Principal Software Engineer - Robotics & Physical AI Simulation

About the role

Career Area: Technology, Digital and Data

About the role

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do - but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here - we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Summary

At Caterpillar, technology has a purpose: to solve our customers' toughest challenges. Construction autonomy and Physical AI require trusted digital twins, high-fidelity simulation, scalable GPU computing, intelligent automation, and rigorous validation.

This Principal Engineer role is a hands-on technical leadership position responsible for architecture, critical implementation, engineering standards, cross-team alignment, and mentoring.

Role Purpose

Lead closed-loop simulation for robotics, autonomy, perception, planning, controls, and machine systems, bridging virtual environments with production robotics software and physical-machine testing.

What You Will Do

• Define the technical architecture for robotics and Physical AI simulation.
• Build closed-loop environments for autonomous and semi-autonomous machines.
• Lead Software-in-the-Loop, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and Vehicle-in-the-Loop strategies.
• Integrate ROS 2, autonomy software, machine controls, sensors, and simulation platforms.
• Develop camera, LiDAR, radar, GNSS, IMU, and machine-sensor simulation capabilities.
• Lead scenario generation, replay, regression testing, robot learning, and policy evaluation.
• Establish simulation-to-real correlation, fidelity, timing, determinism, and acceptance criteria.
• Scale parallel robotics simulation, reinforcement learning, and synthetic-data workloads on CoreWeave GPU infrastructure.

Principal-Level Leadership Expectations

• Own a major technical capability across multiple teams and programs.
• Translate ambiguous business and engineering problems into scalable architectures and production software.
• Lead architecture reviews, technical investigations, design decisions, and engineering standards.
• Balance research and prototyping with secure, maintainable, production-ready delivery.
• Mentor senior and developing engineers and support technical hiring and onboarding.
• Partner across simulation, robotics, autonomy, controls, AI, data, cloud, product, and customer-facing organizations.

Required Skills and Experience

• Advanced software engineering experience using Python and one or more of C++, C#, Java, Go, or Node.js.
• Experience with APIs, distributed systems, containers, automated testing, CI/CD, source control, and observability.
• Experience with cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures, including Docker and Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architecture and technical delivery across multiple teams.
• Strong communication, mentoring, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, or Cursor.
• Deep hands-on experience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for robotics simulation, learning, training, testing, and validation.
• Expertise with NVIDIA Newton or comparable GPU-accelerated physics engines, including rigid-body dynamics, contacts, friction, terrain interaction, vehicles, and robotic manipulation.
• Experience with NVIDIA Omniverse, OpenUSD, ROS 2, Python, and C++.
• Experience with NVIDIA Replicator for synthetic data and ground-truth generation.
• Experience with NVIDIA Cosmos or comparable world foundation models for Physical AI and sim-to-real workflows.
• Knowledge of perception, localization, planning, control, reinforcement learning, and autonomous-machine systems.
• Experience with SIL, HIL, VIL, real-time systems, coordinate frames, synchronization, and deterministic execution.
• Experience using CUDA, Docker, Kubernetes, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, and CoreWeave or comparable GPU cloud platforms.

Top Candidate / Preferred Experience

• Seven or more years of software development in robotics, autonomy, controls, or simulation.
• Experience with heavy equipment, off-road autonomy, autonomous vehicles, or industrial robotics.
• Experience building automated closed-loop regression environments and measurable sim-to-real correlation.
• Experience optimizing large-scale parallel simulation and robot-learning workloads.

Preferred Technology Stack

Nvidia

Newton | Isaac Sim | Isaac Lab | Omniverse | OpenUSD | ROS 2 | Replicator | Cosmos | CUDA | Python | C++ | Docker | Kubernetes | CoreWeave

Success Measures

• Establish a clear reference architecture and technical roadmap for the capability area.
• Deliver reusable platform components and measurable engineering outcomes within the first 12 months.
• Improve quality, automation, scalability, and cross-team adoption while reducing duplicated solutions.
• Develop technical depth across the broader engineering organization through mentoring and standards.

Additional Details

• This position requires the candidate to be based in Irving, TX (Dallas)
• Domestic relocation assistance is available for this position.
• Visa sponsorship is available for this position

Summary Pay Range

$147,760.00 - $240,110.00

Compensation and benefits offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, job level, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, individual performance and experience. Please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Caterpillar.

Benefits

Subject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits*
• Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)*
• 401(k) savings plans*
• Health Savings Account (HSA)*
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)*
• Health Lifestyle Programs*
• Employee Assistance Program*
• Voluntary Benefits and Employee Discounts*
• Career Development*
• Incentive bonus*
• Disability benefits
• Life Insurance
• Parental leave
• Adoption benefits
• Tuition Reimbursement
• These benefits also apply to part-time employees

Posting Dates

• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.
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