Senior Automation Engineer, Vision
Mach Industries · Huntington Beach, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Controls
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior controls role at Mach Industries (aerospace & defense) in Huntington Beach, CA. Develop 2D and 3D vision applications for inspection, measurement, localization, guidance, identification, and process monitoring.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), PLC, Robotics, Automation
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Controls Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $124k–$179k.
Median of the low and high ends of 56 live postings that list pay, out of 109 controls engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 108 other live controls postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $124k–$179k, from 54 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Automation 66%
- ✓ PLC 47%
- ✓ Robotics 43%
- ✓ Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 38%
- Python 33%
- Root cause 20%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Controls team at Mach Industries
We found 5 people at this company and state: 5 in this kind of role. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
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Write to Long → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
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- 5
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One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Mach Industries in Huntington Beach
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Full description from Mach IndustriesAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
The Role
Mach Industries is seeking a Senior Automation Engineer, Vision to develop and standardize machine vision systems across manufacturing.
You will develop proof-of-concept vision systems using industrial cameras, optics, lighting, profilometers, vision controllers, and edge compute, then translate successful concepts into standardized hardware and software architectures that can be deployed across production equipment.
This is a highly hands-on engineering role. You will build vision systems in the lab and on manufacturing equipment, characterize imaging performance, develop acquisition and processing methods, define compute requirements, and establish the technical standards used by internal teams and external systems integrators.
Key Responsibilities
- ◆Develop Mach's standardized machine vision platform for automated manufacturing equipment.
- ◆Design and build proof-of-concept vision systems using industrial cameras, lenses, lighting, filters, profilometers, depth cameras, and other optical sensors.
- ◆Select and characterize cameras, optics, lighting, sensors, controllers, and acquisition hardware for manufacturing applications.
- ◆Define edge compute
requirements
based on acquisition rates, processing workloads, latency, and machine cycle-time requirements.
- ✓Select and benchmark CPUs, GPUs, industrial PCs, and other compute hardware for production vision applications.
- ✓Develop image acquisition methods including exposure, triggering, synchronization, lighting control, field of view, depth of field, resolution, and optical configuration.
- ✓Develop 2D and 3D vision applications for inspection, measurement, localization, guidance, identification, and process monitoring.
- ✓Develop applications using laser profilometers, stereo/depth cameras, structured-light systems, and other 3D sensing technologies.
- ✓Optimize vision pipelines using GPU acceleration, parallel computing, and other hardware-accelerated approaches where required to meet production cycle times.
- ✓Design experiments to characterize measurement capability, repeatability, resolution, robustness, processing latency, and sensitivity to process variation.
- ✓Develop standardized hardware architectures for cameras, lenses, lighting, profilometers, controllers, networking, and edge compute.
- ✓Establish standards for camera mounting, lighting geometry, calibration, triggering, image acquisition, image storage, diagnostics, and system validation.
- ✓Define standardized interfaces between vision systems and Beckhoff TwinCAT machine controls.
- ✓Develop reusable software, libraries, configuration methods, and diagnostic tools for common vision applications.
- ✓Partner with manufacturing and quality engineers to translate process and inspection
requirements
into robust automated vision solutions.
- ✓Support vision-guided robotics, automated inspection, process monitoring, and closed-loop manufacturing applications.
- ✓Translate successful proof-of-concept systems into specifications and standards for production equipment.
- ✓Review vision systems delivered by equipment OEMs and systems integrators and ensure compliance with Mach standards.
- ✓Support FAT, SAT, commissioning, troubleshooting, and production ramp of
Required Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
- ✓5+ years of experience developing machine vision, optical inspection, metrology, or automated manufacturing systems.
- ✓Hands-on experience selecting and integrating industrial cameras, lenses, lighting, and vision hardware.
- ✓Strong understanding of imaging fundamentals including resolution, field of view, depth of field, exposure, contrast, lighting geometry, and optical distortion.
- ✓Experience developing and deploying 2D or 3D machine vision applications.
- ✓Experience defining edge compute
requirements
and selecting hardware based on image-processing workloads, latency, throughput, and machine cycle-time requirements.
- ✓Experience with CUDA or other GPU-accelerated, hardware-accelerated, or parallel computing approaches for high-performance image processing.
- ✓Experience profiling and optimizing vision pipelines to meet deterministic production performance requirements.
- ✓Experience integrating vision systems with PLC-controlled or robotic manufacturing equipment.
- ✓Experience taking vision applications from proof of concept through commissioning and production.
- ✓Strong experimental and troubleshooting skills with the ability to develop and debug systems directly on manufacturing equipment.
Preferred Qualifications
- ✓Experience with industrial vision platforms such as Cognex, Keyence, Basler, Teledyne, LMI, SICK, or similar.
- ✓Experience with 3D and depth-sensing platforms such as Intel RealSense, Luxonis OAK, Stereolabs ZED, or similar.
- ✓Experience with laser profilometers, stereo vision, structured-light systems, 3D cameras, point clouds, or other optical metrology and perception technologies.
- ✓Experience with ROS 2, including integration of cameras, perception pipelines, coordinate transforms, and robotic systems.
- ✓Experience developing standardized vision ar
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About Mach Industries
Founded in 2023, Mach Industries is a rapidly growing defense technology company focused on developing next-generation autonomous defense platforms. At the core of our mission is the commitment to delivering scalable, decentralized defense systems that enhance the strategic capabilities of the United States and its allies. With a workforce of approximately 350 employees, we operate with startup agility and ambition.
Our vision is to redefine the future of warfare through cutting-edge manufacturing, innovation at speed, and unwavering focus on national security. We are dedicated to solving the next generation of warfare with lethal systems that deter kinetic conflict and protect global security.
