Autonomy Engineering Specialist - Perception

Caterpillar Inc.•Irving, TX

6d•$128,470 - $208,770•Onsite

About The Position

The Autonomy Engineering Specialist - Perception develops autonomous and operator-assisted driving systems for mobile off-road machines. The role designs, implements, and tests perception modules for sensor fusion, object detection, tracking, and classification, while providing technical leadership on the Perception team. The specialist collaborates with other technical leads to integrate solutions into Caterpillar’s software stack and hardware platform. The position leads development of high-quality perception software, works with application teams to collect and analyze customer-experience data from robotic and manned platforms, and participates in iterative machine-learning training cycles. It also documents architecture and software designs, verification plans, test cases, operating procedures, and safety procedures, and supports debugging, testing, maintenance, verification, and validation. This is a full-time, onsite position at Caterpillar’s Irving, Texas office, five days per week, with up to 10% travel. Domestic relocation assistance is available. Visa sponsorship is not available. The stated summary pay range is $128,470 to $208,770.

Requirements

Experience with modular perception machine learning and sensor fusion for autonomous vehicles and robotics.
Hands-on experience with camera images, lidar and 4D radar point clouds, IMU, GNSS, and machine-state data in real perception systems.
Solid understanding of object detection, drivable-area understanding, ground-plane segmentation, object tracking and fusion, and 3D mapping.
Experience participating in the software development life cycle, from requirements and architecture through validation and deployment.
Ability to develop software design documentation, verification plans, and test procedures.
Excellent C++ programming skills and fluency in Python.
Experience developing computer vision, machine-learning, sensor-fusion, object-detection, and tracking modules.
Strong software engineering, debugging, and code-quality practices.
Knowledge of debugging and validation tools for analyzing and resolving perception software issues.
Ability to analyze code, logs, sensor data, and machine-performance data to troubleshoot complex problems.
Experience with verification and validation activities for autonomous machine systems.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with off-road autonomy applications.
Typically 7+ years of experience developing perception and calibration for autonomous vehicles, robotics, or advanced operator-assist systems using lidar, radar, and cameras.
Strong background in computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, sensor fusion, object detection, classification, and tracking.
Demonstrated ability to lead other developers.
Experience developing production-quality software in C++ and Python.
Experience with ROS/AIS, OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Git, CMake, Docker, and GoogleTest.
Experience developing, integrating, or validating complex autonomous systems with a focus on machine safety and productivity.
Experience working in Agile environments using Azure DevOps or Jira and AWS cloud technologies, including EC2, S3, and Batch, for data processing and model development.

Responsibilities

Solve challenging perception problems for mobile off-road machines.
Lead developers in designing and developing high-quality perception software to address customer needs.
Document architecture specifications, software designs, verification plans, test cases, operating procedures, and safety procedures.
Work with application teams to collect and analyze customer-experience data from robotic and manned platforms.
Participate in iterative machine-learning training cycles to meet perception requirements.
Use appropriate tools to debug, test, and maintain perception software.
Assist with verification and validation processes.
Collaborate with engineering teams and technical leads to integrate perception solutions into the software stack and hardware platform and deliver safe, production-quality autonomy solutions.
Participate in Agile software development from requirements and architecture through validation and deployment.
Analyze code, logs, sensor data, and machine performance data to troubleshoot complex problems.