Optics & Camera Engineering Lead
Specter · San Francisco
Company Background
Specter's mission is to help automate the physical world.
Today, we build video sensors with state-of-the-art AI agents that answer any question, anywhere in their environments. Our systems can automatically detect and reason about any physical activity captured on camera, from security incidents (e.g. perimeter intrusion, theft, LPR), to safety monitoring (e.g. PPE detection, injured people), to operational efficiency (e.g. material tracking, congestion monitoring). We offer both long range wireless (1km range) and wired sensor variants to suit any deployment.
Our co-founders Xerxes and Philip are passionate about empowering our partners in the fast approaching world of physical AI and robotics. We are a small, fast growing team who hail from Anduril, Tesla, Uber, and the U.S. Special Forces.
The Role
Specter is hiring an Optics & Camera Engineering Lead to own camera performance across our product portfolio. This individual will own the imaging stack end to end: sensor and lens selection, optical requirements tied to CV/ML and customer outcomes, vendor and JDM programs, test campaigns and results analysis, and high volume production. This individual will collaborate with systems, software, CV/ML, electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, supply chain and test teams to deliver performant, scalable and validated camera + optical systems to the field.
The role spans the full stack. One day you'll be benchmarking sensors and lenses for a new product. Next, you'll work with our CV/ML team to translate detection, recognition and LPR performance at range into pixel density, MTF and low-light targets, or review athermal lens designs, define a slant-edge MTF test across temperature, or analyze a wiper endurance run. You'll work with systems, software, electrical, mechanical, manufacturing and supply chain, and lead technical engagements with tier-one optics and sensor suppliers.
Responsibilities:
Select sensors and lenses
Evaluate and select image sensors for each product, comparing low-light performance (SNR1s, QE at 850/940 nm), pixel size, resolution, frame rate, HDR, supply life and cost.
Select off-the-shelf lenses or specify custom designs matched to each sensor: FOV, F-number, MTF across the field, NIR correction, distortion, relative illumination and athermal behavior.
Evaluate and select the ISP architecture (on-sensor, companion ASIC/FPGA or SoC ISP), weighing image quality, latency, power, cost and supply, and drive ISP tuning and pipeline development for day and NIR night modes.
Benchmark sensor and lens candidates side by side in the lab and the field, and keep a qualified roster of sensors, lenses and IR-cut filters ready for new programs.
Connect customer value to optical requirements
Translate customer use cases and CV/ML performance into camera requirements using pixel-density frameworks such as IEC 62676-4 DORI.
Run coverage and range trade studies across sensor resolution, FOV, mounting height, pixel density, IR range, inference load, power and cost.
Define MTF, aperture, distortion, relative illumination, stray light and NIR focus targets, and tie them to measured model precision and recall at distance.
Design and run real-world field test campaigns across sites, lighting and weather, and use the resulting model and image-quality data to close the loop from camera change to quantified customer impact and drive design decisions.
Own optical and camera system design
Own optical performance specifications for fixed, multi-camera, panoramic and PTZ products.
Integrate the selected sensor, lens, IR-cut filter and mount into a camera system that meets spec across every operating condition.
Drive athermal design so focus and MTF hold across a wide operating range under solar loading, accounting for IR-cut filters, lens mounts, flange CTE, humidity and pressure.
Specify NIR illumination (LED and laser) matched to lens FOV, including frame-synced strobing, IEC 60825-1 eye safety, thermal limits and internal-reflection control.
Guide window, coating, heater, wiper and sun-shade design so optical performance survives years of outdoor service.
Use optical simulation to evaluate concepts quickly and review supplier prescriptions with confidence.
Lead vendor and JDM programs
Own the technical content of RFPs for camera modules and complete camera systems, and evaluate proposals on performance, cost, schedule and risk.
Lead technical work with optics suppliers and ODM/JDM partners on off-the-shelf selection, custom lens design, active alignment and production test.
Hold partners to design reviews and gate criteria from design through EVT, DVT and PVT.
Build test capability and run campaigns
Grow Specter's optical lab: collimators, slant-edge MTF, focus through temperature, flare and stray light, low-light SNR, IR range and FOV/distortion measurement.
Design and qualify optical test equipment for development, reliability and manufacturing, with documented gauge R&R.
Plan and run lab reliability and qualification campaigns covering thermal, humidity, condensation, solar loading, ingress, cleaning and coating endurance, and field life, then analyze results and drive decisions.
Define calibration (intrinsics, extrinsics, per-unit data) and production acceptance tests at our contract manufacturers.
Scale to production and grow the team
Take camera systems from concept to volume production with partners and CMs, driving design for manufacturability, automated focus and alignment, and yield.
Partner with embedded imaging engineers on sensor bring-up, driver integration and day/night switching in production.
Mentor engineers across camera, image quality, test and manufacturing engineering.
Track emerging imaging technology (large-format sensors, zoom optics, EO/IR fusion, camera arrays, computational imaging) and recommend where Specter should invest.
Qualifications:
8+ years in optical, imaging or camera systems engineering, with multiple camera products shipped to volume production.
Fluency across the stack, from how image quality affects CV/ML and the end user down to lens design, mechanics and test.
Deep knowledge of image sensors, lens design and the trade-offs among resolution, FOV, F-number, MTF, aberrations, depth of focus and thermal stability.
Hands-on optical simulation with Zemax OpticStudio, CODE V or similar.
A track record specifying off-the-shelf and custom lenses with suppliers, with clear performance and cost trade-offs.
Athermalization experience covering both mechanical design and optical performance across temperature (focus shift, MTF drift).
Experience designing optical test equipment and running test campaigns, with rigorous data analysis behind decisions.
Experience with NIR imaging and active illumination, as well as L/M/SWIR systems.
Experience taking hardware through NPI with contract manufacturers or ODM/JDM partners.
Clear communication of optical trade-offs to software, business and customer-facing teams.
Nice to Have
Outdoor, automotive or security camera experience, including sealing, condensation, window cleaning and environmental qualification.
Active alignment and high-volume camera module manufacturing.
PTZ, zoom/focus optics, panoramic or multi-camera systems, and camera calibration for computer vision.
EO/IR (thermal) imaging.
GMSL/FPD-Link camera interfaces and ISP tuning.
Laser illumination and eye-safety certification.
Experience leading engineers and cross-functional technical programs.
Tool Proficiency
Zemax OpticStudio, CODE V or equivalent optical design software.
Imatest or equivalent image quality analysis tools.
Python or MATLAB for test automation and data analysis.
Familiarity with MCAD (SolidWorks) for opto-mechanical review.
Computer vision fundamentals and tools (OpenCV or similar) for image analysis, calibration and evaluating model performance.
Linux command line for sensor bring-up, data capture and scripting on embedded systems.
Hardware reliability and test methods: environmental qualification, accelerated life testing, FMEA and failure analysis.