Senior AI Research Scientist

This role is based in our corporate Headquarters in Natick, MA or our Cupertino, CA office on a hybrid schedule!

About Us:

Cognex is the largest, most successful and recognized global player in industrial machine vision! We are a financially strong, international company with no debt and have been in business for over 40 years. Using advanced optics, image sensors and artificial intelligence software, Cognex vision and ID systems capture an image then analyze it to make sense of what's being seen. We are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable work environment, guided by our "Work Hard, Play Hard, Move Fast" culture, which celebrates employee innovation, determination, and dedication in a dynamic, fun, and distinctive atmosphere.

We are working on a hybrid schedule, 3 days in the office, 2 at home.

The Team: Deep Learning R&D - Advanced Vision Technology

This position is for a Scientist in the AI R&D group in the Advanced Vision Technology organization. As a Scientist on this team, you will be responsible for researching, designing, implementing, and deploying state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms for industrial machine vision applications, with a mission to innovate on behalf of customers and make this technology accessible to a broad range of users and platforms. You will apply the latest trends in computer vision and natural language processing algorithms, including transformers and generative AI, to solve real-world problems in the manufacturing industry such as defect inspection, barcode decoding, robotic guidance, image generation, etc. In this role, you will work alongside machine vision experts in software and hardware engineering, product, sales, and marketing working on a range of problems across different industries, including consumer goods, aerospace, automotive, logistics, pharmaceuticals, robotics, and electronics.

Your research will typically span questions like:

1. What are the best neural network architectures to solve real-world vision problems in industrial manufacturing?
2. How can we make neural networks run faster on low-powered devices?
3. How can we adapt neural networks to new tasks and products quickly in low data settings?
4. How can we adopt the latest trends in the fields of speech and natural language processing and apply them to computer vision problems?
5. How can we combine traditional computer vision algorithms with deep learning technology to solve a wider range of problems?
6. How do we productize advanced technology while making it easy for non-data-scientists to deploy on their production lines?

Within the team, development is primarily done in Python. Engineers in this group typically have experience with deep learning, image analysis, machine vision, statistical learning, or signal processing. Success in this role has the potential to lead to increased responsibility at Cognex.

The Role:

This group is seeking scientists with a passion for innovation to lead deep learning research and development in industrial machine vision as well as those who have the aptitude and interest to work with an exceptional development team.

Essential Functions:

1. Research, develop and evaluate modern deep learning algorithms for computer vision, with a focus on algorithms with low power, low latency, and data efficiency requirements.
2. Translate business requirements into quick working prototypes in order to demonstrate capabilities to internal and external stakeholders.
3. Collaborate closely with software and hardware engineering teams as well as product teams to transition prototypes to scalable and user-friendly implementations in Cognex products.
4. Keep abreast of the latest research in industry and academia and propose algorithmic advancements applicable to Cognex products.
5. Demonstrate thought leadership and drive complex research projects with a high degree of ambiguity.
6. Mentor junior engineers of the team.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

1. Industry or academic experience developing and optimizing deep learning algorithms in one or more relevant technical areas - computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition.
2. Deep understanding of convolutional neural networks and transformer architectures.
3. Proficiency with at least one deep learning framework such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
4. Strong programming skills.
5. Creative, motivated, and looking to work hard for an aggressive growth company.
6. Demonstrated experience in incubating and productizing new technology from ideation to scalable implementation.

Minimum education and work experience required:

1. PhD in deep learning from a top engineering school in CS, EE or equivalent.
2. 3+ years industrial work experience in deep learning or data science.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Cognex is an equal opportunity employer. Cognex evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, disability/handicap status or any other legally protected characteristic.