Principal Computer Vision Scientist

Sourceability; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Sourceability is building a Global Engineering Organization (GEO) and seeks a Principal Computer Vision Scientist to lead advanced CV and AI/ML work within GEO. You will direct research, architecture, experiments, and production readiness for CV solutions used in company products.

This senior role requires a PhD and hands‑on CV/ML expertise across research, engineering, and production systems. You’ll align with CV product groups, drive model evaluation and deployment strategies, and mentor

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, AI, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field.
• 7+ years hands‑on ML/DL with strong CV focus.
• Strong practical experience with PyTorch and/or TensorFlow.
• Strong Python development skills.
• Experience with OpenCV, NumPy, Pandas, scikit‑learn, and modern Python ML ecosystem.
• Deep understanding of classical CV algorithms and modern DL approaches.
• Experience with object detection, segmentation, classification, feature matching, retrieval, and model evaluation.
• Experience with modern CV architectures (CNNs, Transformers, Vision Transformers, YOLO, Mask R‑CNN, CLIP‑like, SAM‑like).
• Experience bringing ML models into production; optimization for inference speed, latency, memory, scalability, reliability.
• Experience with REST APIs, Docker, CI/CD, model versioning, experiment tracking, and MLOps.
• Strong understanding of datasets, annotation processes, labeling, and error analysis.
• Ability to read/evaluate technical docs and papers in English.
• Ability to explain complex topics to mixed audiences.
• Experience working in Agile environments.
• Strong ownership, good judgment, and pragmatic decision making under uncertainty.
• Comfortable with distributed teams across locations/time zones.

Responsibilities

• Lead research, design, development, and implementation of CV and AI/ML solutions.
• Define model architecture, technical approach, experiment strategy, validation, and production readiness criteria.
• Train, fine‑tune, evaluate, optimize, and deploy models for detection, segmentation, classification, retrieval, OCR, visual search, and image understanding.
• Own the full model lifecycle: data analysis, annotation requirements, dataset quality, training, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, continuous improvement.
• Build prototypes, proofs‑of‑concepts, demos, and experiments to validate new ideas before full product use.
• Analyze model performance, diagnose failures, and propose practical improvements based on data and business needs.
• Review and improve CV pipelines for quality, inference speed, scalability, and production reliability.
• Collaborate with software engineers to integrate ML models into production apps and services.
• Define standards for evaluation, versioning, datasets, reproducibility, and MLOps.
• Evaluate research papers, open‑source models, and AI platforms for potential use.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers working on CV/AI/ML features.
• Support planning/estimation for AI/ML work by clarifying complexity, risks, dependencies, and delivery assumptions.
• Create documentation, evaluation reports, architecture notes, and engineering recommendations.
• Partner with Product/Delivery Managers to translate business needs into AI/ML implementation plans.
• Partner with Engineering Managers/Team Leads/QA/DevOps/Data/Stakeholders to ensure production readiness.

Skills

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Python

OpenCV

NumPy

Pandas

scikit-learn

CNNs

Transformers

YOLO

Mask R-CNN

CLIP

SAM

MLOps

REST APIs

Docker

CI/CD

Git

ONNX

TensorRT

OpenVINO

TFLite

Cloud ML

Education

PhD in Computer Science / CV / ML

Tools

Docker

REST APIs

Git

CI/CD

MLOps

ONNX

TensorRT

OpenVINO

TFLite

Azure DevOps

Job description

Sourceability® is a global digital distributor of electronic components transforming how modern businesses bring products to market. With innovation, quality and logistics as the backbone of the company, Sourceability’s cutting‑edge products and services expedite the procurement process across a wide range of industries, including communications/cellular, consumer electronics, and auto manufacturing. Sourceability is building a new Global Engineering Organization (GEO) to strengthen internal software delivery, improve production ownership, and build long‑term engineering capability inside the company.

We are looking for a Principal Computer Vision Scientist to lead advanced Computer Vision and AI/ML work inside GEO. This role will be responsible for research direction, model architecture, experimentation, model quality, production readiness, and practical implementation of computer vision solutions used in company products. This is a senior technical leadership role for a highly experienced specialist who can work across research, engineering, product, and production systems. The right candidate should be able to evaluate new approaches, design model architectures, run experiments, improve model quality, and help engineering teams bring AI/ML capabilities into real production workflows. This role requires PhD‑level education and strong hands‑on experience in applied Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning. The person in this role should be comfortable working with business‑critical systems, practical production constraints, imperfect datasets, and evolving product requirements.

Assigned Product Group

This role will be primarily aligned with the Computer Vision product group inside GEO. The role may also support other internal product groups or AI/ML initiatives where computer vision, image processing, visual search, object detection, segmentation, classification, or model evaluation expertise is needed.

Product Group Focus Areas

• Mobile App / Computer Vision: Image capture workflows, mobile application integration, computer vision model development, model inference, warehouse / field usability, user feedback loops, production model quality, and UAT support.
• AI / ML Product Features: Applied machine learning features, model evaluation workflows, proof‑of‑concepts, model‑assisted automation, AI‑assisted business tools, and integration of AI/ML capabilities into existing business workflows.
• Data and Annotation Workflows: Image datasets, data quality, annotation requirements, labeling guidelines, model training datasets, validation datasets, failure case analysis, and continuous improvement of model performance.
• Production ML Systems: Model deployment, model versioning, inference performance, monitoring, reproducibility, scalability, reliability, and MLOps practices.

Insight on Your Impact

• Lead research, design, development, and implementation of Computer Vision and AI/ML solutions.
• Define model architecture, technical approach, experiment strategy, validation methodology, and production readiness criteria.
• Train, fine‑tune, evaluate, optimize, and deploy models for object detection, semantic segmentation, image classification, feature matching, OCR, visual search, and image understanding.
• Own the full model lifecycle, including data analysis, dataset quality, annotation requirements, model training, experiment tracking, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Build prototypes, proof‑of‑concepts, demos, and technical experiments to validate new ideas before full product implementation.
• Analyze model performance, identify failure cases, and recommend practical improvements based on data, user behavior, and business needs.
• Review and improve existing Computer Vision pipelines, model quality, inference performance, scalability, and production reliability.
• Work with software engineers to integrate ML models into production applications and services.
• Define standards for model evaluation, model versioning, dataset management, reproducibility, and MLOps practices.
• Evaluate research papers, open‑source models, AI platforms, and new technologies for potential use in company products.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers working on AI/ML and computer vision features.
• Support planning and estimation for AI/ML work by clarifying technical complexity, risks, dependencies, and realistic delivery assumptions.
• Create technical documentation, model evaluation reports, architecture notes, and recommendations for engineering and product teams.
• Partner with Product / Delivery Managers to translate business needs into practical AI/ML implementation plans.
• Partner with Engineering Managers, Team Leads / Architects, QA, DevOps, Data, and business stakeholders to make sure AI/ML work can be delivered and supported in production.

Your Qualifications, Your Influence

• PhD in Computer Science, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or closely related technical field.
• 7+ years of hands‑on experience in Machine Learning / Deep Learning, with strong focus on Computer Vision.
• Strong practical experience with PyTorch and / or TensorFlow.
• Strong Python development skills.
• Experience with OpenCV, NumPy, Pandas, scikit‑learn, and modern Python ML ecosystem.
• Deep understanding of classical Computer Vision algorithms and modern deep learning approaches.
• Strong experience with object detection, semantic segmentation, image classification, feature matching, image retrieval, and model evaluation.
• Experience with modern Computer Vision architectures and techniques, including CNNs, Transformers, Vision Transformers, YOLO, Mask R‑CNN, CLIP‑like models, SAM‑like models, or similar.
• Experience bringing ML models into production environments.
• Experience with model optimization for inference speed, latency, memory usage, scalability, and reliability.
• Experience with REST APIs, Docker, CI / CD, model versioning, experiment tracking, and MLOps practices.
• Strong understanding of datasets, data quality, annotation processes, labeling requirements, and model error analysis.
• Ability to read, understand, and evaluate technical documentation and research papers in English.
• Ability to explain complex technical topics to engineering, product, and business stakeholders.
• Experience working in Agile software development environment.
• Strong ownership mindset, good judgment, and ability to make practical technical decisions under uncertainty.
• Comfortable working in distributed teams across multiple locations and time zones.

Preferred Skills and Technical Familiarity

• Post‑PhD research or industry experience in applied Computer Vision.
• Publications, patents, or strong applied research record in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, or AI.
• Experience leading technical direction for AI / ML projects.
• Experience mentoring ML engineers, software engineers, or data annotation teams.
• Experience with edge or mobile inference technologies, including ONNX, TensorRT, OpenVINO, TFLite, CoreML, or similar.
• Experience with large‑scale image processing pipelines.
• Experience with synthetic data generation, active learning, weak supervision, or dataset quality improvement.
• Experience with multimodal models, vision‑language models, prompt engineering, OpenAI, or similar AI platforms.
• Experience with cloud ML platforms and production monitoring of ML models.
• Familiarity with mobile applications, warehouse workflows, field operations systems, or image capture workflows.
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps, Git, CI / CD tooling, documentation systems, and practical software delivery processes.
• Experience in electronic components, technology distribution, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, e‑commerce, or similar B2B environments.

Success in the First 90 Days

• Understand the relevant product areas, users, business workflows, image capture workflows, datasets, model use cases, and current technical risks.
• Establish working relationships with Engineering Managers, Team Leads / Architects, Product / Delivery Managers, engineers, QA, DevOps, Data, and business stakeholders.
• Review current Computer Vision and AI / ML work, including models, datasets, evaluation methods, annotation process, production integration, and known quality issues.
• Identify the most important model quality risks, data quality gaps, technical debt items, production risks, and maintainability concerns.
• Define or improve model evaluation criteria, validation process, dataset requirements, and model readiness expectations.
• Help improve technical clarity of the active AI / ML backlog by adding design notes, technical breakdown, dependencies, estimates, and risks.
• Lead at least one meaningful model improvement, prototype, evaluation effort, or production risk‑reduction activity.
• Improve documentation around model architecture, data flows, evaluation results, known limitations, and production behavior.
• Create an initial technical roadmap or remediation plan for Computer Vision work aligned with product priorities and engineering capacity.
• Help onboard or mentor engineers working on Computer Vision, AI / ML, or related product features.

What This Role Does Not Own

This role does not own formal people management for engineers. Engineering Managers remain responsible for hiring, performance management, compensation input, team structure, and capacity planning.

This role does not own business prioritization or user acceptance. Product / Delivery Managers and business stakeholders remain responsible for intake, priority alignment, backlog readiness, UAT coordination, and business acceptance.

This role does not independently commit delivery dates without alignment with Engineering Managers and Product / Delivery Managers.

This role does not own all AI / ML work across the company unless specifically assigned by GEO leadership. The primary responsibility is Computer Vision technical leadership and production‑quality AI / ML implementation for assigned product areas.

This role does not replace Software Architects, DevOps, Data, QA, or Infrastructure ownership. The role will work closely with those teams to make sure Computer Vision solutions are technically sound, production‑ready, and supportable.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

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