Staff Research Scientist Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Washington
Staff research scientist visa sponsorship jobs in Washington are concentrated at Microsoft, Amazon, the Allen Institute, and the University of Washington in Seattle, with additional opportunities at PNNL in Richland and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Washington's density of tech and life sciences employers makes it one of the more active states for research scientist sponsorship.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states. The mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions. As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet. AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
In this hybrid role, you will report to a Senior Director of AI Foundations
You Will
- Own the data recipe for Waymo’s Foundation Model pre-training and post-training
- Lead and drive science on best practices around clustering, filtering, de-duplication, long-tail data mining, memorization, etc.
- Tech-lead a team of research engineers to build the data flywheel to enable the above from Waymo’s massive driving data
- Integrate emerging research from the broader community to do rigorous ablations and promising data research techniques. This includes scaling ladders for pre-training, data mix optimizations and RL recipes (preferences) for post-training.
- Engage with the wider research community on best practices around data centric evaluation creation and refinement
- Partner with engineering and research teams across Waymo to share recipes, techniques, and post-training best practices to accelerate our collective know-how
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
You Have
- PhD or Masters in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a similar technical field; with 3+ years of industry or post-doc research experience in Data-centric AI, Reinforcement Learning or Foundation Models
- Demonstration of original contributions to the field through high-impact publications (ArXiv, peer-reviewed conferences like NeurIPS/ICLR/CVPR), technical blog posts, or significant open-source contributions
- Proficiency and in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of an ML framework (e.g. Pytorch, JAX, Tensorflow)
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
We Prefer
- Extensive experience working with data and recipes for large scale foundation models
- ML infra experience: training, evaluating and deploying ML models at scale
- Deep learning experience, especially with generative models, e.g., LLMs/VLMs, and/or reinforcement learning
BENEFITS
In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:
- Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
- Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
- Sick Time: 40 hours/year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days/event (discretionary)
- Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
- Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
- Holidays: 13 paid days per year
Please note that Waymo may not be able to employ remotely in all locations. Please speak with your recruiter about your preferred location for remote work when you begin the interview process.
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.
Salary Range
$251,000—$310,000 USD
INTRODUCTION
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states. The mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions. As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet. AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
In this hybrid role, you will report to a Senior Director of AI Foundations
You Will
- Own the data recipe for Waymo’s Foundation Model pre-training and post-training
- Lead and drive science on best practices around clustering, filtering, de-duplication, long-tail data mining, memorization, etc.
- Tech-lead a team of research engineers to build the data flywheel to enable the above from Waymo’s massive driving data
- Integrate emerging research from the broader community to do rigorous ablations and promising data research techniques. This includes scaling ladders for pre-training, data mix optimizations and RL recipes (preferences) for post-training.
- Engage with the wider research community on best practices around data centric evaluation creation and refinement
- Partner with engineering and research teams across Waymo to share recipes, techniques, and post-training best practices to accelerate our collective know-how
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
You Have
- PhD or Masters in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a similar technical field; with 3+ years of industry or post-doc research experience in Data-centric AI, Reinforcement Learning or Foundation Models
- Demonstration of original contributions to the field through high-impact publications (ArXiv, peer-reviewed conferences like NeurIPS/ICLR/CVPR), technical blog posts, or significant open-source contributions
- Proficiency and in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of an ML framework (e.g. Pytorch, JAX, Tensorflow)
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
We Prefer
- Extensive experience working with data and recipes for large scale foundation models
- ML infra experience: training, evaluating and deploying ML models at scale
- Deep learning experience, especially with generative models, e.g., LLMs/VLMs, and/or reinforcement learning
BENEFITS
In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:
- Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
- Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
- Sick Time: 40 hours/year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days/event (discretionary)
- Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
- Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
- Holidays: 13 paid days per year
Please note that Waymo may not be able to employ remotely in all locations. Please speak with your recruiter about your preferred location for remote work when you begin the interview process.
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.
Salary Range
$251,000—$310,000 USD
Staff Research Scientist Job Roles in Washington
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Search Staff Research Scientist Jobs in WashingtonStaff Research Scientist Jobs in Washington: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies in Washington sponsor visas for staff research scientists?
Microsoft and Amazon are among the most active sponsors for staff research scientists in Washington, filing H-1B visa petitions regularly for roles in machine learning, AI, and applied sciences. The Allen Institute for Brain Science and AI, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the University of Washington also sponsor research scientists, particularly for positions requiring a Ph.D. in a directly related field. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory sponsors research roles tied to federal contracts.
What visa types realistically fit staff research scientist roles in Washington?
Staff research scientist roles qualify as specialty occupations because they require at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related scientific field, making H-1B the most common path. H-1B1 visa is available to Chilean and Singaporean nationals. E-3 visa is available to Australian nationals. For Canadian and Mexican nationals, TN visa does not cover staff research scientist as a USMCA profession. J-1 visa is an option for research scholar positions at universities or research institutions with a designated sponsor. EB-1B and EB-2 NIW green card pathways are also relevant for researchers with recognized expertise or work in the national interest.
Which cities in Washington have the most staff research scientist sponsorship jobs?
Seattle accounts for the large majority of staff research scientist sponsorship activity in Washington, driven by the headquarters of Microsoft and Amazon, the Allen Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the University of Washington. Redmond, as Microsoft's primary campus location, also generates significant volume. Richland hosts Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which sponsors research scientists working on energy and national security programs. Bellevue has a smaller but growing presence through tech and biotech employers.
How to find staff research scientist visa sponsorship jobs in Washington?
Migrate Mate lists staff research scientist roles in Washington filtered to employers with verified visa sponsorship history, so you can focus on companies that have actively filed for research scientist positions rather than applying broadly. Because sponsorship for research roles depends heavily on employer size and research funding cycles, Migrate Mate's employer-level data helps you identify which Washington organizations are currently hiring sponsored researchers rather than relying on job postings alone.
Are there state-specific factors that affect visa sponsorship for staff research scientists in Washington?
Washington's concentration of large-cap tech employers means H-1B petitions for research scientists here are filed at significant volume, which matters for cap-subject applications subject to the annual selection process. Many staff research scientist roles at Washington universities and federally funded labs like PNNL are cap-exempt, meaning they are not subject to the H-1B lottery. Washington also has a well-developed research ecosystem linking university Ph.D. programs at UW and WSU directly to private-sector and national-lab employers, which supports OPT-to-H-1B transitions for recent graduates.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored staff research scientist jobs in Washington?
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.