Vision Engineer

About the role

This Vision Engineer role at Overview.ai is a vision-first position dedicated to solving the most challenging manufacturing inspection problems through advanced optical and lighting strategies combined with AI capabilities. The successful candidate will own the complete lifecycle of customer vision challenges, from initial strategy and lighting design to on-site deployment and long-term project stabilization. You will be responsible for designing imaging solutions that handle difficult surfaces and geometries where traditional machine vision fails. The role requires exceptional problem-solving skills in optics, lighting, and imaging physics to transform "impossible" inspections into routine operations. You will work directly with customers to understand their toughest inspection challenges and deliver practical, production-ready solutions that demonstrate immediate value. This position bridges deep technical optics expertise with real-world deployment responsibilities in demanding factory environments.

Key facts

What you'll do

1) Design and implement comprehensive lighting strategies for challenging inspection scenarios including bright field, dark field, coaxial, dome, diffuse, low-angle, structured light, line lights, spot/point, backlight, and multisource configurations.

2) Select and optimize appropriate lenses and optical elements such as telecentric, macro, high-NA, long working distance, wide-angle versus narrow-angle, and Scheimpflug configurations where technically justified.

3) Deploy advanced optical filters including bandpass, long-pass/short-pass, and polarizers (cross/parallel) to manage glare, specular reflections, and surface characteristics effectively.

4) Implement strobed lighting and high-speed exposure strategies to freeze motion and handle high-speed production line inspections without blur artifacts.

5) Apply "2.5D" photometric techniques and multi-angle illumination approaches to enhance shape, gradient, and surface feature detection for difficult parts.

6) Utilize non-visible spectrum strategies including IR, NIR, and SWIR imaging, along with multispectral approaches where visible light alone cannot provide adequate inspection capability.

7) Diagnose and resolve complex failure modes including reflectivity issues, transparency challenges, subsurface feature detection, moiré patterns, aliasing, lens flare and ghosting, vibration-induced blur, rolling shutter artifacts, and shadowing or occlusion problems.

8) Own end-to-end customer deployments including planning, on-site execution, comprehensive training, and ensuring smooth production integration of vision inspection systems.

9) Drive rapid iteration cycles moving from image capture through lighting and lens optimization to validation and production-ready setup establishment.

10) Train customer teams in daily operations, basic troubleshooting procedures, re-validation after maintenance activities, and strategies for maintaining stable image quality over time.

11) Maintain comprehensive competitive intelligence regarding machine vision ecosystems including Cognex, Keyence, HALCON/MVTec, Hikrobot, and Hikvision offerings.

12) Participate actively in pre-sales technical discovery and solution design processes to position Overview.ai capabilities effectively against incumbent solutions.

13) Identify scenarios where competitor products will struggle and develop imaging strategies that maximize the advantages of AI-powered inspection through Overview.ai platforms.

14) Provide market feedback and technical insights to product and go-to-market teams to influence product roadmap and solution positioning.

15) Build and maintain customer trust through expert technical communication and demonstrable results in challenging production environments.

Requirements

You possess deep, hands-on machine vision experience with a heavy emphasis on lighting and optics as the core foundation of your expertise. You understand the physics of light and how it interacts with different materials, surfaces, and geometries in industrial environments. You have practical experience deploying solutions in real manufacturing settings where environmental factors, space constraints, and production pressures create complex challenges. You can evaluate parts and environments quickly and formulate viable imaging strategies without extensive trial-and-error. You communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders during customer interactions. You have experience working with AI-based vision systems and understand how imaging quality directly impacts model performance and reliability. You are comfortable working independently and making technical decisions in ambiguous situations common in factory floor deployments. You demonstrate ownership mentality where you follow through on commitments and ensure successful project completion. You have knowledge of competing machine vision platforms and can discuss their strengths and limitations objectively. You are willing to travel to customer sites as needed to resolve issues and deploy solutions in challenging environments.

Nice to have

Practical experience with various spectral imaging approaches including visible, IR, NIR, and SWIC technologies in industrial applications.

Practical notes

Travel is required as part of this role to address customer needs at various locations.