{"id":4025721,"url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-lead-robotics-engineer-2","title":"Lead Robotics Engineer","company":{"id":176554,"name":"Caterpillar","domain":"caterpillar.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/caterpillar","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":96,"open_postings":156,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.135,"repost_share":0.026,"time_to_fill_p50_days":31,"computed_at":"2026-11-10T06:52:35Z"}},"role":"Robotics","role_family":"Robotics","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":162540,"max":264120,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":264120},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":true,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"CUDA","optional":false},{"name":"Imitation Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"ONNX","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"ROS","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false},{"name":"Sim-to-Real","optional":false},{"name":"Synthetic Data","optional":false},{"name":"TensorRT","optional":false},{"name":"Vision-Language-Action","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T16:47:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-10","last_verified_at":"2026-11-10T16:47:18Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"Career Area:\nTechnology, Digital and DataJob Description:\nYour Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.\nWhen 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.\nHelp Build the Future of Caterpillar\nAt Caterpillar, technology always has a purpose, which is to solve our customers’ toughest challenges. Through Cat Technology, we are solving problems by building the intelligence layer that connects machines, data, and people to make jobsites safer, more productive, and more sustainable. By combining deep domain expertise in physical systems with software, connectivity, autonomy, and AI, we deliver solutions that work in the real world-on real jobsites, at global scale.\nYou’ll build and deploy against one of the most unique data foundations-over 1.6 million connected assets generating real-world data daily. These data and platform capabilities are enabling the development of AI models, edge computing architectures, and software systems that scale across fleets, products, and industries. The result will be a new generation of machines that continuously learn, improve, and deliver performance at scale.\nBe Part of What’s Next in Autonomous Construction Sites\nConstruction autonomy is one of the most complex challenges in applied AI, and at Caterpillar, advancements in physical AI, simulation, sensing, and edge computing are turning things that once felt impossible-intelligent machines operating in dynamic jobsites-into reality.\nOur connected ecosystem brings together massive volumes of high-quality data to create a foundation where engineers like you can build and deploy against.\nIf this work motivates you, we invite you to join our team. In these roles, you’ll work at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds. You’ll help design and deliver intelligent systems that enable machines to perceive their environment, make informed decisions, and support safer, more productive operations.\nApply today to build the new era of construction autonomy at Caterpillar.\nJob Summary\nAs a Lead Robotics Engineer, you will help define, develop, and bring to production the technologies that enable autonomous and semi-autonomous machines to perceive, understand, plan, and safely interact with the world around them. This is a highly hands-on technical leadership role spanning robotics, autonomy, perception, machine learning, and real-world machine integration. You will take complex and often ambiguous customer and machine problems, translate them into well-defined technical problems, evaluate classical robotics and modern learning-based approaches, rapidly prototype solutions, and lead those solutions through integration, validation, and production deployment. You will provide technical leadership across robotics systems including perception, sensor fusion, localization and mapping, planning, controls, machine integration, simulation, and intelligent autonomous behaviors. You will work closely with senior technology leaders and engineers across multiple disciplines to define system architectures, establish technical direction, and influence current and future Caterpillar robotics technologies. As a technical leader, you will lead design reviews, mentor engineers, establish engineering best practices, and help teams make sound architectural and technical trade-offs. You are expected to remain deeply engaged in implementation, integration, debugging, and testing on real machines.\nWhat You Will Have\nBachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.\n6+ years of industry experience developing robotics, autonomous systems, perception, machine learning, or related technologies.\nDemonstrated experience taking complex robotics or autonomy capabilities from concept and prototype through system integration and real-world deployment.\nDeep technical expertise in one or more areas of robotics, such as perception, sensor fusion, localization and mapping, planning, controls, machine learning, or autonomous systems.\nBroad understanding of robotics system architecture and the interactions between perception, planning, controls, compute, sensors, and machine interfaces.\nExperience evaluating problems and determining when classical robotics, optimization, machine learning, or hybrid approaches are most appropriate.\nStrong proficiency in C++ and Python, with excellent software engineering, debugging, profiling, and system-level troubleshooting skills.\nExperience developing real-time or resource-constrained robotics software.\nExperience with sensors commonly used in robotic systems, including cameras, LiDAR, radar, GNSS, and IMUs.\nExperience developing and integrating real-time sensor fusion systems.\nExperience with robotics frameworks and middleware such as ROS or ROS 2.\nExperience with GPU-accelerated or embedded computing platforms.\nStrong foundation in 3D geometry, linear algebra, probability, estimation, and robotics fundamentals.\nExperience defining metrics, test methodologies, and validation approaches for complex algorithms and robotic systems.\nAbility to survey technical literature, evaluate emerging technologies, and translate promising research into robust production implementations.\nDemonstrated ability to provide technical leadership, lead design discussions, and mentor other engineers.\nTop Candidates Will Also Have\nMaster’s or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.\nExperience with NVIDIA robotics and embedded computing platforms, including Jetson, CUDA, TensorRT, ONNX, or related acceleration technologies.\nProduction experience with autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, industrial robotics, construction equipment, mining equipment, or other large robotic machines.\nExperience with modern learning-based robotics approaches, including transformer-based perception, vision-language models, vision-language-action models, imitation learning, or robotics foundation models.\nExperience developing datasets, training pipelines, evaluation methodologies, and closed-loop validation for learned robotics systems.\nExperience with simulation, synthetic data, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or sim-to-real development.\nExperience architecting complex robotics systems across perception, planning, controls, compute, sensors, and machine interfaces.\nExperience establishing technical direction and leading multidisciplinary engineering teams through delivery of complex robotic systems.\nExperience deploying, diagnosing, and supporting robotic systems in real-world customer or field environments.\nExperience with safety-critical or high-reliability autonomous systems.\nOff-highway machine application knowledge or experience.\nStrong understanding of production software architecture, portability, performance optimization, and maintainability.\nPublications, patents, or demonstrated technical contributions in robotics, autonomous systems, computer vision, or machine learning are a plus.\nAdditional Information\nThe location for this position is San Francisco, CA.\nDomestic relocation assistance is available for this position.\nThis position may require up to 10% travel.\nSponsorship is NOT available for this position.\nSummary Pay Range:\n$162,540.00 - $264,120.00Compensation and benefits offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, job level, market location, job-relatedknowledge, skills, individual performance and experience. Please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Caterpillar.\nBenefits:\nSubject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits.\nMedical, dental, and vision benefits*\n\nPaid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)*\n\n401(k) savings plans*\n\nHealth Savings Account (HSA)*\n\nFlexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)*\n\nHealth Lifestyle Programs*\n\nEmployee Assistance Program*\n\nVoluntary Benefits and Employee Discounts*\n\nCareer Development*\n\nIncentive bonus*\n\nDisability benefits\n\nLife Insurance\n\nParental leave\n\nAdoption benefits\n\nTuition Reimbursement\n\n* These benefits also apply to part-time employees\nPosting Dates:\nAny offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.\nCaterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply.\nNot ready to apply? 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