Founding Engineer Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Founding Engineer roles are among the most sponsorship-friendly positions in early-stage tech. Startups filing H-1B, O-1, or EB-1 petitions for these hires treat sponsorship as a competitive advantage, not a burden, because the talent pool is global and the role demands it. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
At Momentic, we’re building the future of quality. We’re building the all-in-one quality platform powered by state of the art agents to help our customers ensure quality at every stage of the SDLC. We’re backed by Y Combinator, AI Grant, and General Catalyst.
Top engineering teams at companies like Notion, Bilt, Quora, and Xero use Momentic to ship high quality products. Millions of Momentic tests are executed every single day.
Our product has a very large problem space so there’s a ton of stuff to build and take ownership of - we’d be excited to get your help as we're hiring several extremely talented software engineers across the stack.
THE PRODUCT
- We’re building the AI-native automated testing platform
- Our product is incredibly sticky. Our customers run us on every pull request and merge and before each deploy as quality gates
- Our product is leagues ahead of competitors and the status quo today (think Selenium/Cypress/Playwright)
- Check out the demo video on our website
About us
- We’re a lean team of 13 (ex Robinhood, Retool, WeWork, Qualtrics, Assembled)
- Located in-person San Francisco (650 5th St.)
- Recent Series A raise of $15M led by Standard Capital, with participation from existing investors - Y Combinator, FCVC, and Transpose Platform.
YOU’RE PERFECT FOR THIS ROLE IF…
- You enjoy solving hard problems that have both product and technical ambiguity
- You have strong engineering fundamentals, code efficiently, and you know what you're great at and what you're less great at
- You dislike meetings and would much rather focus your time on building, being productive, and shipping code
- You thrive when you have autonomy, own as many of the details as possible, and project manage your own work
- You're in SF or you're willing to relocate, you love working in-person, and you're serious about joining us to build a culture we'll all love
MUST-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS
- 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- Hands-on and extensive TypeScript proficiency
- Proficiency with React.
- Have great written and verbal communication.
NICE TO HAVE
- Proficiency with Next.js.
- Proficiency with PostgreSQL and at least one cloud service provider for backend.
- Experience building AI products
- Experience building developer tools
- Experience working with browser internals like Chrome DevTools Protocol
OUR STACK
React, TypeScript, Next.js, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, Kubernetes
BENEFITS
- Competitive Medical, Vision, Dental insurance
- 401K
- Unlimited PTO
- Offsites and events (French Laundry last quarter)
- Fully stocked kitchen (Unlimited supply of sparkling water!)
SPONSORSHIP
We can sponsor TN Visas. We can't sponsor or transfer H1B visas or Green Cards (I-140).
COMPENSATION RANGE
$150K - $220K
INTRODUCTION
At Momentic, we’re building the future of quality. We’re building the all-in-one quality platform powered by state of the art agents to help our customers ensure quality at every stage of the SDLC. We’re backed by Y Combinator, AI Grant, and General Catalyst.
Top engineering teams at companies like Notion, Bilt, Quora, and Xero use Momentic to ship high quality products. Millions of Momentic tests are executed every single day.
Our product has a very large problem space so there’s a ton of stuff to build and take ownership of - we’d be excited to get your help as we're hiring several extremely talented software engineers across the stack.
THE PRODUCT
- We’re building the AI-native automated testing platform
- Our product is incredibly sticky. Our customers run us on every pull request and merge and before each deploy as quality gates
- Our product is leagues ahead of competitors and the status quo today (think Selenium/Cypress/Playwright)
- Check out the demo video on our website
About us
- We’re a lean team of 13 (ex Robinhood, Retool, WeWork, Qualtrics, Assembled)
- Located in-person San Francisco (650 5th St.)
- Recent Series A raise of $15M led by Standard Capital, with participation from existing investors - Y Combinator, FCVC, and Transpose Platform.
YOU’RE PERFECT FOR THIS ROLE IF…
- You enjoy solving hard problems that have both product and technical ambiguity
- You have strong engineering fundamentals, code efficiently, and you know what you're great at and what you're less great at
- You dislike meetings and would much rather focus your time on building, being productive, and shipping code
- You thrive when you have autonomy, own as many of the details as possible, and project manage your own work
- You're in SF or you're willing to relocate, you love working in-person, and you're serious about joining us to build a culture we'll all love
MUST-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS
- 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- Hands-on and extensive TypeScript proficiency
- Proficiency with React.
- Have great written and verbal communication.
NICE TO HAVE
- Proficiency with Next.js.
- Proficiency with PostgreSQL and at least one cloud service provider for backend.
- Experience building AI products
- Experience building developer tools
- Experience working with browser internals like Chrome DevTools Protocol
OUR STACK
React, TypeScript, Next.js, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, Kubernetes
BENEFITS
- Competitive Medical, Vision, Dental insurance
- 401K
- Unlimited PTO
- Offsites and events (French Laundry last quarter)
- Fully stocked kitchen (Unlimited supply of sparkling water!)
SPONSORSHIP
We can sponsor TN Visas. We can't sponsor or transfer H1B visas or Green Cards (I-140).
COMPENSATION RANGE
$150K - $220K
How to Get Visa Sponsorship as a Founding Engineer
Target seed to Series B companies
Early-stage startups sponsoring a Founding Engineer typically move faster through internal approval than enterprises. Companies at seed to Series B stages are actively competing for scarce talent and less likely to reject a strong candidate over visa paperwork.
Lead with technical ownership, not just skills
Sponsorship decisions for founding engineers hinge on demonstrated ownership: systems you've built from scratch, architectural decisions you've led. Interviewers need to justify a specialty occupation petition, and a generalist skills list won't support that case.
Understand what makes this a specialty occupation
USCIS requires a direct link between your degree field and the role. For Founding Engineer positions, a computer science, software engineering, or closely related degree creates the clearest path. Document how your academic background connects directly to the technical scope.
O-1A is a realistic path for engineers with standout credentials
If you've published research, contributed to widely used open-source projects, or received industry awards, the O-1A visa is worth exploring. It bypasses the H-1B lottery entirely and is increasingly common among high-profile founding engineering hires at venture-backed startups.
Get clarity on equity and sponsorship continuity early
Startup equity is a core part of founding engineer compensation, but it creates a sponsorship complexity: if the company is acquired or shuts down, your visa status is tied to that employer. Clarify the company's runway and succession plan before accepting an offer.
Use Migrate Mate to find startups actively sponsoring
Most founding engineer roles with active sponsorship don't advertise it prominently. Migrate Mate filters specifically for visa-sponsoring employers, so you're not spending hours applying to companies that will decline at the offer stage because of your status.
Founding Engineer jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Can a startup sponsor a Founding Engineer for an H-1B visa?
Yes. Startups can file H-1B petitions regardless of company size, including pre-revenue companies, as long as there's an employer-employee relationship and the role qualifies as a specialty occupation. USCIS scrutinizes small employers more heavily, so documentation of the job's degree requirement and the company's ability to pay the prevailing wage is critical. Having an attorney prepare the petition significantly improves outcomes.
What degree does a Founding Engineer need for H-1B sponsorship?
USCIS requires a bachelor's degree or higher in a directly related field, typically computer science, software engineering, electrical engineering, or a closely adjacent discipline. A general business or unrelated degree creates risk. If your degree doesn't match the role precisely, three years of highly specialized work experience can substitute for each year of missing education, though this requires strong documentation.
How does the H-1B lottery affect Founding Engineer hiring at startups?
It's a real constraint. Only about 85,000 H-1B visas are issued annually against far more registrations, so selection isn't guaranteed in any given year. Startups sponsoring Founding Engineers often explore parallel pathways, O-1A for candidates with exceptional credentials, or EB-1C if there's a management track. Some companies time hiring to align with the April lottery window and plan onboarding around October 1 start dates.
Is the O-1A visa a realistic option for a Founding Engineer role?
For candidates with notable credentials, yes. The O-1A requires evidence of extraordinary ability across criteria like original contributions, published work, high salary relative to peers, critical roles at distinguished organizations, or press coverage. Founding engineers at well-known startups, open-source contributors with significant adoption, or engineers with conference presentations often qualify. The O-1A has no lottery and no annual cap, which makes it attractive for both candidates and employers who need certainty.
Where can I find Founding Engineer jobs that include visa sponsorship?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for this, every role on the platform is filtered for active visa sponsorship, so you're not wading through listings that will fall apart at the offer stage. Founding Engineer roles at sponsoring startups are listed directly, with employer details and role requirements visible upfront. It's the most direct way to connect your job search with companies that have already committed to sponsoring international candidates.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Founding Engineer jobs?
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.
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