Senior Machine Vision Engineer

At Lely, we believe in achieving a sustainable, profitable and agreeable future for dairy farmers by combining robotisation, engineering and farming expertise.

It all started with a dream cherished by two brothers in Maassluis 75 years ago, and ever since, we have worked to become innovative market leaders in automated systems for dairy farmers across the globe. With a team of 2,500 professional specialists, we work constantly to bring about revolutionary solutions for the agro industry. We are based at our Maassluis Campus, a building which features the highest sustainability performance possible, not just in the Netherlands, but on a global scale. Our overall objective: making dairy farming interesting, also for the coming generations.

What is your role?

As an experienced Software Engineer, you will work on Lely Zeta, one of Lely’s latest innovations. You will develop technology that directly contributes to our ambition to make dairy farmers’ work easier, more enjoyable and more sustainable. With your expertise in embedded software and computer vision, you will help build a product where smart technology, everyday farming practice and animal welfare come together.

Your work goes beyond your desk. Together with colleagues from different technical disciplines, you will translate new ideas and prototypes into reliable software that needs to perform in a real farm environment. You will also have the opportunity to test your work on the farm, allowing you to see first-hand how your software and technical decisions contribute to the further development of Lely Zeta.

As Lely Zeta is still evolving, you will have the opportunity to further shape the technical foundation of the product. You will contribute to architecture and quality, bring your computer vision expertise and help professionalize the product step by step. You will not only focus on what works today, but also on what is needed to develop Lely Zeta into a reliable, maintainable and scalable product.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and strengthen the software foundations of Lely Zeta, with a strong focus on computer vision and embedded systems.
• Integrate computer vision software and optimize performance within the available hardware.
• Translate prototypes into reliable product functionality and test your solutions where it matters most: in a real farm environment.
• Make technical decisions with a strong focus on quality, stability and maintainability, including as the number of systems deployed in the field grows.
• Share your expertise and support colleagues with technical challenges related to computer vision, embedded systems and database architecture.
• Maintain an end-to-end overview of the system, set the technical direction and clearly communicate this to the team.

You are an experienced Software Engineer who enjoys working close to both the technology and the end product. You combine strong software engineering expertise with practical experience in computer vision and embedded systems. You take ownership of what you build and enjoy working with colleagues to make a young product increasingly mature, reliable and scalable.

In addition, you bring:

• Extensive hands-on experience in software engineering for embedded systems and practical experience with computer vision. Experience with Linux, Docker, C++ and ROS is preferred.
• Experience integrating computer vision software with hardware and optimizing software within hardware constraints.
• The ability to translate prototypes into reliable and maintainable production software.
• Experience with Linux, C++, Python, ONNX, PyTorch, GitLab and CI/CD, Docker, SQL and ROS2.

Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You help make the agricultural sector future-proof. We make sure you have the space, resources, and support you need to grow and do your best work.

• An international environment where collaboration, initiative, and diverse perspectives are valued
• A culture that encourages learning, experimentation, and ownership of ideas.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• A full-time salary scale between 5800 and 8300 euro, where we like to see room for growth.
• Moreover, we love to celebrate. Whether it's an anniversary or our Christmas party, at Lely, we know how to celebrate! For a feel of the atmosphere, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WA3e0WHbxE
• Control over your own development, with access to a wide range of courses through the Lely Academy
• Daily access to excellent sports facilities on the Lely Campus: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, basketball and volleyball courts, table tennis, and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Fresh coffee and tea from our own barista (with milk from our farm) and a healthy, affordable company restaurant

Work-life balance

• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site (between 06:00 and 20:00).
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Moreover, we love to celebrate. Whether it's an anniversary or our Christmas party, at Lely, we know how to celebrate! For a feel of the atmosphere, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WA3e0WHbxE

We are also proud that our efforts and vision have been rewarded by winning the Rotterdam Entrepreneur Award 2025!

Recruitment & Selection Agencies

We appreciate your interest, but we recruit all candidates directly. All unsolicited profiles submitted for Lely vacancies will be treated as direct applications.