Vision Applications Engineer

About Overview.ai

Overview.ai is bringing the cutting edge of AI computer vision to manufacturing—solving inspection problems that were previously not solvable with traditional machine vision. We’re a full-stack company: we deploy GPU-powered cameras on production lines, run inference on the edge, and operate a platform that supports large fleets of devices deployed across the world.

We’re growing extremely fast. Our customers love the product because it works—high accuracy, fast deployment, and an operator-friendly experience that makes real factory rollouts possible (not just pilots).

The mission

Overview.ai is building the most powerful edge AI vision platform for manufacturing—deployed on real production lines, not in lab demos. Our AI is only as good as the images we feed it. That’s why this role exists.

We’re hiring a top-tier Vision Applications Engineer in China—someone who can walk up to a nasty inspection problem (reflective metal, transparent plastic, motion blur, awkward geometry, cramped mounting, unstable presentation) and immediately start forming a lighting + optics strategy that makes the problem solvable. You’ll be the person customers remember: the one who makes “impossible” inspections suddenly look obvious.

This role is vision-first. You don’t need to be a controls engineer. You do need to be an exceptional optical/lighting problem solver who can also own field execution: customer communication, on-site deployments, training, and project delivery.

Why this role is exciting

• Solve the hardest vision problems in the world: The customers we work with bring problems that break traditional machine vision. You’ll be in the deep end.

• Work with cutting-edge AI + real factories: You’ll turn great imaging into great AI outcomes—and see the impact immediately on yield and downtime.

• High autonomy, high trust: You’ll be the expert in the room, leading technical strategy and owning outcomes end-to-end.

• Win against incumbents: You’ll know the competitive landscape (Cognex, Keyence, HALCON, Hikvision, etc.) and use that knowledge to help us close deals and expand deployments.

• Travel + variety: New lines, new parts, new weird optical phenomena—this role stays interesting.

What you’ll own

1) Vision strategy: optics + lighting (core of the role)

You will design and iterate the imaging solution that makes inspection reliable:

• Select and tune lighting for challenging surfaces and geometries:

  • bright field / dark field, coaxial, dome, diffuse, low-angle, structured light, line lights, spot/point, backlight, multisource setups

  • polarization (cross/parallel), glare suppression, specular management

  • strobed lighting vs continuous, high-speed exposure strategies, motion-freezing

  • “2.5D” techniques: photometric-style approaches, multi-angle illumination, gradient/shape enhancement

• Select and deploy lenses and optical elements:

  • telecentric, macro, high-NA, long working distance, wide-angle vs narrow, Scheimpflug (tilt) where appropriate

  • filters (bandpass, long-pass/short-pass), polarizers, diffusers, beam splitters

  • mirrors/prisms for impossible mounting angles and constrained spaces

• Push beyond visible light when needed:

  • IR / NIR / SWIR (and other spectral strategies), multispectral approaches, fluorescence-style thinking where relevant

• Diagnose and solve “weird” vision failure modes:

  • reflectivity, transparency, subsurface features, moiré, aliasing, lens flare/ghosting, vibration blur, rolling shutter artifacts, shadowing/occlusion, contamination drift

The bar: you can often tease out a workable imaging approach just by looking at the part + environment, then validate it quickly in the field.

2) Project ownership: deploy, stabilize, scale

• Own customer deployments end-to-end: planning, on-site execution, training, follow-through.

• Drive fast iteration cycles: image capture → lighting/lens adjustments → validation → production-ready setup.

• Train customer teams (process/quality/ops) on:

  • daily operation, basic troubleshooting, re-validation after maintenance, and how to keep image quality stable.

• Create clear documentation and “golden configs” that make future rollouts faster.

3) Competitive expertise: help us win

• Maintain a strong working knowledge of the machine vision ecosystem and competitor offerings:

  • Cognex, Keyence, HALCON/MVTec, Hikrobot/Hikvision, and other common players.

• Participate in pre-sales technical discovery and solutioning:

  • help position Overview.ai intelligently, identify where incumbents will fail, and propose imaging strategies that make our AI shine.

• Feed market intelligence back into product and go-to-market teams.

Who you are

Required

• Deep, hands-on machine vision experience with a heavy emphasis on lighting + optics (not just “camera setup”)

• Track record solving difficult inspections in production environments (reflective/transparent, tight geometry, high speed, variable presentation)

• Strong practical knowledge of the lighting and lens landscape:

  • you understand the tradeoffs and failure modes, not just the catalog names

• Ability to operate independently in factories and own outcomes

• Mandarin fluency (native or near-native)

• Working English for collaboration with global engineering/product teams

• Strong communication skills: you can explain optical strategies clearly to customers and teammates

Strong preferences

• Experience building vision solutions across multiple industries (electronics, automotive, connectors, batteries, packaging, etc.)

• Experience with advanced optical methods (telecentric, polarization, structured light, multi-angle, spectral techniques)

• Comfort running field experiments quickly and methodically (hypothesis → test → iterate)

What success looks like

• Customers trust you as the vision expert who can solve “impossible” inspections.

• You consistently deliver stable, repeatable imaging configurations that make AI performance excellent.

• You help win deals by out-thinking incumbents and demonstrating superior solutioning.

• You turn one-off optical victories into reusable playbooks, reference setups, and standards.

Why Overview.ai (why top candidates join)

• Extreme growth + real-world impact: We’re not building demos. We’re deploying AI systems on real production lines, at scale.

• Talent density: You’ll work with world-class engineers and operators across AI, embedded systems, and enterprise deployment.

• Front-row seat to the AI manufacturing wave: This is one of the biggest transformations happening in industry right now.

• Ownership: In this role, your work directly changes the trajectory of the company. Great hiring = winning.

• Global exposure: You’ll recruit for roles that touch the most advanced customers and factories in the world.