About the Company: Iconic brand, tiny company.

Polaroid was founded in 1937 by one of the most seminal innovators of the 20th century, Edwin Land. His motto was, “don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” In 2008, Polaroid shuttered its last factory, but a group of diehard fans came together as The Impossible Project to save instant film. Over 10 years later that startup acquired what was left of Polaroid and today we’re again a small group of people passionate about changing the world through great products.

About the Role

Polaroid is pushing the boundaries of image processing and embedded camera systems, and we’re looking for a skilled Image Processing Engineer to help design, develop, and optimize our end-to-end image processing pipeline for MCU-based platforms. This role sits at the intersection of optics, embedded systems, and image tuning, working alongside our embedded software engineers, hardware teams, and product managers to develop next-generation Polaroid Products. If you have hands-on experience with ISP tuning, image quality optimization, and embedded system development, and you thrive in a cross-disciplinary environment, this is an opportunity to make a real impact on our products.

Responsibilities

• Develop & Optimize Image Processing Pipelines – Design and implement ISP (Image Signal Processing) algorithms for color correction, noise reduction, sharpening, and overall image quality enhancement.
• Low-Level Image Sensor Processing – Work on Auto Focus (AF), Auto Exposure (AE), and Auto White Balance (AWB) algorithms, ensuring optimal sensor performance in various conditions.
• Integrate Optical Systems & Sensors – Collaborate with hardware engineers to bring up and calibrate image sensors, ensuring seamless hardware/software integration.
• Tuning & Calibration – Define, develop, and execute image tuning and calibration procedures to achieve consistent and high-quality imaging performance across various operating conditions.
• Real-Time Image Processing – Optimize image processing algorithms for resource-constrained embedded platforms, ensuring efficiency and low-latency performance.
• Firmware Development & Integration – Work closely with software engineers to integrate ISP functionality into embedded firmware (C/C++), ensuring robust and scalable implementation.
• Testing & Validation – Design and run image processing test suites, analyzing sensor performance and optimizing image quality based on real-world conditions.
• Stay Ahead of the Curve – Keep up with advancements in embedded vision, ISP tuning, optics, and digital imaging, bringing cutting-edge improvements to our products.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in image processing, embedded systems, or optics engineering, with a focus on ISP tuning and camera system development.
• Experience with low-level image sensor processing, including Auto Focus (AF), Auto Exposure (AE), and Auto White Balance (AWB).
• Strong C/C++ programming skills for embedded development.
• Experience with image signal processing (ISP) pipelines, including color correction, de-noising, sharpening, and tone mapping.
• Hands-on experience with image sensor calibration, tuning workflows, and real-time processing.
• Familiarity with image sensor technologies, camera modules, and optical systems.
• Strong background in digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms for image processing.
• Experience with MCU-based platforms (e.g., ARM Cortex-M) and embedded vision applications.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills in image quality analysis.