Lead AI Engineer Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Michigan
Lead AI engineer roles in Michigan are concentrated at automotive technology companies like Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, which are building out AI and machine learning capabilities at scale. Detroit and Ann Arbor anchor most hiring activity, with the University of Michigan pipeline feeding talent into both legacy automakers and AI-focused startups across the state.
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Overview
At Ford, you’ll work on ideas that matter, alongside passionate people who want to make a global impact. Together, we’re shaping the next era of transportation—grounded in purpose, driven by progress. Make your move.
- Job Type: Full time
- Work Type: Hybrid
Our Marketing, Sales & Service organization advances the Ford reputation as a visionary vehicle and mobility services company and helps deliver a trusted customer experience. Use your marketing, sales and service expertise to turn data-driven insights into innovative solutions that enhance sales and customer loyalty. Join us and be the eyes, ears and voice of Ford.
In this position...
This role sits within the Yield Management Advanced Analytics team, focused on developing and maintaining sophisticated modeling and optimization capabilities that drive pricing and incentive strategy across the business. As part of the broader Yield Management organization, this team partners closely with sibling analytics products, data engineering, AI/ML engineering, and business stakeholders to deliver quantitative solutions that shape how the company prices vehicles, structures incentives, and manages portfolio risk.
The successful candidate will serve as a subject matter expert on our analytical products, translating complex business problems into rigorous quantitative solutions and owning their full lifecycle — from framework design through production deployment and ongoing maintenance. Solutions are delivered in whatever format best fits the need, often as always-on web applications (e.g., Python Dash apps), but also as ad-hoc analyses, or dashboards when appropriate. This position requires strong technical depth in statistical modeling, machine learning, and optimization, along with sound judgment in applying these methods to real business constraints. There is also room to explore emerging tools — such as agentic AI and LLM-based workflows — to enhance how solutions are built and delivered.
Critical questions this role will help answer include:
- Assessing portfolio risk and opportunity at the portfolio or nameplate level
- Assessing business impacts of different incentive tactics to support incentive planning
- Optimizing nameplate profitability or minimizing risk by adjusting entity-level pricing based on production, market demand, and operational constraints
- Supporting new model year launches, mid-year repricing, and short-term variable marketing adjustments
What you'll do...
Model Enhancement, Expansion & Maintenance
- Own the end-to-end lifecycle of complex predictive models and optimization frameworks, driving scheduled updates, continuous improvement, and maintenance using advanced statistical and machine learning methodologies
- Serve as subject matter expert for our analytical products, ensuring the accuracy of underlying data, calculation logic, and business assumptions
- Drive the transition of analytical frameworks into production-ready assets, focusing on deployment automation, operational stability, and delivering clean, modular, well-documented code
- Explore opportunities to apply emerging techniques, such as agentic AI or LLM-based tools, to improve modeling workflows or analytical delivery
Business Engagement & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner directly with business stakeholders to understand evolving needs and convert ambiguous business problems into well-defined analytical problems
- Communicate quantitative concepts into clear, actionable insights for both technical peers and business partners, ensuring analytical work translates into real business impact
- Execute rapid-response, ad-hoc analytical requests to support time-sensitive strategic decision-making
- Partner closely with data engineering, AI/ML engineering, and other analytics product teams within Yield Management to align data science capabilities with evolving business needs
You'll have...
- Master's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Economics/Econometrics, Mathematics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative field
- 3+ years of experience in data analytics, AI/ML modeling, or related quantitative analysis
- Proficiency in one or more programming languages (Python, R, MATLAB, C/C++/C#, SAS), along with familiarity in ML/DL libraries and SQL
Even better, you may have...
- Ph.D. in Data Science, Statistics, Economics/Econometrics, Mathematics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative field
- Demonstrated skills applying econometrics, statistics, and/or machine/deep learning techniques to large, structured and unstructured data sets
- Strong problem formulation and analytical rigor, with the ability to interpret and communicate model results
- Experience with web app frameworks (e.g., Dash, Flask, Streamlit), version control (Git), and cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, GCP)
- Curiosity or experience exploring agentic AI and LLM-based tools, with interest in applying them creatively to analytical workflows
You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!
As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
- Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
- Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare and more
- Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
- Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
- Tuition assistance
- Established and active employee resource groups
- Paid time off for individual and team community service
- A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
- Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.
This position is a salary grade 5-8, and ranges from $68,300-$192,900.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.
Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.
This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.
LI-Hybrid
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Lead AI Engineer Job Roles in Michigan
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Search Lead AI Engineer Jobs in MichiganLead AI Engineer Jobs in Michigan: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for lead AI engineers in Michigan?
Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis are among the most active visa sponsors for AI engineering roles in Michigan, driven by their autonomous vehicle and machine learning investments. Beyond automotive, companies like Rocket Companies, Stryker, and Dow Chemical have also filed Labor Condition Applications for senior AI and machine learning positions. University of Michigan and Michigan State University sponsor roles through cap-exempt pathways as well.
Which visa types realistically apply to lead AI engineer jobs in Michigan?
The H-1B visa is the most common path, as lead AI engineer roles qualify as specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a directly related field. F-1 students may use OPT or STEM OPT if their degree is STEM-designated. Canadian and Mexican nationals can pursue TN visa status under the USMCA Engineer category. E-3 visa applies to Australian nationals, and H-1B1 visa covers Chilean and Singaporean nationals. EB-2 or EB-3 green cards are available for employer-sponsored permanent residence.
Which cities in Michigan have the most lead AI engineer sponsorship jobs?
Detroit and its suburbs, particularly Dearborn, Auburn Hills, and Warren, hold the highest concentration of lead AI engineer sponsorship activity due to the headquarters and R&D centers of the major automakers. Ann Arbor is a strong secondary market, anchored by the University of Michigan and a growing cluster of autonomous vehicle and AI startups. Grand Rapids has a smaller but emerging presence tied to manufacturing technology and health tech companies.
How to find lead AI engineer visa sponsorship jobs in Michigan?
Migrate Mate lists Michigan employers with verified visa sponsorship history for AI engineering roles, so you can focus on companies already familiar with the sponsorship process. Filtering by Michigan and lead AI engineer roles surfaces active sponsors in the automotive, health tech, and enterprise software sectors. This avoids companies that have no prior sponsorship track record for senior technical positions.
What state-specific factors should lead AI engineers know about Michigan sponsorship?
Michigan's automotive sector is the dominant driver of lead AI engineer hiring, meaning many sponsoring employers are large, established companies with dedicated immigration counsel and experience processing H-1B and TN petitions. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor creates a steady pipeline of international AI talent, and several automakers partner directly with university research programs. Candidates with expertise in computer vision, autonomous systems, or industrial AI tend to align well with Michigan employer needs.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored lead ai engineer jobs in Michigan?
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.