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 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.

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 Cognex’s 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 Cognex's 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 is 220,000 USD - 320,000 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 location. In 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.