Senior / Staff Software Engineer
Quick facts
- Pay
- $300,000 - $350,000 + competitive equity
- Type
- Full-time
- Location
- San Mateo, California
- Skills
- Python
- Industry
- Information Technology — 684 open jobs
- Visa in listing
- H-1B
- Apply
- Free to apply — never pay anyone for a job offer or visa sponsorship
Job description
Senior / Staff Software Engineer
Company: Autoscience Institute
Location: San Mateo, CA (in office 4 days per week; flexible hours)
Compensation: $300,000 - $350,000 + competitive equity
Employment Type: Full-time
Visa Sponsorship: H-1B transfers, TN and O-1 sponsored
About Autoscience Institute
Autoscience Institute builds AI systems that autonomously conduct AI research. It announced the first AI agent to autonomously create peer-reviewed literature (ICLR 2025 Workshops), and its commercial product Mira is deployed at top-three global quant trading firms, delivering 20%+ model performance gains.
Founded in 2024, Autoscience has about 10 people and raised $14M from General Catalyst, Perplexity Fund, S32, MaC Ventures and Toyota Ventures, with a Series A in progress.
The Role
Autoscience is hiring Senior / Staff Software Engineers (5+ years) to join a tiny, elite team as high-leverage ICs writing production Python that powers recursive self-improvement for Mira. You have owned complex projects end to end, write pristine code and operate without hand-holding at a company where iteration speed is the competitive advantage. As one of the first senior engineering hires, you will shape technical direction.
What You Will Do
- Build and optimize the recursive self-improvement pipeline for Mira.
- Work on the agentic discovery search system and the post-training stack used for customer-specific models.
- Write high-performance Python that speeds up autonomous research workflows.
- Turn experimental ideas into production systems with researchers and engineers.
- Shape architecture and technical direction.
What You Bring
- 5+ years of software engineering experience
- Ownership of complex projects end to end
- Excellent production Python
- Backend and ML infrastructure experience (GCP a plus)
- Ability to work in the San Mateo office 4 days a week
Tech Stack
Python, Google Cloud Platform, backend infrastructure, production systems, ML infrastructure, AI observability
Visa sponsorship record
No public sponsorship records foundWe didn't find H-1B, H-1B1, E-3 or green card (PERM) filings under the name Transparent Search Group in the Department of Labor and USCIS data. That doesn't mean the job can't be sponsored — the company may file under a different legal name, be new to sponsorship, or sponsor a visa that isn't in these datasets (for example H-2B or J-1).
Tip: ask the recruiter early, in writing, which visa they sponsor and whether they cover the legal and filing fees.
Which visas can work for this job
Occupation: Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).
- Mentioned in the listing
H-1B
- H-1B cap-exempt employer
Regular cap-subject employer — a new H-1B needs to win the lottery in March (unless you already hold cap-counted H-1B status).
- TN (citizens of Canada and Mexico)
This kind of role may fit the USMCA profession “Computer Systems Analyst (or Engineer, for engineering-degree holders)” — it depends on the actual duties. No lottery, no cap; you need the matching degree or license.
- E-3 (Australia) and H-1B1 (Chile, Singapore)
Same degree requirement as H-1B, but no lottery and a separate quota that is rarely filled.
- O-1 (extraordinary ability)
For candidates with awards, publications, press, a high salary or critical roles at distinguished organizations. No cap, no lottery; the employer files a petition.
- STEM OPT extension (F-1 students)
Requires an E-Verify employer. We didn't find this company in the E-Verify list — ask HR.
Salary vs prevailing wage
Level IV (fully competent)Software Developers · San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Annual prevailing wages set by the Department of Labor (OFLC).
| Level | Prevailing wage | H-1B lottery odds* |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | $137,093 | ~15% |
| Level II | $165,131 | ~31% |
| Level III | $193,149 | ~46% |
| Level IV | $221,187 | ~61% |
This job pays $300,000–$350,000 a year — that's Level IV (fully competent). In the wage-weighted H-1B lottery a Level IV registration gets 4 entries; estimated selection chance about 61% — better than average.
* Odds are DHS projections for the FY2027 wage-weighted lottery (actual results vary by year and employer). Since the FY2027 cap season the H-1B lottery is weighted by wage level: Level I = 1 entry, II = 2, III = 3, IV = 4. The level is set by the offered wage against the prevailing wage for the occupation and worksite. Separately, a $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US was announced in 2025; as of September 2026 a federal court ruling keeps it unenforceable while appeals continue — check the current status.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC disclosure data (H-1B/H-1B1/E-3 LCA, PERM), OFLC prevailing wage data, USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, E-Verify participating employers. Data loaded: LCA FY2024–FY2026, PERM, USCIS Data Hub, OFLC wages; updated 2026-10-03. Employers are matched by name, so records of companies with similar names can occasionally be mixed up. This is general information, not legal advice — talk to an immigration attorney about your case.