Senior AI Software Engineer Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Washington DC
Senior AI software engineer visa sponsorship jobs in Washington DC are concentrated among federal contractors, defense technology firms, and policy-focused tech organizations. Major employers include Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, SAIC, and Palantir, alongside AI-focused agencies and research institutions. Roles here often blend machine learning engineering with national security and public sector applications.
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We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.
Position Summary
AI LaunchPad is CVS Health's centralized AI infrastructure and enablement platform for the HCD Business Unit. We deliver LLM access, observability, and the engineering foundation needed to build and scale production AI agents across the enterprise. As the platform grows, we need a Senior Manager who can simultaneously lead engineering execution, shape the technical roadmap, and influence stakeholders across HCD and the broader CVS organization.
The Senior Manager of AI LaunchPad is a hybrid technical leader and engineering manager responsible for driving the strategy, architecture, and delivery of CVS Health's HCD AI platform. You will lead a team of AI and software engineers, define the platform roadmap, and partner with product, data, security, and business leaders to accelerate enterprise-wide AI adoption. This role requires both deep technical credibility — you can engage in architecture reviews and make sound engineering decisions — and the organizational influence to align cross-functional teams around a shared AI vision.
Role
- Team Leadership & Development. Recruit, retain, and grow a high-performing team of AI and platform engineers. Define clear roles, set performance goals, conduct regular 1:1s, and foster a culture of technical excellence, psychological safety, and continuous learning.
- Platform Strategy & Roadmap. Own the AI LaunchPad product and engineering roadmap — balancing immediate delivery commitments with long-term platform scalability. Prioritize investments in LLM access, observability, agent infrastructure, and developer experience across HCD business units.
- Technical Architecture & Standards. Provide architectural oversight for agentic AI systems, RAG pipelines, LLM evaluation frameworks, and MLOps infrastructure. Define engineering standards and best practices that teams across HCD can adopt to accelerate their own AI initiatives.
- Cross-functional Stakeholder Management. Partner with HCD product, data, compliance, security, and business unit leaders to align the AI LaunchPad roadmap with enterprise priorities. Translate business needs into platform capabilities and communicate engineering progress and trade-offs clearly to executive sponsors.
- Delivery & Operational Excellence. Drive end-to-end delivery of platform features — from design to production — using Agile/SAFe practices. Establish DORA metrics, CI/CD pipelines, observability standards, and on-call processes to ensure platform reliability at enterprise scale.
- Enterprise AI Enablement. Accelerate POC-to-production cycles across HCD by providing reusable AI building blocks, self-service tooling, and governance guardrails. Reduce duplication and increase engineering velocity across teams consuming the platform.
- Vendor & Cloud Strategy. Evaluate and manage relationships with cloud providers (GCP, AWS, Azure) and AI vendors. Make informed build-vs-buy decisions and ensure the platform remains cost-efficient and technically current as the AI landscape evolves.
- Compliance & Risk. Ensure all AI systems built on the platform meet HIPAA, security, and regulatory requirements. Partner with InfoSec and Legal to embed privacy-by-design and responsible AI principles into the platform foundation.
Required Qualifications
- 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years in an engineering management or technical lead role overseeing teams of 4 or more engineers.
- Demonstrated experience architecting and delivering large-scale, enterprise AI/ML or data platforms — ideally serving thousands of users or multiple business units.
- Technical depth in modern AI/ML infrastructure: cloud-native architectures (AWS, GCP, or Azure), MLOps, LLM platforms (Bedrock, Vertex AI, or equivalent), and agentic AI patterns.
- Strong full-stack platform engineering background including microservices, serverless architectures, API design, authentication/authorization (OAuth, SSO, SAML), and CI/CD.
- Proven ability to drive cross-functional alignment across product, engineering, data, security, and business stakeholders.
- Experience defining and tracking engineering health metrics (DORA, SLOs, incident management) and driving operational excellence.
- Excellent communication skills — able to present technical roadmaps and trade-offs to both executive audiences and engineering teams.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building and operating AI enablement platforms, internal developer platforms (IDPs), or shared ML infrastructure serving multiple product teams.
- Hands-on experience with Generative AI and LLM systems: agentic frameworks, RAG, LLM evaluation, prompt engineering, or model fine-tuning.
- Background in healthcare IT, digital health, pharmacy, or other regulated health domains.
- Familiarity with extensibility frameworks, plugin architectures, or ISV/partner ecosystem programs.
- Experience with SAFe Agile methodology in large enterprise organizations.
- Advanced degree (M.S. or MBA) in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- Understanding of healthcare data compliance requirements (HIPAA) and experience delivering in regulated environments.
Pay Range
The typical pay range for this role is:
$106,605.00 - $284,280.00
This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company’s equity award program.
Our people fuel our future. Our teams reflect the customers, patients, members and communities we serve and we are committed to fostering a workplace where every colleague feels valued and that they belong.
Great benefits for great people
We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.
This full-time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.
Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.
We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 08/24/2026
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.
Senior AI Software Engineer Job Roles in Washington DC
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Search Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington DCSenior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington DC: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for senior AI software engineers in Washington DC?
Federal contractors and defense technology firms dominate visa sponsorship for senior AI software engineers in Washington DC. Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, SAIC, Palantir, and Noblis regularly file H-1B visa petitions for AI and machine learning roles. Large commercial tech companies with DC-area offices, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's government cloud division, also sponsor senior AI engineering positions.
Which visa types are most common for senior AI software engineer roles in Washington DC?
The H-1B is the most common visa for senior AI software engineers in Washington DC, as the role qualifies as a specialty occupation requiring a bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, AI, or a related field. Candidates from Australia may qualify for the E-3 visa. Those with extraordinary ability in AI research may pursue the O-1A. L-1B intracompany transfers are also used by multinationals with DC offices.
How to find senior AI software engineer visa sponsorship jobs in Washington DC?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for visa sponsorship, making it the most direct way to find senior AI software engineer roles in Washington DC. You can browse positions from federal contractors, defense tech firms, and commercial employers who have confirmed sponsorship willingness. Filtering by Washington DC surfaces roles across the district and nearby Northern Virginia corridors where most AI hiring activity is concentrated.
Which areas within Washington DC have the most senior AI software engineer sponsorship jobs?
While jobs are posted under Washington DC, the highest concentration of senior AI software engineering roles with visa sponsorship sits in the broader National Capital Region. The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and Reston in Northern Virginia host major federal contractors. Bethesda and Rockville in Maryland house NIH-adjacent AI research employers. Central DC itself draws policy-tech firms and organizations working at the intersection of AI and government.
Are there DC-specific considerations for senior AI software engineers seeking visa sponsorship?
Many senior AI software engineer positions in Washington DC involve federal contractors, which means security clearance eligibility is a frequent requirement. Foreign nationals on certain visa statuses may not qualify for clearances, which can limit roles available to sponsored candidates. The Department of Labor prevailing wage for senior AI software engineering in the DC metropolitan area is among the highest in the country, which affects employer cost calculations for sponsorship.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored senior ai software engineer jobs in Washington DC?
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.