Hardware Applications Engineer — Camera Optics

About Tristar AI

Tristar AI is a cutting-edge computer vision startup transforming quality control and safety in manufacturing through scalable, AI-driven defect detection systems. Our technology is deployed on high-speed lines across industries, delivering ROI through accuracy, efficiency, and automation.

Location

Must be based in the Boston area and willing to commute to our Cambridge, MA office at least three times a week. This role also involves travel to customer sites.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Hardware Applications Engineer to support the design, configuration, and deployment of hardware setups for vision systems on a project-by-project basis. This role is ideal for someone with deep experience in industrial imaging, optics, lighting, and camera calibration who can assess customer environments and build reliable image acquisition setups for specific manufacturing use cases. You will work closely with our engineering and deployment teams to bring vision systems from initial design through production validation.
Hands-on experience selecting, deploying, and calibrating industrial cameras is required.

Key Responsibilities

• Define imaging requirements based on defect size, field of view, working distance, line speed, and production conditions.
• Select and configure industrial cameras, lenses, filters, lighting, and image acquisition hardware.
• Design and execute camera calibration and alignment procedures, including geometric calibration and multi-camera setups where needed.
• Evaluate image quality, coverage, distortion, focus, exposure, motion blur, and lighting consistency during testing and onsite deployment.
• Work with mechanical and deployment teams to specify camera and lighting positions and mounting requirements.
• Integrate cameras with edge compute hardware, triggers, encoders, and other production line equipment.
• Troubleshoot imaging issues in pilot and production environments and document repeatable setup and calibration procedures.
• Participate in customer site visits, installation, validation, and ongoing system improvements.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in machine vision, optical engineering, imaging systems, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience deploying and calibrating industrial camera systems in real-world environments.
• Strong knowledge of lenses, sensor selection, lighting, exposure, resolution, and image acquisition.
• Experience selecting camera configurations based on measurable inspection requirements.
• Ability to diagnose image quality and calibration issues in production settings.
• Experience collaborating with software, mechanical, and field engineering teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred

• Experience with multi-camera inspection systems and precision measurement.
• Familiarity with industrial cameras such as Basler or FLIR, and with NVIDIA GPUs or edge computing.
• Experience with defect detection on manufacturing lines, including high-speed applications.
• Exposure to PLCs, triggers, encoders, and industrial network protocols.