Job Title: Hardware Enginner/ Optical Engineer 
Location: Bellevue, WA
Job Type: 6 Months
Travel: Occasional (for site deployments and testing)

About the Team
The team designs and operates the hardware, software, and processes powering large-scale fulfillment and automation systems across a global network. The mission is to enable highly efficient, automated movement of products using advanced sensor technology and data collection systems that integrate with robotics, machine learning, and industrial controls.

Position Overview
We are seeking a Sensor Design Engineer to join a multidisciplinary team focused on developing and deploying advanced data collection systems. These systems support automation initiatives by enabling real-time object detection, classification, and manipulation via machine vision and AI.

In this role, you will be responsible for designing and prototyping optical and multi-sensor systems for large-scale deployment across fulfillment and industrial environments. You will help gather critical physical data to support automation workflows, including robotic manipulation, quality checks, and inventory tracking.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and prototype optical and camera-based sensor systems for industrial automation.
• Specify and integrate components such as lenses, imaging sensors, lighting, and enclosures.
• Account for and mitigate common optical challenges like aberrations, motion blur, lighting variations, and color balance.
• Explore and evaluate non-optical sensing modalities, including lidar, stereo vision, structured light, x-ray, infrared, and RFID.
• Develop basic sensor interface software for data acquisition and prototype testing.
• Collaborate with field technicians, automation engineers, machine learning experts, and operational stakeholders to define use cases and requirements.
• Integrate sensor systems into automated conveyance systems, robotic arms, and industrial safety frameworks.
• Deploy and validate sensor solutions in real-world industrial environments.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Optics, Physics, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 4+ years of experience designing machine vision systems or optical hardware for industrial use.
• Hands-on experience with camera systems, lens specification, and understanding of image quality fundamentals.
• Experience designing or testing multi-sensor data acquisition systems.
• Strong understanding of lighting control, exposure tuning, and sensor calibration.
• Ability to build and iterate on hardware/software prototypes rapidly.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills across technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Optics, Computer Vision, or related field.
• Experience integrating multi-sensor platforms with robotics or automated conveyor systems.
• Background in barcode and OCR systems, object dimensioning, and weight detection.
• Familiarity with machine learning and computer vision requirements for physical data pipelines.
• Software development experience in Python, C++, or embedded systems for sensor integration.
• Comfort working in high-speed manufacturing or logistics environments with active safety controls.

What We Offer

• Exposure to advanced sensing technologies powering the next generation of automation.
• Opportunity to shape and deploy scalable sensor systems across industrial environments.
• Collaborative team environment blending hardware, software, and AI disciplines.
• Competitive salary, benefits, and opportunities for career growth.
• Must haves:
• Ability to develop data collection software (sensor interface) for experimental/prototyping purpose.
• experience in Hardware development such as developing digital optical / machine vision systems for industrial applications
• Ability to design, acquire and prototype sensing systems

 

 


At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position’s starting pay is: $50.00/hr.