Jobs / United States / Scale AI INC
ML Research Engineer, ML Systems
Scale AI INC · 🇺🇸 San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; New York, NY
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 74 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 3 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Scale AI INC paid sponsored hires in similar roles8 certified filings for “Policy Research Lead” (Computer and Information Systems Managers) in CA: $250k–$300k, median $273k. Most were filed at wage level II (38%) — 2 lottery entries, ≈31% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. The pay stated here ($189,600 — $237,000 USD) is below what this employer usually pays sponsored hires for this role. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
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Sponsor Radar — Scale AI INC
The US Department of Labor certified 74 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 3 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Scale AI INC →
About the role
Scale’s ML platform (RLXF) team builds our internal distributed framework for large language model training and inference. The platform has been powering MLEs, researchers, data scientists and operators for fast and automatic training and evaluation of LLM's, as well as evaluation of data quality. Scale is uniquely positioned at the heart of the field of AI as an indispensable provider of training and evaluation data and end-to-end solutions for the ML lifecycle. You will work closely across Scale’s ML teams and researchers to build the foundation platform that supports all our ML research and development. You will be building and optimizing the platform to enable our next generation of LLM training, inference and data curation. If you are excited about shaping the future AI via fundamental innovations, we would love to hear from you! You will: • Build, profile and optimize our training and inference framework • Collaborate with ML teams to accelerate their research and development and enable them to develop the next generation of models and data curation • Research and integrate state-of-the-art technologies to optimize our ML system Ideally you’d have: • Strong excitement about system optimization • Experience with multi-node LLM training and inference • Experience with developing large-scale distributed ML systems • Strong software engineering skills, proficient in frameworks and tools such as CUDA, Pytorch, transformers, flash attention, etc. • Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to operate in a cross functional team environment Nice to haves: • Demonstrated expertise in post-training methods &/or next generation use cases for large language models including instruction tuning, RLHF, tool use, reasoning, agents, and multimodal, etc. Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend. Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $189,600 — $237,000 USD PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants. About Us: At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air