OverviewWho we're looking forToyota's Manufacturing Innovation and Transformation Department is looking for a passionate and highly motivated Engineer.
Reporting to the Manufacturing Innovation Manager, this role leads end-to-end engineering and deployment of next-generation automated quality inspection systems for Toyota's North American manufacturing facilities, supporting the Production Engineering Division and SOAR Group's goal of improving manufacturing competitiveness.
What you'll be doing - Model Development & Training
- Design and implement computer vision models for defect detection, segmentation, and classification.
- Accelerate training cycles using synthetic data, active learning, and domain randomization, including for rare edge-case defects.
- Production Deployment & MLOps
- Package models with Docker and manage deployments via Kubernetes (K8s) or equivalent orchestration.
- Implement MLOps practices - version control, rollback strategies, and observability for latency, lighting drift, and false-positive/negative rates on production lines.
- Edge Optimization
- Optimize inference for edge/embedded hardware (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson, Intel accelerators) to meet real-time latency requirements for moving-line inspection.
- Maintain consistent performance across varying lighting, optics, and surface conditions.
- Manufacturing System Integration
- Integrate vision systems with PLCs, encoders, triggers, and industrial networks using OPC-UA, MQTT, and REST.
- Align deployments with Toyota's ICS+, GALC, and TVIP architecture standards for plant-level connectivity and reliability.
- Data Strategy & Quality Control
- Lead defect image collection campaigns, manage annotation workflows, and set quality gates for model validation.
- Use synthetic data pipelines and augmentation to improve robustness and reduce training time.
- Reliability & Sustainment
- Meet uptime/availability targets through proactive monitoring, calibration (MSA), and backup/restore processes.
- Implement drift detection, audit false negative risk, and conduct root cause analysis for inspection failures.
- Innovation & Collaboration
- Pioneer new deflectometry, reflection, and multi-camera imaging technologies to elevate vehicle surface quality control.
- Lead inspection booth software deployments from concept through SOP (Start of Production).
- Evaluate optical AI solutions through on-site plant trials, compiling data for North American rollout.
- Collaborate across NAMCs, Toyota Motor Corp (TMC), Toyota Technical Center (TTC), PE support shops, IT (One Tech), automation teams, and Enterprise AI divisions.
What you bring - Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, or related field.
- 2+ years in industrial machine vision and edge AI deployment.
- 3+ years of AI/ML experience with camera-based vision systems.
- Experience managing the full model lifecycle: data collection, labeling, validation, rollout, monitoring, retraining.
- Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
- Knowledge of ONNX Runtime, TensorRT, and embedded hardware optimization.
- Willingness to work weekends, holidays, shutdowns, and multiple shifts as needed; up to 30% overtime.
- Ability to travel up to 30% (US, Canada, Mexico, other manufacturing sites, and Japan).
Added bonus if you have - Master's or advanced degree with a strong foundation in optical systems, computer vision, image processing, or AI automation.
- Research background in optical physics (specular reflection, deflectometry, multi-spectral imaging) applied to production-grade deep learning.
- 5+ years of software project management involving internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience integrating AI safety controls and optical fault-handling into PFMEAs, camera trigger reliability frameworks, and QCPs.
- Expertise in synthetic data generation (GANs, VAEs, NeRFs, Blender) and domain randomization.
- Experience with high-speed inline inspection and vision-based process control.
- Knowledge of IIoT data pipelines and messaging standards.
What we'll bringDuring your interview process, our team can fill you in on all the details of our industry-leading benefits and career development opportunities. A few highlights include:
- A work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect.
- Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career, as well as tuition reimbursement.
- Team Member Vehicle Purchase Discount.
- Toyota Team Member Lease Vehicle Program (if applicable).
- Comprehensive health care and wellness plans for your entire family.
- Toyota 401(k) Savings Plan featuring a company match, as well as an annual retirement contribution from Toyota regardless of whether you contribute (if applicable).
- Paid holidays and paid time off.
- Referral services related to prenatal services, adoption, childcare, schools, and more.
- Tax-Advantaged Accounts (Health Savings Account, Health Care FSA, Dependent Care FSA).
- Relocation assistance (if applicable).
