Camera System Architect - PICO Lab VST - San Jose

About team:
The VST/camera team focuses on finding low power, high image quality solutions for AR/VR camera systems, including developing CMOS sensors, novel optical/imaging sensors, ultra-compact camera module technologies, camera lens design, and algorithms. The team is vertically integrating HW/SW for system optimization, shaping the AI experience for the future.

Responsibilities:

• Define and own the system architecture of end-to-end camera solutions, spanning optics, image sensors, compute platforms, mechanics, algorithms, and software.
• Drive hardware–software co-design to optimize system-level performance, power, cost, and scalability.
• Lead system-level imaging and perception performance definition, evaluation, and optimization across hardware and AI-based processing.
• Design and integrate computer vision and AI algorithms into production camera systems.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging imaging and AI technologies to maintain product competitiveness.

Requirements:

• Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computational Imaging, or related fields.

• 3+ years of experience in camera or imaging system development, with scope spanning both hardware and software.

• Proven full-cycle product development experience, including prototype builds, EVT, DVT, and mass production, in a hardware product environment.

• Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools (LLMs, VLMs) to accelerate design iteration, analysis, debugging, and technical decision-making.

• Strong system-level thinking, first-principles reasoning, and ability to make and defend complex technical trade-offs.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across cross-functional engineering teams.

• Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with SoC / ISP / NPU architectures and model-to-hardware adaptation or optimization.

• Hands-on experience with computer vision and machine learning, particularly in real-time or resource-constrained systems.

• Prior ownership of camera system architecture or subsystem technical leadership.