scalability, and fault tolerance.
- Model Architecture: Define how models are integrated, served, evaluated, and optimized across the platform. Set direction on the architectural tradeoffs between model quality, performance, and cost, and ensure the platform can adopt new models quickly.
- Cloud Architecture: Define the cloud architecture across AWS and GCP, including multi-cloud design, the use of managed AI services, and cost-effective infrastructure patterns.
- AI Governance by Design: Partner with the AI Governance and Sovereignty and Routing teams to build governance, security, privacy, and compliance into the architecture from the start. Ensure the platform supports auditability, responsible AI practices, and evolving regulatory requirements.
- Architecture Standards and Governance: Establish the reference architectures, design patterns, and architecture principles used across the organization. Lead the architecture review process and make or guide the critical design decisions that shape the platform.
- Technology Evaluation: Lead the evaluation of frameworks, platforms, and vendors, including build versus buy decisions. Ensure technology choices support the long-term architecture rather than short-term needs alone.
- Cross-Pillar and Cross-Company Alignment: Work across all pillars of the AI Platform organization, and with architects across Workday, to align on shared standards, resolve design conflicts, and ensure the platform integrates cleanly with Workday products.
- Mentorship and Architecture Community: Mentor architects and senior engineers, raise the design bar across the organization, and build a strong architecture community that can carry the vision forward.
- Executive and External Influence: Advise senior leadership on architecture strategy, technical risk, and investment tradeoffs. Represent Workday externally through industry partnerships, standards bodies, open-source communities, and conferences.
ABOUT YOU
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related discipline
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time in senior architecture roles
- 8+ years experience defining the architecture of large-scale distributed systems running in production
- 8+ years experience running architecture practices, such as reference architectures, architecture decision records, and architecture review boards
- 5+ years of experience architecting AI or machine learning platforms that support production workloads at enterprise scale
OTHER QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong background in model engineering, including model selection, evaluation, serving, and optimization, with the ability to guide architecture decisions in this space
- Deep familiarity with large language models, including their strengths, limitations, and the architectural patterns used to apply them in production, such as retrieval-augmented generation and agent orchestration
- Strong experience with AWS and GCP architecture, including core infrastructure and managed AI services
- Working knowledge of AI governance, including security, privacy, compliance, and responsible AI practices in enterprise environments
- Demonstrated ability to set architectural direction and influence multiple teams without direct authority
- Excellent communicator, able to explain complex architecture clearly to executives and engage deeply with engineers
- Strong track record of mentoring architects and senior engineers
- Experience with agent frameworks and interaction protocols, such as LangGraph, MCP, and A2A
- Experience architecting container and orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes, at scale
- Familiarity with AI regulation and data sovereignty requirements, such as the EU AI Act
- Recognized technical reputation through publications, patents, open-source contributions, or industry speaking
- Sound judgment for balancing innovation against platform stability, cost, and risk
WORKDAY PAY TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT
The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.
Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton
Primary Location Base Pay Range: $242,400 USD - $363,600 USD
Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $205,200 USD - $363,600 USD
OUR APPROACH TO FLEXIBLE WORK
With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.
Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.
Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.
Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law.
If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email accommodations@workday.com, as far in advance as possible.
ARE YOU BEING REFERRED TO ONE OF OUR ROLES?
If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!
At Workday, we value our candidates’ privacy and data security. Workday will never ask candidates to apply to jobs through websites that are not Workday Careers.
Please be aware of sites that may ask for you to input your data in connection with a job posting that appears to be from Workday but is not.
In addition, Workday will never ask candidates to pay a recruiting fee, or pay for consulting or coaching services, in order to apply for a job at Workday.
INTRODUCTION
Your work days are brighter here.
We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.
ABOUT THE TEAM
At Workday, we believe AI agents will change how people and organizations work. The AI Platform organization builds the foundation that makes this possible: a secure, trusted, and scalable platform that Workday, our customers, and our partners use to build, run, and manage AI agents across some of the world's largest enterprises.
Our team owns the full life of an agent. We govern how agents operate, help organizations build and measure them, and run them reliably at scale. We also manage the models that power them, route each request to the right model and provider, and provide the data and infrastructure underneath it all. Our customers trust Workday with their most sensitive people and financial data, and we hold our platform to that standard.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Sr Principal is the most senior architecture leader in the AI Platform organization. This person owns the end-to-end architecture of the platform, defines the target state and the path to get there, and ensures every pillar builds toward a single, coherent design. The role draws on deep expertise in distributed systems, AI platforms, model engineering, and AI governance.
This is a senior individual contributor role with broad influence across the organization and the company. The successful candidate combines a clear architectural vision with the judgment to make lasting design decisions, the ability to align many teams around shared standards, and the communication skills to advise executives on technical strategy and investment.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
- Architecture Vision and Target State: Define the long-term architecture vision and target state for the AI Platform, along with a practical roadmap to reach it. Ensure the architecture scales with Workday's growing agent ecosystem and stays aligned with business strategy.
- End-to-End Platform Architecture: Own the overall architecture of the platform services that power agents and AI workloads, including runtimes, orchestration, routing, model management, and data infrastructure. Ensure these services fit together as one platform rather than separate systems.
- Distributed Systems Architecture: Set the architectural patterns for the highly available, large-scale distributed systems that underpin the platform. Define the standards for reliability, performance, scalability, and fault tolerance.
- Model Architecture: Define how models are integrated, served, evaluated, and optimized across the platform. Set direction on the architectural tradeoffs between model quality, performance, and cost, and ensure the platform can adopt new models quickly.
- Cloud Architecture: Define the cloud architecture across AWS and GCP, including multi-cloud design, the use of managed AI services, and cost-effective infrastructure patterns.
- AI Governance by Design: Partner with the AI Governance and Sovereignty and Routing teams to build governance, security, privacy, and compliance into the architecture from the start. Ensure the platform supports auditability, responsible AI practices, and evolving regulatory requirements.
- Architecture Standards and Governance: Establish the reference architectures, design patterns, and architecture principles used across the organization. Lead the architecture review process and make or guide the critical design decisions that shape the platform.
- Technology Evaluation: Lead the evaluation of frameworks, platforms, and vendors, including build versus buy decisions. Ensure technology choices support the long-term architecture rather than short-term needs alone.
- Cross-Pillar and Cross-Company Alignment: Work across all pillars of the AI Platform organization, and with architects across Workday, to align on shared standards, resolve design conflicts, and ensure the platform integrates cleanly with Workday products.
- Mentorship and Architecture Community: Mentor architects and senior engineers, raise the design bar across the organization, and build a strong architecture community that can carry the vision forward.
- Executive and External Influence: Advise senior leadership on architecture strategy, technical risk, and investment tradeoffs. Represent Workday externally through industry partnerships, standards bodies, open-source communities, and conferences.
ABOUT YOU
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related discipline
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time in senior architecture roles
- 8+ years experience defining the architecture of large-scale distributed systems running in production
- 8+ years experience running architecture practices, such as reference architectures, architecture decision records, and architecture review boards
- 5+ years of experience architecting AI or machine learning platforms that support production workloads at enterprise scale
OTHER QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong background in model engineering, including model selection, evaluation, serving, and optimization, with the ability to guide architecture decisions in this space
- Deep familiarity with large language models, including their strengths, limitations, and the architectural patterns used to apply them in production, such as retrieval-augmented generation and agent orchestration
- Strong experience with AWS and GCP architecture, including core infrastructure and managed AI services
- Working knowledge of AI governance, including security, privacy, compliance, and responsible AI practices in enterprise environments
- Demonstrated ability to set architectural direction and influence multiple teams without direct authority
- Excellent communicator, able to explain complex architecture clearly to executives and engage deeply with engineers
- Strong track record of mentoring architects and senior engineers
- Experience with agent frameworks and interaction protocols, such as LangGraph, MCP, and A2A
- Experience architecting container and orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes, at scale
- Familiarity with AI regulation and data sovereignty requirements, such as the EU AI Act
- Recognized technical reputation through publications, patents, open-source contributions, or industry speaking
- Sound judgment for balancing innovation against platform stability, cost, and risk
WORKDAY PAY TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT
The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please click here.
Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton
Primary Location Base Pay Range: $242,400 USD - $363,600 USD
Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $205,200 USD - $363,600 USD
OUR APPROACH TO FLEXIBLE WORK
With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.
Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.
Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision-making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law.
Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law.
If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email accommodations@workday.com, as far in advance as possible.
ARE YOU BEING REFERRED TO ONE OF OUR ROLES?
If so, ask your connection at Workday about our Employee Referral process!
At Workday, we value our candidates’ privacy and data security. Workday will never ask candidates to apply to jobs through websites that are not Workday Careers.
Please be aware of sites that may ask for you to input your data in connection with a job posting that appears to be from Workday but is not.
In addition, Workday will never ask candidates to pay a recruiting fee, or pay for consulting or coaching services, in order to apply for a job at Workday.
AI Architect Job Roles in California
See all 3,668+ AI Architect Jobs in California
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Search AI Architect Jobs in CaliforniaAI Architect Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies in California sponsor visas for AI architects?
Large tech employers including Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Salesforce have established visa sponsorship programs and regularly hire AI architects in California. AI-focused companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Databricks, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, also sponsor international candidates. Enterprise software and cloud infrastructure firms across Silicon Valley contribute significantly to sponsorship volume for this role.
Which visa types are most common for AI architect roles in California?
The H-1B visa is the most common visa for AI architects in California, as the role qualifies as a specialty occupation requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, AI, or a related field. Candidates with extraordinary ability may pursue the O-1A. Multinational employees transferring into California-based AI teams often use the L-1A or L-1B. Australians working in the field may also qualify for the E-3 visa.
Which cities in California have the most AI architect visa sponsorship jobs?
The San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Francisco itself, concentrates the largest share of AI architect sponsorship jobs in California. Los Angeles has a growing AI sector anchored by entertainment technology, aerospace, and defense firms. San Diego also has a presence driven by biotech and research institutions with applied AI programs.
How to find ai architect visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically by visa sponsorship status, making it straightforward to find AI architect roles in California where employers are actively open to sponsoring. Rather than sorting through general job listings manually, you can browse roles on Migrate Mate that are tagged for sponsorship and filtered to California, saving time during what is often an urgent job search.
Are there state-specific factors that affect AI architect sponsorship hiring in California?
California employers must comply with Department of Labor prevailing wage requirements when filing Labor Condition Applications for H-1B workers, and prevailing wages for AI architects in the Bay Area reflect the region's high cost of living. California's strong university pipeline, including UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UCLA, means employers are familiar with sponsoring international graduates. State labor laws add additional compliance considerations for employers managing H-1B workers.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored ai architect jobs in California?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.