Software Design Engineer Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
Software design engineer roles in California are concentrated across the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, with major employers including Google, Apple, Meta, Qualcomm, and Adobe actively hiring internationally. California's tech industry generates significant H-1B visa sponsorship activity, making it one of the most active states for software design engineer visa sponsorship.
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Get Access To All JobsAbout Neuralink:
We are creating devices that enable a bi-directional interface with the brain. These devices allow us to restore movement to the paralyzed, restore sight to the blind, and revolutionize how humans interact with their digital world.
Team Description:
The Brain Interfaces Soc Department delivers chip architecture and silicon implementation of neural recording and stimulation system-on-chip (SoC) for high-bandwidth brain-machine interface applications. We have crafted a team of exceptional engineers whose mission is to push the frontiers of what is possible today and define the future.
Job Description & Responsibilities:
Our Hardware/Software Co-Design Engineer will be responsible for delivering micro-architecture and register-transfer level (RTL) implementation of digital IPs and systems with a focus in high-throughput low-power digital signal processor (DSP) and general-purpose hardware accelerators towards realizing state-of-the-art brain-computer interfaces. Relevant product development experience in micro-architecture design for low-power processors, on-chip bus and network interfaces, audio/video compression processors, AI/ML accelerators, and communication PHY/MAC will be preferred.
- Micro-architecture design and RTL implementation of:
- Low-power digital signal processors
- Low-power general-purpose hardware accelerators
- Low-power graphics processing units
- Low-power radio MAC/PHY
- Low-power serial link MAC/PHY
- Design and optimization of hardware/software interface with firmware engineers
- Application-specific architecture optimization including:
- Complex system modeling for energy and performance benchmarks
- Workload analysis and modeling
- Energy/performance profiling and analysis
- Leveraging architecture-level design trade-offs with process technology and workload type
- Balancing cost and performance under manufacturing process variation
- Collaboration on silicon bring-up tests with verification engineers
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Evidence of exceptional ability in electrical engineering, computer science, or computer engineering
- Experience designing and implementing embedded software in C or Rust
- Expertise in SystemVerilog, C/C++, Python
- Experience designing and implementing emulation models, transactors, and test environments to replicate hardware behavior
- Experience working on complex digital systems from architecture, microarchitecture, and RTL, using industry standard tools
- Experience in designing digital signal processing pipelines, from algorithm to RTL
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in architecture optimization with process technology customization
- Experience in the verification of complex digital systems, using industry standard tools
- Experience in the physical design of complex digital systems, using industry standard tools
- Experience testing and debugging digital system-on-a-chips
- Functional modeling experience and logic verification with SystemVerilog, SystemC/C++
- Experience automating tool flows
- Experience in processor instruction set architecture design
- Experience in compiler back-end design and customization
What We Offer:
Full-time employees are eligible for the following benefits listed below.
- An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields
- Growth potential; we rapidly advance team members who have an outsized impact
- Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan
- Paid holidays
- Commuter benefits
- Meals provided
- Equity (RSUs) Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- 401(k) plan Interns initially excluded until they work 1,000 hours
- Parental leave Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- Flexible time off Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
About Neuralink:
We are creating devices that enable a bi-directional interface with the brain. These devices allow us to restore movement to the paralyzed, restore sight to the blind, and revolutionize how humans interact with their digital world.
Team Description:
The Brain Interfaces Soc Department delivers chip architecture and silicon implementation of neural recording and stimulation system-on-chip (SoC) for high-bandwidth brain-machine interface applications. We have crafted a team of exceptional engineers whose mission is to push the frontiers of what is possible today and define the future.
Job Description & Responsibilities:
Our Hardware/Software Co-Design Engineer will be responsible for delivering micro-architecture and register-transfer level (RTL) implementation of digital IPs and systems with a focus in high-throughput low-power digital signal processor (DSP) and general-purpose hardware accelerators towards realizing state-of-the-art brain-computer interfaces. Relevant product development experience in micro-architecture design for low-power processors, on-chip bus and network interfaces, audio/video compression processors, AI/ML accelerators, and communication PHY/MAC will be preferred.
- Micro-architecture design and RTL implementation of:
- Low-power digital signal processors
- Low-power general-purpose hardware accelerators
- Low-power graphics processing units
- Low-power radio MAC/PHY
- Low-power serial link MAC/PHY
- Design and optimization of hardware/software interface with firmware engineers
- Application-specific architecture optimization including:
- Complex system modeling for energy and performance benchmarks
- Workload analysis and modeling
- Energy/performance profiling and analysis
- Leveraging architecture-level design trade-offs with process technology and workload type
- Balancing cost and performance under manufacturing process variation
- Collaboration on silicon bring-up tests with verification engineers
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Evidence of exceptional ability in electrical engineering, computer science, or computer engineering
- Experience designing and implementing embedded software in C or Rust
- Expertise in SystemVerilog, C/C++, Python
- Experience designing and implementing emulation models, transactors, and test environments to replicate hardware behavior
- Experience working on complex digital systems from architecture, microarchitecture, and RTL, using industry standard tools
- Experience in designing digital signal processing pipelines, from algorithm to RTL
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in architecture optimization with process technology customization
- Experience in the verification of complex digital systems, using industry standard tools
- Experience in the physical design of complex digital systems, using industry standard tools
- Experience testing and debugging digital system-on-a-chips
- Functional modeling experience and logic verification with SystemVerilog, SystemC/C++
- Experience automating tool flows
- Experience in processor instruction set architecture design
- Experience in compiler back-end design and customization
What We Offer:
Full-time employees are eligible for the following benefits listed below.
- An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields
- Growth potential; we rapidly advance team members who have an outsized impact
- Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan
- Paid holidays
- Commuter benefits
- Meals provided
- Equity (RSUs) Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- 401(k) plan Interns initially excluded until they work 1,000 hours
- Parental leave Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- Flexible time off Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
Software Design Engineer Job Roles in California
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Search Software Design Engineer Jobs in CaliforniaSoftware Design Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for software design engineers in California?
Large technology companies are the most consistent sponsors for software design engineers in California. Google, Apple, Meta, Adobe, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Salesforce have historically filed high volumes of H-1B petitions for engineering roles. Mid-size software companies and semiconductor firms in the Bay Area and San Diego also sponsor regularly, though the volume and consistency varies by company size and hiring cycle.
Which visa types are most common for software design engineer roles in California?
The H-1B is the most common visa for software design engineers in California, as the role typically qualifies as a specialty occupation requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field. F-1 graduates on OPT or STEM OPT often transition into H-1B sponsorship through California employers. Candidates with extraordinary ability may pursue the O-1A, though it requires substantial documented achievement.
Which cities in California have the most software design engineer sponsorship jobs?
The San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and San Francisco itself, accounts for the largest share of software design engineer sponsorship activity in California. Los Angeles has a growing technology sector with engineering roles at companies like Snap, Hulu, and SpaceX. San Diego is a significant hub for software design engineers in defense technology, semiconductors, and biotech-adjacent software.
How to find software design engineer visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically by visa sponsorship availability, making it straightforward to browse software design engineer roles in California without sorting through positions that won't support international candidates. You can search by location, filter to California, and focus on roles where employers have indicated sponsorship. This saves significant time compared to manually researching each company's sponsorship history.
Are there any California-specific considerations for software design engineer visa sponsorship?
California employers sponsoring H-1B workers must pay the prevailing wage determined by the Department of Labor for the specific role and metro area. Bay Area prevailing wages for software design engineers are among the highest in the country due to the region's wage levels, which affects the cost of sponsorship for employers. California's large network of university computer science programs, including UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UCLA, also creates a well-established pipeline of OPT candidates that many in-state employers are experienced with sponsoring.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored software design engineer 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.