Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Senior AI Software Engineer roles qualify as specialty occupations under H-1B visa, E-3 visa, and TN visa, making them strong candidates for visa sponsorship. Employers filing Labor Condition Applications for these positions regularly certify prevailing wages at Level III or IV, reflecting the advanced machine learning and systems architecture skills the role demands. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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The Creation team is an international R&D group tasked with building creative capabilities for TikTok. We're dedicated to productizing AI and multimedia technologies to create world-class creation experiences for TikTok users. Our tech stack includes front-end, back-end, mobile, and desktop development, as well as multimedia technologies like audio/video processing and AR effects, in addition to visual and graphic algorithms. Our team spans major cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou), Singapore, as well as the United States (San Jose, Seattle, and Los Angeles). Join us to craft the best creative tools with the most cutting-edge AI and multimedia technologies! The Asset Service has managed almost 100 million assets for multiple scenarios (such as TikTok effect and template). We manage the whole lifecycle of multiple assets, including creation, operations to consumption. Our distribution service QPS has reached 1 million, and we have provided the service for multi-regions in the global world, and distribute the material to the UGC creator. We will keep more efficient, stable, and compliant to provide rich materials for the UGC creator to help them create more interesting content. Besides, we're also working on AIGC features in order to improve user experience and creator efficiency. The team is based in the US and CN, and our mission is to develop Loki into an efficient and reliable asset platform that, like the Norse god Loki, transforms assets into dynamic formats, to ensure magically easy asset creation, management, and consumption across multiple products. As a Backend Engineer in our team, you'll play a key role in shaping this dynamic and ever-evolving platform, significantly contributing to TikTok's continued global impact.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams like product managers, designers, and Frontend engineers to deliver state of the art user experience in the above products mentioned;
- Build world-class products end-to-end, which combine usability, accessibility, elegance, performance, and maintainability;
- Guarantee the creation experience of 100 million-level UGC users and 10 million-level designers;
- Construct an AI Native service ecosystem and development workflow;
- Build an Agent system serving intelligent creation.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Experienced in building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing applications;
- Deep understanding of computer architectures, data structures, and algorithms;
- Have good team communication and collaboration skills;
- Understand modern distributed system architecture;
- In-depth AI application experience and understanding of AI Coding paradigms.
Preferred Qualifications
- BA/BS Degree in Computer Science or related major.
- Industry experience in a software development environment.
- Experience in building AI Agents and understanding the construction principles of knowledge bases/Skill systems/memory.
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy – a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
TikTok Accommodation
TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually) The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $162000 - $387600 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.
Responsibilities
The Creation team is an international R&D group tasked with building creative capabilities for TikTok. We're dedicated to productizing AI and multimedia technologies to create world-class creation experiences for TikTok users. Our tech stack includes front-end, back-end, mobile, and desktop development, as well as multimedia technologies like audio/video processing and AR effects, in addition to visual and graphic algorithms. Our team spans major cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou), Singapore, as well as the United States (San Jose, Seattle, and Los Angeles). Join us to craft the best creative tools with the most cutting-edge AI and multimedia technologies! The Asset Service has managed almost 100 million assets for multiple scenarios (such as TikTok effect and template). We manage the whole lifecycle of multiple assets, including creation, operations to consumption. Our distribution service QPS has reached 1 million, and we have provided the service for multi-regions in the global world, and distribute the material to the UGC creator. We will keep more efficient, stable, and compliant to provide rich materials for the UGC creator to help them create more interesting content. Besides, we're also working on AIGC features in order to improve user experience and creator efficiency. The team is based in the US and CN, and our mission is to develop Loki into an efficient and reliable asset platform that, like the Norse god Loki, transforms assets into dynamic formats, to ensure magically easy asset creation, management, and consumption across multiple products. As a Backend Engineer in our team, you'll play a key role in shaping this dynamic and ever-evolving platform, significantly contributing to TikTok's continued global impact.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams like product managers, designers, and Frontend engineers to deliver state of the art user experience in the above products mentioned;
- Build world-class products end-to-end, which combine usability, accessibility, elegance, performance, and maintainability;
- Guarantee the creation experience of 100 million-level UGC users and 10 million-level designers;
- Construct an AI Native service ecosystem and development workflow;
- Build an Agent system serving intelligent creation.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Experienced in building backend services for large-scale consumer-facing applications;
- Deep understanding of computer architectures, data structures, and algorithms;
- Have good team communication and collaboration skills;
- Understand modern distributed system architecture;
- In-depth AI application experience and understanding of AI Coding paradigms.
Preferred Qualifications
- BA/BS Degree in Computer Science or related major.
- Industry experience in a software development environment.
- Experience in building AI Agents and understanding the construction principles of knowledge bases/Skill systems/memory.
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy – a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
TikTok Accommodation
TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually) The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $162000 - $387600 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Visa Sponsorship as a Senior AI Software Engineer
Align your portfolio with LCA job duties
Employers file your LCA against a specific job description, so your GitHub repos, published models, and system design work should directly mirror the duties listed. Misalignment between your portfolio and the LCA duties is a common RFE trigger for AI roles.
Target companies with cap-exempt H-1B status
Universities, nonprofit research labs, and government-affiliated AI institutes are cap-exempt, meaning they can file your H-1B petition any time without waiting for the annual selection process. This matters enormously if you need a start date sooner than the standard October 1 timeline.
Search Migrate Mate for verified AI sponsor history
Filter Senior AI Software Engineer roles on Migrate Mate to surface employers with confirmed LCA filing history for this occupation. That filing record tells you the employer already understands the sponsorship process, reducing the risk of an offer falling through at the paperwork stage.
Use OFLC Wage Search to anchor your salary ask
AI engineering roles often land at DOL wage Level III or IV. Run your target city and job title through OFLC Wage Search before negotiating so your offered salary clears the prevailing wage threshold the employer must certify on the LCA, avoiding a last-minute revision that can delay filing.
Get your degree equivalency documented early
If your AI or computer science degree is from outside the U.S., get a credential evaluation from a NACES-member service before you start interviewing. USCIS scrutinizes degree-to-specialty-occupation fit closely for AI roles, and having the evaluation ready speeds up the I-129 petition preparation significantly.
Clarify STEM OPT training plan scope with HR
If you're on STEM OPT, your Form I-983 training plan must map your day-to-day AI engineering tasks to your STEM-designated degree field. Push HR to list specific deliverables like model training pipelines or inference optimization rather than vague descriptions, which can draw scrutiny during STEM OPT compliance reviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Senior AI Software Engineer role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B?
Yes. Senior AI Software Engineer positions consistently meet USCIS's specialty occupation standard because they require at minimum a bachelor's degree in computer science, artificial intelligence, or a directly related field. Roles involving model architecture, training pipelines, or ML infrastructure are particularly strong because the theoretical knowledge component is well established and the degree requirement is industry-wide, not employer-specific.
Which visa types are available for Senior AI Software Engineers seeking U.S. sponsorship?
The H-1B is the most common path and applies to all nationalities, though it's subject to an annual cap and selection process. Australian citizens can use the E-3, which has a separate cap of 10,500 and has never been exhausted. Canadian and Mexican nationals may qualify under TN if the role maps cleanly to the USMCA computer systems analyst or engineer category. F-1 students can begin work on OPT or STEM OPT while an employer pursues permanent sponsorship.
How do I find Senior AI Software Engineer jobs where the employer will actually sponsor a visa?
Browse Senior AI Software Engineer listings on Migrate Mate, which shows only employers with verified sponsorship history for this role type. That vetting step removes the guesswork of cold-applying to companies that list sponsorship as optional but rarely follow through, letting you focus your time on employers who have already navigated the LCA and I-129 process.
What degree does USCIS expect for an H-1B petition in this role?
USCIS expects a bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, statistics, or a field with a direct theoretical link to the AI engineering work described in the LCA. A general engineering or information systems degree may require additional documentation showing coursework in machine learning or statistical modeling. Three years of specialized work experience can substitute for one year of formal education under USCIS guidelines when a full degree is absent.
Can a Senior AI Software Engineer on STEM OPT transition directly to H-1B sponsorship?
Yes. STEM OPT provides up to 24 months of additional work authorization after your initial 12-month OPT period, and your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify to sign your Form I-983 training plan. That window is designed partly to cover the H-1B filing and selection cycle. If you're selected and your H-1B is approved with an October 1 start date, your STEM OPT authorization bridges the gap, as long as your cap-gap status remains valid.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Senior AI Software 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.