Director, Software Engineering

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 whats being 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.

Cognex is looking for a Director of Software Engineering to own the strategy technical direction and delivery of an Applied AI platform that will re-define how customers configure manage and optimize industrial automation solutions on factory floors and in logistics operations. This is a highly visible leadership role with a unique opportunity to shape the future of AI-powered industrial automation. This role blends applied R&D platform engineering product delivery and organizational leadership turning emerging AI research into secure reliable and scalable production-grade capabilities that create measurable customer value in the demanding realities of industrial manufacturing and logistics operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and multi-year roadmap for a new Applied AI platform to simplify complex multi-step customer workflows across Cognexs product portfolio.

• Direct applied R&D on emerging AI capabilities with structured experimentation and prototyping and a clear path from research to production.

• Lead architecture decisions spanning embedded devices edge compute and cloud services and infrastructure ensuring seamless experiences across hybrid experiences.

• Own the reliability scalability security cost efficiency and operational excellences of the services that power the platform including APIs model-serving infrastructure data pipelines and connected experiences.

• Establish the engineering standards evaluation frameworks guardrails observability and operational practices (SLAs on-call incident response) required to deliver trustworthy AI systems in production balancing capability reliability latency safety and operating cost.

• Partner with Product R&D UX and Hardware organizations to turn ambiguous problems into shipped capabilities on committed timelines.

• Drive adoption of the platform across Cognexs product portfolio enabling product teams to rapidly build and consume shared AI capabilities and services.

• Track the fast-moving AI landscape and translate external advances into pragmatic bets for Cognex.

• Drive cost efficiency observability and continuous delivery across cloud and hybrid (edge-plus-cloud) deployments with privacy and security built in.

• Grow lead and mentor a high-impact engineering organization building a culture of ownership technical rigor and execution excellence

Role Requirements

• 15 years of software engineering experience including 5 years in senior engineering leadership roles managing managers and/or multiple engineering teams with a proven track record of building high-performing organizations delivering business-critical products and driving technical strategy.

• Track record of shipping and scaling complex platforms and cloud/online services in production.

• Experience leading R&D or applied-research efforts from concept to shipped product

• Demonstrated experience turning ambiguous customer problems into shipped products scalable products and technical strategy

• Deep expertise in backend/cloud architecture API design and platform engineering.

• Hands-on familiarity with modern AI application architectures including LLMOps agentic systems tool integration retrieval augmented generation (RAG) Model Context Protocol and evaluation harness design prompt management and production observability.

• Strong strategic and execution-oriented mindset with the ability to balance ambitious AI innovation against reliability scalability cost and deployment constraints.

• Exceptional communication influencing and stakeholder management skills with the ability to align technical teams executives customers and cross-functional partners around a shared vision and execution plan.

• Customer-focused leadership approach with a passion for solving real-world customer problems through innovative software platforms and AI-driven experiences.

Preferred Experience & Qualifications

• Computer vision machine learning inference or edge/embedded deployment systems.

• Background in industrial automation manufacturing robotics or logistics.

• Experience productizing AI capabilities at scale beyond prototypes and proof-of-concepts.

• Experience working with developer platforms APIs SDKs or ecosystems that enable other teams to build and innovate more quickly.

• Advanced degree in Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Robotics or a related field.

A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is220000 USD-320000 USD. Please note that actual salaries may vary within the range based on factors including but not limited to education training experience professional achievement business need and addition to base salary employees will participate in either an annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance or a sales incentive plan.

This position is also eligible for equity under the Cognex Equity Program.

This position provides a comprehensive benefits package including health dental and vision insurance; a 401(k) retirement plan with company matching; employer-paid disability family leave life insurance paid time off (including holidays) optional voluntary benefits and recognition and wellness programs.

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.