{"id":3610333,"url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c","title":"Senior / Lead Software Engineer (Embedded C++)","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":110,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.145,"repost_share":0.018,"time_to_fill_p50_days":32,"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","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":["Christchurch, New Zealand"],"countries":["NZ"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Embedded C","optional":false},{"name":"Windows","optional":false},{"name":"Angular","optional":true},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"Go","optional":true},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-02T13:54:51Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-02","last_verified_at":"2026-11-04T20:36:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":2},"description":"Career Area:\nStrategyJob 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.\nAbout Us:\nAt CTCT (a joint venture between Trimble and Caterpillar), we build the brains behind heavy machinery. As a joint venture between Trimble and Caterpillar, we develop high-precision positioning, guidance, and autonomous machine control systems for earthmoving and paving equipment across the global construction and mining industries.\nUsing technologies such as GPS, optical total stations, lasers, and sonics, our software directly impacts how physical operators and autonomous machines shape the world around us.\nAbout the Opportunity:\nWe are seeking a Senior or Lead Software Engineer with strong product instinct and deep expertise in embedded C++. You care as much about solving real-world problems as you do about the code itself.\nKey Accountabilities and Key Outcomes:\nTechnical Ownership & Architecture\nOwn end-to-end implementation of key product initiatives, collaborating with Technical Stewards to architect robust solutions for complex, high-impact problems.\nContribute to core system decisions and architectural direction, balancing immediate customer value with long-term maintainability, reliability, and code quality.\nProcess & Organisational Leadership\nDrive continuous process improvements, quality standards, and engineering best practices across multi-disciplinary, global cross-site teams.\nInterpret internal and external business challenges to recommend innovative solutions and methods on complex assignments.\nCommunicate complex technical concepts effectively and negotiate cross-functional consensus across various organisational levels.\nEngineering Excellence & Practice\nConduct thorough code reviews and elevate our testing, deployment workflows, and engineering standards across the team.\nLead root-cause investigations for complex production issues, engineering durable fixes rather than quick patches. \nTechnical Leadership & Mentorship\nServe as a domain subject matter expert, guiding project resource requirements and risk assessments while coaching and mentoring junior-to-mid-level engineers.\nCross-Functional Collaboration\nPartner closely with Product, Technical Stewards, Design, and Customer Interface teams to navigate technical trade-offs with full business context. \nWhat You'll Bring:\nEssential Experience\nCore Technical Expertise: 3+ years of recent experience developing embedded C++ applications in Linux or Windows environments for electronic control units or constrained hardware.\nReal-World Engineering: Proven experience working against memory/performance constraints, flaky connectivity, and physical-world sensor/actuator dynamics.\nCommunication Protocols: Hands-on exposure to CAN bus, Ethernet, or related automotive/industrial networking protocols.\nTechnical Leadership: Demonstrated track record of leading technical initiatives, architecting complex engineering solutions, and driving process improvements across cross-site teams.\nProblem-Solving Mindset: A deep curiosity to understand the \"why\" behind system behaviour, with the persistence to solve complex problems at their root.\nDesirable Skills\nQualification: Tertiary qualification in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mechatronics, or equivalent experience. \nExperience with IoT, robotics, or autonomous machine control systems.\nPractical experience integrating mechatronic systems (combining mechanical, electronic, sensor, and embedded software components).\nFamiliarity with Python, Golang, Angular and/or Android development.\nKnowledge of civil engineering or the construction/mining industry.\nActive interest in leveraging modern AI tooling within your everyday software development workflow.\nAbout Your Location:\nBased at Trimble’s NZ headquarters in Christchurch, enjoy free parking, an onsite gym, an active social club, and a great team environment where people love working with leading technology solutions.\nMust have full working rights for New Zealand\nThis position requires working onsite five days a week.Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position.Posting Dates:\nNovember 2, 2026 - November 19, 2026Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply\nNot ready to apply? Join our Talent Community.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4723,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"New Zealand","iso":"NZ","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Industrial Machinery"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-02T13:54:51Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":32,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/caterpillar-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-05T00:11:15Z","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":158,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-06T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"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-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"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-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"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-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c"},{"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-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcaterpillar-senior-lead-software-engineer-embedded-c"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3610333}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"caterpillar.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3610333},"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"}}