Senior Applications Engineer

Overview AI

. Lead feasibility studies, proof-of-concept testing, and technical validation for complex industrial inspection applications .

Posted 10/20/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California • United StatesSenior💰 $150,000 - $190,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in industrial machine vision, including optics, lighting, and AI-based inspection systems. Proven ability to lead feasibility studies, mentor engineers, and optimize vision applications for manufacturing environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Industrial Machine VisionOptical Inspection SystemsAI-Based VisionTechnical CommunicationMentoring Engineers

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Image AcquisitionCamera ConfigurationLens SelectionLighting TechniquesTroubleshooting Inspection PerformanceDeep Learning-Based Industrial InspectionVision Feasibility StudiesProof-of-Concept ProjectsOptical Trade-OffsImage Quality Optimization

Soft Skills

Technical GuidanceProblem SolvingCollaboration

Tools & Technologies

Telecentric OpticsPLCIndustrial AutomationProduction-Line Integration

Industry Keywords

Manufacturing ApplicationsVision Applications EngineeringInspection TechniquesField of ViewDepth of Field

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead feasibility studies, proof-of-concept testing, and technical validation for complex industrial inspection applications
Select, configure, and optimize cameras, lenses, lighting, filters, and optical components
Drive vision experimentation, testing standards, hardware evaluation, and application development in the San Francisco lab
Troubleshoot image quality, environmental variability, false rejects, missed defects, and inspection consistency
Work with image collection, labeling, model training, and evaluation to optimize AI-based inspection performance
Partner with customers and field teams to troubleshoot vision challenges and ensure successful production-line deployment
Assess emerging vision technologies and recommend improvements to hardware and inspection capabilities
Mentor less experienced engineers, establish best practices, and provide technical guidance across teams
Collaborate with Product and Engineering to translate application challenges into product improvements

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of hands-on experience in industrial machine vision, vision applications engineering, or optical inspection systems
Deep understanding of machine vision fundamentals, including optics, lenses, lighting, sensors, image acquisition, and camera configuration
Proven experience designing, building, and optimizing industrial vision systems for real manufacturing applications
Strong understanding of lens selection, field of view, working distance, depth of field, resolution, and optical trade-offs
Experience with advanced lighting techniques and challenging image acquisition problems
Ability to independently lead vision feasibility studies and proof-of-concept projects
Experience troubleshooting inspection performance in production environments
Familiarity with traditional machine vision tools and inspection techniques
Working knowledge of AI-based vision, including classification, object detection, segmentation, and model evaluation
Strong technical communication skills, including documenting findings and explaining technical trade-offs
Comfortable working directly with hardware, running experiments, and solving problems independently
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and able to work primarily from the San Francisco office
Experience with deep learning-based industrial inspection preferred
Familiarity with telecentric optics, advanced lighting configurations, and precision inspection preferred
Experience with high-speed production lines, challenging defect detection, or variable manufacturing environments preferred
Exposure to PLCs, industrial automation, triggering, and production-line integration preferred
Experience working directly with manufacturing customers preferred
Experience mentoring engineers or serving as a technical subject matter expert preferred

Benefits

Comp & perks

Annual performance bonus up to 20%
Global exposure
Work alongside world-class engineers across AI, embedded systems, and enterprise deployment
Technical ownership and influence over engineering decisions and customer outcomes