Job Description

Position Description:

Cognex invests in early career talent. One way we do this is through our Early Careers Software Engineering Development Program, a full-time paid opportunity for recent college graduates (BS, MS). This program prepares emerging professionals for successful technical careers at Cognex in the rapidly evolving world of Software Engineering and related technologies.

This program seeks to cultivate highly skilled, productive, and committed “Cognoids” who can contribute to Cognex’s future success.  Are you that person? As a program participant, you will enhance your software engineering skills, increase your technical depth and breadth, and gain knowledge of Cognex products and applications by working with experienced Cognoids on a variety of engaging software engineering projects.  After 12-14 months of training and development, when you graduate from the program, you will secure a position within one of Cognex’s engineering teams based on the best match of business needs and your career interests.   

Qualifications:  

Cognex is looking for capable, creative, and motivated engineering candidates who have a passion for delivering results to join our program starting June 2025. To be a successful candidate, you should possess and demonstrate the following skills:

• You’ve written reams of code using C/C++. You’ve also delivered working products/projects in other languages such as Python, Angular, etc.
• You drive progress through strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• You are a motivated and independent learner.
• Working effectively as a team-player within cross-functional teams is something you enjoy.
• You take the initiative to address problems.
• You have experience in one or more of the following technologies: embedded systems, thin-client UIs, DevOps, Linux, networks, machine vision, image processing, or AI techniques.
• Kudos if you use software development processes (such as agile), source code control, and formal bug tracking.
• You effectively communicate in English (both spoken and written).

Education and Experience Required:  

• You will have a Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, or related programs, graduating May 2025.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW  

Engineering Assignments:  

Our Early Careers Engineering Development Program in Software Engineering is a 12- to 14-month development role comprised of 3 project-based engineering assignments that are each 3-4 months in duration within Cognex’s R&D teams.  You will be a member of a cohort with other program participants, frequently working together on engineering assignments. The program targets the development of functional, technical, and interpersonal skills. R&D team assignments are based on an individual's background, skillset, interest, and Cognex’s business needs.  The goal of the program is to provide foundational capability that positions an early career engineer for future success as a software developer at Cognex.  

Our R&D engineering teams create market-leading industrial machine vision products that are deployed in factories and logistics centers around the world.  These products combine optics, specialized lighting, sensing technology, embedded processing, communication systems, machine vision algorithms, and graphical user interfaces to yield fast and accurate 2D & 3D machine vision solutions to some of the industry’s most challenging problems. Our software engineering teams develop and deliver the full stack of software needed to meet the real-time processing needs of our customers and provide the easy-to-use environments our customers employ to configure their machine vision task.  Our customers use our systems to guide robots, automate quality inspections, identify parts, dimension parcels, etc. to transform their operations by increasing production speed, reducing costs, and improving their product quality.  As part of the Software Engineering Program, you will be designing and writing software to create these machine vision products, collaborating with other development teams distributed in the US, Europe, and Asia, learning about the variety of technologies we invent or employ, and building an understanding of our customers and market.

Training:  

Throughout the program, training will be provided to you in many important developmental areas (domain, technical and soft skills) including, but not limited to:

• Introduction to Cognex Corporation
• Cognex culture
• Technical instruction & product overviews
• Machine Vision and Optics
• Software Engineering
• Embedded Systems Programming
• Application Programming
• Project management
• Communication skills
• Presentation skills

Continuing Education:  

In addition to the extensive onsite training, you will be encouraged to pursue advanced degrees by taking advantage of Cognex’s tuition reimbursement program.  

Networking:  

Each of our Early Careers Engineering Development Programs offers a unique opportunity to network with colleagues and technical management from day one. You’ll meet with Cognex executives and business leaders, participate in team building exercises with colleagues and, of course, gain hands-on work experience engaging with your cohorts and other R&D team members. From day one you are immersed in the corporate culture and hit the ground running!  

Corporate Culture and Socialization:  

Cognex promotes camaraderie in the workplace to foster belonging, collaboration, and teamwork. Through organized team social outings and group events, the program provides you opportunities to quickly acclimate and form lasting relationships with both your peers and with individuals across the company.  

Please note this is a hybrid role so candidates must be comfortable working from the Cognex HQ in Natick MA 4 days per week.

Additional Job Description

Equal Employment Opportunity

Cognex is an equal opportunity employer. Cognex evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, disability/handicap status or any other legally protected characteristic.