{"id":3906844,"url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform","title":"Principal Software Engineer - Digital Twin and Simulation 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":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":"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":147760,"max":240110,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":240110},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":7,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":true,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Angular","optional":false},{"name":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Cesium","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Claude","optional":false},{"name":"Copilot","optional":false},{"name":"CoreWeave","optional":false},{"name":"Cursor","optional":false},{"name":"Digital Twin","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"Go","optional":false},{"name":"GraphQL","optional":false},{"name":"Isaac Sim","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"Next.js","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"NVIDIA Omniverse","optional":false},{"name":"OpenLayers","optional":false},{"name":"Physical AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"React.js","optional":false},{"name":"Rest API","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"Unity","optional":false},{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false},{"name":"CUDA","optional":true},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-06","last_verified_at":"2026-11-10T10:38:41Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":4,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":4},"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.\nSummary\nAt 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.\nThis Principal Engineer role is a hands-on technical leadership position responsible for architecture, critical implementation, engineering standards, cross-team alignment, and mentoring.\nRole Purpose\nLead the architecture and development of the next-generation digital twin and simulation software stack, connecting machine models, environments, physics, operational data, mapping, rendering, and robotics software through reusable, interoperable platform services.\nWhat You Will Do\nDefine the end-to-end digital twin and simulation reference architecture.\nBuild reusable software for machines, terrain, sites, sensors, behaviors, scenarios, and visualization.\nLead OpenUSD-based asset and scene pipelines, including layers, references, payloads, variants, schemas, materials, and metadata.\nDevelop NVIDIA Omniverse Kit extensions and integrate CAD, GIS, terrain, machine, sensor, and operational data.\nEstablish APIs and data contracts across simulation, robotics, AI, controls, and enterprise platforms.\nLead rendering, scene management, mapping, and physically based visualization capabilities.\nDefine standards for fidelity, determinism, performance, interoperability, model versioning, and reuse.\nEnable containerized simulation workloads across local, on-premises, and CoreWeave GPU environments.\nPrincipal-Level Leadership Expectations\nOwn a major technical capability across multiple teams and programs.\nTranslate ambiguous business and engineering problems into scalable architectures and production software.\nLead architecture reviews, technical investigations, design decisions, and engineering standards.\nBalance research and prototyping with secure, maintainable, production-ready delivery.\nMentor senior and developing engineers and support technical hiring and onboarding.\nPartner across simulation, robotics, autonomy, controls, AI, data, cloud, product, and customer-facing organizations.\n\nRequired Skills and Experience\nAdvanced software engineering experience using Python and one or more of C++, C#, Java, Go, or Node.js.\nExperience with APIs, distributed systems, containers, automated testing, CI/CD, source control, and observability.\nExperience with cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures, including Docker and Kubernetes.\nDemonstrated ability to lead architecture and technical delivery across multiple teams.\nStrong communication, mentoring, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills.\nExperience using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, or Cursor.\nExpertise with NVIDIA Omniverse, Omniverse Kit SDK, OpenUSD, RTX rendering, and SimReady asset concepts.\nExperience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and integration of robotics simulation into digital twin environments.\nExperience with NVIDIA Newton or comparable GPU-accelerated physics engines for terrain, contact, rigid-body, and machine interaction modeling.\nExperience with Unreal Engine, Unity, or equivalent real-time 3D platforms.\nExperience with GIS and mapping technologies such as Cesium, Mapbox, OpenLayers, terrain meshes, and coordinate reference systems.\nStrong API and backend architecture experience, including REST, GraphQL, event-driven interfaces, SQL, NoSQL, and object storage.\nExperience with modern web technologies such as TypeScript, React, Next.js, Angular, HTML, and CSS.\nExperience deploying GPU simulation and rendering workloads using CoreWeave, Kubernetes, Docker, and NVIDIA Container Toolkit.\nTop Candidate / Preferred Experience\nSeven or more years of hands-on backend software development and five or more years of frontend or visualization development.\nExperience defining simulation architecture across multiple products or engineering teams.\nExperience connecting simulation systems with machine, robotics, autonomy, or operational data.\nExperience with automated map-to-OpenUSD or site-to-simulation pipelines.\nPreferred Technology Stack\nOpenUSD | NVIDIA Omniverse | Omniverse Kit | Isaac Sim | Newton | RTX | CUDA | Cesium | Python | C++ | TypeScript | Docker | Kubernetes | CoreWeave\nSuccess Measures\nEstablish a clear reference architecture and technical roadmap for the capability area.\nDeliver reusable platform components and measurable engineering outcomes within the first 12 months.\nImprove quality, automation, scalability, and cross-team adoption while reducing duplicated solutions.\nDevelop technical depth across the broader engineering organization through mentoring and standards.\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$147,760.00 - $240,110.00Compensation 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? Join our Talent Community.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6655,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":7,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Parental leave","Relocation assistance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Industrial IoT (IIoT)","Industrial Machinery"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-07T03:45:59Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":48,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 343 · green card filings: 92","filings_12m":343,"filings_prev_12m":364,"green_card_filings_12m":92,"median_offered_wage_usd":114569,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-10T11:34:35+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)","Alion: sponsorship offered in the employer's own job adverts (24 months)"],"filings_for_role_12m":152}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":4,"expected_fill_days":31,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-10T06:52:35Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":240110,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-10T15:23:08Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":1488,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-11T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":176554},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=176554"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-principal-software-engineer-digital-twin-and-simulation-platform"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3906844}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"caterpillar.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3906844},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}