{"id":3906845,"url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-robotics-physical-ai-simulation","title":"Principal Software Engineer - Robotics & Physical AI Simulation","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":143,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.133,"repost_share":0.021,"time_to_fill_p50_days":32,"computed_at":"2026-11-09T06:03:00Z"}},"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":["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":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Claude","optional":false},{"name":"Copilot","optional":false},{"name":"CoreWeave","optional":false},{"name":"CUDA","optional":false},{"name":"Cursor","optional":false},{"name":"Digital Twin","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"Isaac Lab","optional":false},{"name":"Isaac Sim","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"NVIDIA Omniverse","optional":false},{"name":"Physical AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"ROS","optional":false},{"name":"Sim-to-Real","optional":false},{"name":"Synthetic Data","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-06","last_verified_at":"2026-11-09T22:30:41Z","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 closed-loop simulation for robotics, autonomy, perception, planning, controls, and machine systems, bridging virtual environments with production robotics software and physical-machine testing.\nWhat You Will Do\nDefine the technical architecture for robotics and Physical AI simulation.\nBuild closed-loop environments for autonomous and semi-autonomous machines.\nLead Software-in-the-Loop, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and Vehicle-in-the-Loop strategies.\nIntegrate ROS 2, autonomy software, machine controls, sensors, and simulation platforms.\nDevelop camera, LiDAR, radar, GNSS, IMU, and machine-sensor simulation capabilities.\nLead scenario generation, replay, regression testing, robot learning, and policy evaluation.\nEstablish simulation-to-real correlation, fidelity, timing, determinism, and acceptance criteria.\nScale parallel robotics simulation, reinforcement learning, and synthetic-data workloads on CoreWeave GPU infrastructure.\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.\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.\nDeep hands-on experience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for robotics simulation, learning, training, testing, and validation.\nExpertise with NVIDIA Newton or comparable GPU-accelerated physics engines, including rigid-body dynamics, contacts, friction, terrain interaction, vehicles, and robotic manipulation.\nExperience with NVIDIA Omniverse, OpenUSD, ROS 2, Python, and C++.\nExperience with NVIDIA Replicator for synthetic data and ground-truth generation.\nExperience with NVIDIA Cosmos or comparable world foundation models for Physical AI and sim-to-real workflows.\nKnowledge of perception, localization, planning, control, reinforcement learning, and autonomous-machine systems.\nExperience with SIL, HIL, VIL, real-time systems, coordinate frames, synchronization, and deterministic execution.\nExperience using CUDA, Docker, Kubernetes, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, and CoreWeave or comparable GPU cloud platforms.\nTop Candidate / Preferred Experience\nSeven or more years of software development in robotics, autonomy, controls, or simulation.\nExperience with heavy equipment, off-road autonomy, autonomous vehicles, or industrial robotics.\nExperience building automated closed-loop regression environments and measurable sim-to-real correlation.\nExperience optimizing large-scale parallel simulation and robot-learning workloads.\nPreferred Technology Stack\nNVIDIA Newton | Isaac Sim | Isaac Lab | Omniverse | OpenUSD | ROS 2 | Replicator | Cosmos | CUDA | Python | C++ | 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":6485,"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 Machinery"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-07T03:45:59Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":44,"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":"2026-11-09T07:32:21+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":207}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":32,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-09T06:03:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":240110,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-robotics-physical-ai-simulation","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-principal-software-engineer-robotics-physical-ai-simulation.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-10T01:53:55Z","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":4409,"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-robotics-physical-ai-simulation"},{"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-robotics-physical-ai-simulation"},{"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-robotics-physical-ai-simulation"},{"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-robotics-physical-ai-simulation\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-principal-software-engineer-robotics-physical-ai-simulation"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3906845}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"caterpillar.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3906845},"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. 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