AI Researcher Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
AI researcher visa sponsorship jobs in California are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, where companies like Google DeepMind, Meta AI, OpenAI, and Nvidia run large research divisions. Academic institutions including UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Caltech also hire sponsored researchers, making California the most active state for this role.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Salesforce
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.
Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.
Job Description
ware engineers, product managers and solution engineers closely to design, implement and iterate agentic AI systems with customers.
With your strong technical competence, strategic thinking and customer engagement, you will innovate at the frontier of the field, having the opportunity to create new solutions and define new categories of product with meaningful impact to Salesforce customers and beyond.
We are looking for candidates who
- Has exceptional engineering skills.
- Has deep ML knowledge with meaningful implementation track records.
- Prioritize deep and strategic thinking.
- Has dedication, patience and resilience to build exceptional product experience.
- Collaborative and win with teams.
- Proactive and bias to action, comfortable in fast-pacing environment.
- Competitive coding winner (ACM-ICPC, etc).
- Startup founders in agentic AI, LLM, area (e.g., YC backed startup).
Programming & Systems:
- Strong proficiency in Python; solid experience with C++ and/or Java.
- Build and ship high-quality, production-grade software using modern engineering practices, with AI as a core part of your development workflow by pushing the boundaries of AI development tools to deliver secure, optimized, and high-quality code.
- Design and orchestrate complex systems where AI agents integrate seamlessly into human workflows, driving efficiency and innovation at scale.
- Contribute to building and maintaining the shared system context, an explicit repository of system designs, constraints, and standards that enables AI to operate accurately and reliably.
- Critically evaluate code (Human or AI-generated) for correctness, quality, security, and performance.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, system design).
- Experience building production-quality systems.
Agentic / LLM Systems
- Practical experience with LLMs and agentic workflows (tool use, planning, memory, multi-step reasoning).
- Experience building end-to-end AI agents or complex AI-driven applications.
- Familiarity with prompting, orchestration, and evaluation for LLM-based systems.
Machine Learning & AI
- Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks.
- Strong understanding of ML fundamentals.
- Experience implementing and debugging model training, evaluation, and inference pipelines.
Infrastructure & Deployment
- Experience deploying ML systems using Docker and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
- Familiarity with distributed training or inference and performance optimization.
- A demonstrated, genuine AI-first approach to engineering. Using AI to move faster, build fluency across the stack, and contribute well beyond your core specialty.
- Experience using AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Cursor, etc.) in development workflows.
- Advanced prompt engineering skills and the ability to write precise, structured prompts and cultivate the system context that makes AI outputs reliable, secure, and production-ready.
Unleash Your Potential
When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.
Accommodations
If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.
Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.
Posting Statement
Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.
In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.
At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions.
The typical base salary range for this position is $148,500 - $223,900 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $178,900 - $246,000 annually.
The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.
About Salesforce
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.
Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.
Job Description
ware engineers, product managers and solution engineers closely to design, implement and iterate agentic AI systems with customers.
With your strong technical competence, strategic thinking and customer engagement, you will innovate at the frontier of the field, having the opportunity to create new solutions and define new categories of product with meaningful impact to Salesforce customers and beyond.
We are looking for candidates who
- Has exceptional engineering skills.
- Has deep ML knowledge with meaningful implementation track records.
- Prioritize deep and strategic thinking.
- Has dedication, patience and resilience to build exceptional product experience.
- Collaborative and win with teams.
- Proactive and bias to action, comfortable in fast-pacing environment.
- Competitive coding winner (ACM-ICPC, etc).
- Startup founders in agentic AI, LLM, area (e.g., YC backed startup).
Programming & Systems:
- Strong proficiency in Python; solid experience with C++ and/or Java.
- Build and ship high-quality, production-grade software using modern engineering practices, with AI as a core part of your development workflow by pushing the boundaries of AI development tools to deliver secure, optimized, and high-quality code.
- Design and orchestrate complex systems where AI agents integrate seamlessly into human workflows, driving efficiency and innovation at scale.
- Contribute to building and maintaining the shared system context, an explicit repository of system designs, constraints, and standards that enables AI to operate accurately and reliably.
- Critically evaluate code (Human or AI-generated) for correctness, quality, security, and performance.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, system design).
- Experience building production-quality systems.
Agentic / LLM Systems
- Practical experience with LLMs and agentic workflows (tool use, planning, memory, multi-step reasoning).
- Experience building end-to-end AI agents or complex AI-driven applications.
- Familiarity with prompting, orchestration, and evaluation for LLM-based systems.
Machine Learning & AI
- Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks.
- Strong understanding of ML fundamentals.
- Experience implementing and debugging model training, evaluation, and inference pipelines.
Infrastructure & Deployment
- Experience deploying ML systems using Docker and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
- Familiarity with distributed training or inference and performance optimization.
- A demonstrated, genuine AI-first approach to engineering. Using AI to move faster, build fluency across the stack, and contribute well beyond your core specialty.
- Experience using AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Cursor, etc.) in development workflows.
- Advanced prompt engineering skills and the ability to write precise, structured prompts and cultivate the system context that makes AI outputs reliable, secure, and production-ready.
Unleash Your Potential
When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.
Accommodations
If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.
Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.
Posting Statement
Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.
In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.
At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions.
The typical base salary range for this position is $148,500 - $223,900 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $178,900 - $246,000 annually.
The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.
AI Researcher Job Roles in California
See all 6,017+ AI Researcher Jobs in California
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Search AI Researcher Jobs in CaliforniaAI Researcher Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for AI researchers in California?
The largest sponsors of AI researcher roles in California include Google DeepMind, Meta AI Research, Apple, Microsoft Research, Nvidia, Adobe, Salesforce AI, and OpenAI. University-affiliated research labs at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Caltech also sponsor researchers. Sponsorship activity is concentrated in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, with smaller but growing activity in San Diego.
Which visa types are most common for AI researcher roles in California?
The H-1B visa is the most common visa for AI researchers in California, given that the role typically requires at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related field, meeting the specialty occupation standard. Researchers with exceptional recognition may qualify for the O-1A. Those with a master's or PhD may also be eligible for EB-1A or EB-2 NIW immigrant visa pathways over time.
Which cities in California have the most AI researcher sponsorship jobs?
The San Francisco Bay Area accounts for the largest share, with major research hubs in San Francisco, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and San Jose. Los Angeles is the second-largest market, driven by companies like Snap, Riot Games, and university labs at UCLA and USC. San Diego has a smaller but growing presence through biotech-adjacent AI research roles.
How to find ai researcher visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically by visa sponsorship availability, making it straightforward to identify AI researcher roles in California where employers are actively willing to sponsor. Because not every job posting discloses sponsorship intent upfront, using Migrate Mate saves time by surfacing only confirmed sponsoring employers, which is especially relevant in California's competitive research hiring market.
Are there any California-specific considerations for AI researchers seeking visa sponsorship?
California's prevailing wage requirements under H-1B rules apply at the county level, so wages for AI researcher roles in San Francisco or Santa Clara counties are benchmarked higher than national averages. Many California employers also have established immigration support infrastructure, particularly larger tech companies, which can mean faster internal processing. PhD graduates from California universities are frequently a starting point for sponsored research roles at nearby companies.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored ai researcher 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.