Principal AI Computer Vision Engineer

Job description

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 4 Sep 2026 Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact. A Day in the LifeAt Medtronic, we bring bold ideas forward with speed and decisiveness to put patients first in everything we do. In-person exchanges are invaluable to our work. We're working onsite 4 days a week as part of our commitment to fostering a culture of professional growth and cross-functional collaboration as we work together to engineer the extraordinary. The person in this role will work from the Medtronic facility located in Rice Creek, Minnesota. This role will require 25% of travel to enhance collaboration and ensure successful completion of projects. Our award-winning Analytics for Manufacturing Imaging (AMI) team is pioneering the use of AI computer vision in manufacturing, developing scalable platform capabilities that enable every manufacturing engineer to unlock value from visual data. Building on this foundation, the Visual Process Monitoring (VPM) Deployment Acceleration Team is responsible for deploying AI-enabled process monitoring solutions across Medtronic's global manufacturing network. As a Principal AI Computer Vision Engineer, you will serve as a technical enabler for VPM project delivery by accelerating computer vision model development, deployment, and adoption across manufacturing sites. This role combines hands-on computer vision with stakeholder enablement. You will work directly with manufacturing, automation, quality, and process engineering teams to transform image data into actionable process intelligence. You will help teams collect data, develop and train models, deploy solutions using the AMI platform, and build long-term site capability through coaching and technical mentorship. Unlike traditional computer vision research roles, this position is focused on scaling repeatable deployment patterns and enabling successful project execution across a growing portfolio of VPM initiatives. Primary Responsibilities Develop, train, validate, and optimize computer vision models for manufacturing applications including inspection, process monitoring, anomaly detection, segmentation, and classification. Lead image dataset development activities including data collection, annotation strategies, data quality assessment, augmentation, and dataset curation to ensure robust model performance. Partner with manufacturing sites to identify data requirements, collect imagery, develop datasets, and execute model training activities. Support deployment of computer vision models through the Analytics for Manufacturing Imaging (AMI) platform. Collaborate with integration engineers and deployment teams to implement end-to-end VPM solutions, including image acquisition, model execution, visualization, alerting, and monitoring workflows. Configure, test, troubleshoot, and improve model performance across development and production environments. Create and maintain reusable datasets, model templates, evaluation methodologies, and deployment workflows that accelerate future implementations. Coach and mentor site engineers, VPM champions, and project teams on computer vision development, model evaluation, and AI best practices. Deliver training materials, workshops, and technical documentation that improve adoption and self-sufficiency across manufacturing sites. Support multiple concurrent VPM deployments while helping scale AI-enabled manufacturing capabilities across Medtronic's global manufacturing network. Evaluate emerging computer vision technologies, foundation models, and AI tools that can improve deployment speed, model accuracy, and user adoption. Contribute to standards and best practices for data collection, model development, validation, deployment, and lifecycle management across the VPM portfolio. Minimum Qualifications 7+ years of experience with a bachelor’s degree or 5+ years of experience with an advanced degree 3+ years experience applying AI, analytics, and computer vision solutions within manufacturing, automation, or operations 3+ years experience developing, training, and deploying computer vision models in production environments Preferred Qualifications Previous Medtronic Experience Extensive Experience with industrial machine vision software such as MVTec HALCON Experience with model evaluation, validation, explainability, performance monitoring, and lifecycle management Experience collecting, curating, annotating, and managing image datasets for industrial AI applications. Experience working with industrial vision systems, machine vision hardware, cameras, lighting, optics, or image acquisition systems. Knowledge of traditional machine vision techniques including geometric measurement, feature extraction, edge detection, pattern matching, OCR/OCV, and rule-based inspection systems. Knowledge of manufacturing processes, quality systems, validation requirements, and operational technology (OT) environments. Experience partnering with manufacturing engineers, process engineers, automation engineers, quality engineers, and site operations teams. Experience developing technical documentation, implementation playbooks, training materials, and best practices that enable scalable adoption of AI capabilities. Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and upskill technical teams on computer vision, machine learning, and AI deployment best practices. Experience leading multiple concurrent deployments while balancing technical execution, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement initiatives. Passion for democratizing AI capabilities and building scalable, reusable solutions that accelerate adoption across a global manufacturing network. Understanding of IQ/OQ/PQ, equipment validation, and change control practices in regulated manufacturing environments. Experience with containerized AI deployments using Docker and Kubernetes For Baccalaureate degrees earned outside of the United States, a degree that satisfies the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) is required. Physical Job Requirements The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position. The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role. U.S. Work Authorization & Sponsorship At Medtronic, we are committed to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. In alignment with our enterprise-wide workforce planning approach, U.S. work authorization sponsorship (H-1B, TN, J, etc.) is offered exclusively for Principal-level roles and above, where specialized expertise aligns with long-term business needs. Roles below the Principal level require candidates to possess unrestricted U.S. work authorization at the