{"id":3340555,"url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-dataset-and-annotation-quality-physical-ai-autonomy-data-platform","title":"Principal Software Engineer – Dataset and Annotation Quality - Physical AI, Autonomy & Data Platform","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":96,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.167,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":32,"computed_at":"2026-11-03T05:54:40Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","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":["Irving, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":159120,"max":258570,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":258570},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false},{"name":"Anomaly Detection","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"GCP","optional":false},{"name":"Human-in-the-Loop","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Scrum","optional":false},{"name":"World Models","optional":false},{"name":"CVAT","optional":true},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-27T15:18:13Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-27","last_verified_at":"2026-11-03T10:48:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"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:\nWe are seeking a highly experienced Principal Software Engineer to define and lead the system design of annotation and dataset quality systems that enable machine learning and AI for physical systems for autonomy.\nThis role is responsible for designing the end-to-end system design for how raw sensor data is transformed into high-quality labeled datasets, ensuring that training data is accurate, consistent, and aligned to model needs.\nThe Principal Software Engineer will act as the technical authority for annotation and dataset quality, defining system design, standards, and engineering patterns that annotation and dataset quality engineering teams will implement and scale.\nThis is a hands-on technical role, focused on solving complex challenges such as labeling consistency, ontology design, quality validation, human-in-the-loop workflows, and continuous dataset improvement.\nSuccess in this role requires expertise in data-centric AI, annotation systems, and quality engineering, along with the ability to operate in ambiguous environments where requirements evolve based on model performance and real-world behavior.\nWhat You Will Do:\nData Quality Architecture & Standards\nDefine and establish data quality frameworks, including validation rules, scoring models, and acceptance criteria.\nDesign systems for label validation, consistency checking, and anomaly detection at scale.\nDefine metrics that matter (e.g., consistency, agreement, completeness, fitness for model use).\nEstablish standards for dataset readiness and production acceptance for ML systems.\nDesign approaches for continuous data quality monitoring and improvement.\nEstablish standards for auditability and dataset governance.\nQuality Feedback Loops (Data-Centric AI)\nDefine how model performance feeds back into annotation prioritization and strategy.\nDesign systems for active learning, error mining, and targeted data improvement.\nEstablish mechanisms to continuously improve datasets based on real-world model behavior.\nTechnical Leadership & Influence\nProvide design direction to annotation and dataset quality engineering teams.\nReview and guide detailed designs to ensure alignment with system-wide architecture.\nPartner with ML, autonomy, and product teams to ensure data quality drives system performance.\nAct as the technical authority for annotation and dataset quality across the organization.\nSoftware Engineering Excellence\nLead development efforts using Python and/or Java in enterprise-scale environments.\nChampion SDLC discipline including CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure as code, code quality, release management, and operational maturity.\nEstablish engineering practices supporting reliability, observability, maintainability, and platform stability.\nParticipate in hands-on development, prototyping, troubleshooting, and performance tuning of critical platform components.\nDrive modernization initiatives and continuous improvement of engineering processes and platform capabilities.\nPromote iterative engineering practices that balance rapid innovation with production-grade engineering discipline.\nAgile & Cross-Team Collaboration\nWork closely with Product Management, Data Engineering, Annotation Engineering, Platform Engineering, and DevOps teams.\nTranslate business and platform objectives into actionable technical roadmaps for scrum teams.\nProvide technical leadership across multiple agile teams and ensure alignment to architectural strategy.\nFacilitate technical design reviews, sprint planning, backlog refinement, dependency management, and engineering governance activities.\nInfluence engineering culture by promoting collaboration, accountability, adaptability, and engineering rigor.\nWhat You Will Have:\nDecision Making and Critical Thinking: Extensive knowledge of the decision-making process and associated tools and techniques; ability to accurately analyze situations and reach productive decisions based on informed judgment.\nEffective Communications: Superior understanding of effective communication concepts, tools and techniques; ability to effectively transmit, receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs through the application of appropriate communication behaviors.\nSoftware Development: Expert knowledge of software development tools and activities; ability to produce software products or systems in line with product requirements.\nSoftware Development Life Cycle: Expert knowledge of software development life cycle; ability to use a structured methodology for delivering and managing new or enhanced software products to the marketplace.\nSoftware Integration Engineering: Extensive knowledge of software integration processes and functions; ability to design, develop and maintain interfaces and linkage to alternative platforms and software packages.\nSoftware Product Design/Architecture: Extensive knowledge of software product design; ability to convert business requirements into the software product design.\nSoftware Product Technical Knowledge: Extensive knowledge of technical aspects of a software products; ability to design, configure and integrate technical aspects of software products.\nSoftware Product Testing: Extensive knowledge of software product testing; ability to design, plan, and execute testing strategies and tactics to ensure software product quality and adherence to stated requirements.\nTop Candidates Will Have:\nBachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.\n10+ years of software engineering experience with significant experience in principal, staff, or lead-level technical leadership roles.\nExpert-level proficiency in Python and/or Java.\nExpertise in computer vision, sensor-based systems, or ML-driven products.\nStrong experience designing annotation platforms, labeling systems, or data quality frameworks\nStrong understanding of data-centric AI and training data lifecycle management.\nExperience defining label ontologies, annotation guidelines, and quality standards.\nExperience building or scaling human-in-the-loop systems.\nStrong understanding of data quality metrics and their impact on model performance.\nExperience connecting model failures back to data issues and driving improvements.\nProven ability to lead architectural direction across multiple teams.\nDeep expertise in system design, distributed systems, and large-scale cloud-native architectures.\nStrong experience designing and implementing streaming and batch data processing systems at enterprise scale.\nHands-on experience with AWS cloud services and architecture patterns; experience with Azure or GCP also valued.\nExperience leading technical strategy across multiple engineering teams in agile environments.\nDemonstrated success operating effectively in highly ambiguous or rapidly evolving technical environments.\nStrong comfort level with experimentation, prototyping, and iterative architecture refinement.\nAbility to make sound technical decisions with incomplete information and evolving constraints.\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience supporting AI/ML, autonomous systems, computer vision, robotics, or advanced analytics platforms.\nExperience with multimodal data (LiDAR + image + telemetry) annotation strategies.\nFamiliarity with annotation tools or platforms (CVAT, Labelbox, SuperAnnotate, or similar).\nExperience with auto-labeling, active learning, or hybrid annotation systems.\nExperience leading or influencing annotation operations at scale (internal or vendor-based).\nADDITIONAL DETAILS\nThis position requires the candidate to be based in Irving, TX (Dallas)\nDomestic relocation assistance is available for this position.\nVisa sponsorship is available for this position\nSummary Pay Range:\n$159,120.00 - $258,570.00Compensation 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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