Lead Software Engineer

Caterpillar Inc.•Peoria, IL

3d•$128,470 - $208,770

About The Position

The Lead Software Engineer in the Emerging Technology group is a hands-on technical leader responsible for designing, building, piloting, and scaling next-generation software solutions that apply emerging technologies to high-value business problems. This role combines deep software engineering expertise with practical innovation, helping translate exploratory concepts into secure, reliable, maintainable, and production-ready capabilities.

Requirements

Knowledge of the decision-making process and associated tools and techniques; ability to accurately analyze situations and reach productive decisions based on informed judgment.
Knowledge of software development tools and activities; ability to produce software products or systems in line with product requirements.
Knowledge of software development life cycle; ability to use a structured methodology for delivering and managing new or enhanced software products to the marketplace.
Knowledge of software integration processes and functions; ability to design, develop and maintain interfaces and linkage to alternative platforms and software packages.
Knowledge of software product design; ability to convert market requirements into the software product design.
Knowledge of technical aspects of a software products; ability to design, configure and integrate technical aspects of software products.
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.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline; equivalent practical experience may be considered.
Progressive professional experience in software engineering, including hands-on development of complex applications, distributed systems, APIs, platforms, or cloud-native services.
Demonstrated ability to lead technical work across the full software development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, architecture, design, coding, testing, deployment.
Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages such as Python, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, Go, or similar languages.
Experience designing scalable, secure, observable, and maintainable software using modern architecture patterns, APIs, automated testing, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.
Working knowledge of cloud platforms, containerization, infrastructure automation, integration patterns, and production support practices.
Ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to engineering, product, architecture, security, and business stakeholders.
Demonstrated analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills in ambiguous or rapidly evolving technical environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience building or integrating AI, machine learning, generative AI, large language model, agentic, retrieval-augmented generation, vector database, or prompt-based solutions.
Experience taking emerging technology concepts from proof of concept through pilot, production hardening, governance review, adoption, and operational support.
Familiarity with responsible AI practices, model evaluation, guardrails, data privacy, cybersecurity, compliance, and enterprise risk management considerations.
Experience with modern cloud services, serverless architectures, Kubernetes, microservices, event-driven architecture, API management, observability platforms, and infrastructure-as-code.
Experience partnering with product, design, data, security, architecture, and business teams to identify high-impact use cases and deliver measurable business outcomes.
Proven ability to mentor engineers, influence technical direction without direct authority, and establish reusable engineering standards, patterns, frameworks, or accelerators.
Advanced degree, cloud certification, AI/ML certification, software architecture certification, or demonstrated contribution to technical communities, open-source projects, patents, publications, or internal innovation initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, development and testing of modern software solutions, prototypes, pilots, and reusable platform capabilities.
Evaluate, prototype, and apply emerging technologies such as generative AI, agentic workflows, retrieval-augmented generation, cloud-native services, APIs, automation, and data-driven application patterns.
Translate business opportunities, product goals, and technical requirements into scalable software designs, solution patterns, technical roadmaps, and implementation plans.
Mentor engineers, provide technical direction, facilitate design reviews, and promote a culture of experimentation, learning, engineering excellence, and responsible technology adoption.
Collaborate with product managers, architects, data scientists, cybersecurity, infrastructure, UX, and business stakeholders to deliver solutions aligned to organizational goals and risk expectations.
Define and implement technical evaluation methods, including proof-of-concept success criteria, model or system performance measures, quality gates, automated testing, monitoring, and production readiness reviews.
Identify technical risks, dependencies, integration needs, security considerations, and operational constraints early in the solution lifecycle and recommend practical mitigation strategies.