Principal Software Engineer - Digital Twin and Simulation Platform

Caterpillar Inc.•Irving, TX

1d•$147,760 - $240,110•Onsite

About The Position

Caterpillar is hiring a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture and development of its next-generation digital twin and simulation software stack. The platform connects machine models, environments, physics, operational data, mapping, rendering, and robotics software through reusable, interoperable services. Construction autonomy and Physical AI use cases require trusted digital twins, high-fidelity simulation, scalable GPU computing, intelligent automation, and rigorous validation. This is a hands-on technical leadership role responsible for architecture, critical implementation, engineering standards, alignment across teams, and mentoring. The Principal Engineer owns a major technical capability across multiple teams and programs, translates ambiguous business and engineering problems into scalable architectures and production software, leads technical reviews and decisions, and balances research and prototyping with secure, maintainable delivery. The role partners with simulation, robotics, autonomy, controls, AI, data, cloud, product, and customer-facing organizations. The position requires the candidate to be based in Irving, Texas (Dallas). Domestic relocation assistance and visa sponsorship are available. The listed summary pay range is $147,760 to $240,110. Compensation may vary based on factors including job level, location, knowledge, skills, performance, and experience.

Requirements

Advanced software engineering experience using Python and one or more of C++, C#, Java, Go, or Node.js.
Experience with APIs, distributed systems, containers, automated testing, CI/CD, source control, and observability.
Experience with cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures, including Docker and Kubernetes.
Demonstrated ability to lead architecture and technical delivery across multiple teams.
Strong communication, mentoring, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, or Cursor.
Expertise with NVIDIA Omniverse, Omniverse Kit SDK, OpenUSD, RTX rendering, and SimReady asset concepts.
Experience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and integration of robotics simulation into digital twin environments.
Experience with NVIDIA Newton or comparable GPU-accelerated physics engines for terrain, contact, rigid-body, and machine interaction modeling.
Experience with Unreal Engine, Unity, or equivalent real-time 3D platforms.
Experience with GIS and mapping technologies such as Cesium, Mapbox, OpenLayers, terrain meshes, and coordinate reference systems.
Strong API and backend architecture experience, including REST, GraphQL, event-driven interfaces, SQL, NoSQL, and object storage.
Experience with modern web technologies such as TypeScript, React, Next.js, Angular, HTML, and CSS.
Experience deploying GPU simulation and rendering workloads using CoreWeave, Kubernetes, Docker, and NVIDIA Container Toolkit.

Nice To Haves

Seven or more years of hands-on backend software development and five or more years of frontend or visualization development.
Experience defining simulation architecture across multiple products or engineering teams.
Experience connecting simulation systems with machine, robotics, autonomy, or operational data.
Experience with automated map-to-OpenUSD or site-to-simulation pipelines.
Preferred technology stack: OpenUSD, NVIDIA Omniverse, Omniverse Kit, Isaac Sim, Newton, RTX, CUDA, Cesium, Python, C++, TypeScript, Docker, Kubernetes, and CoreWeave.

Responsibilities

Define the end-to-end digital twin and simulation reference architecture.
Build reusable software for machines, terrain, sites, sensors, behaviors, scenarios, and visualization.
Lead OpenUSD-based asset and scene pipelines, including layers, references, payloads, variants, schemas, materials, and metadata.
Develop NVIDIA Omniverse Kit extensions and integrate CAD, GIS, terrain, machine, sensor, and operational data.
Establish APIs and data contracts across simulation, robotics, AI, controls, and enterprise platforms.
Lead rendering, scene management, mapping, and physically based visualization capabilities.
Define standards for fidelity, determinism, performance, interoperability, model versioning, and reuse.
Enable containerized simulation workloads across local, on-premises, and CoreWeave GPU environments.
Own a major technical capability across multiple teams and programs.
Lead architecture reviews, technical investigations, design decisions, and engineering standards.
Mentor senior and developing engineers and support technical hiring and onboarding.
Partner across simulation, robotics, autonomy, controls, AI, data, cloud, product, and customer-facing organizations.
Establish a clear reference architecture and technical roadmap for the capability area.
Deliver reusable platform components and measurable engineering outcomes within the first 12 months.
Improve quality, automation, scalability, and cross-team adoption while reducing duplicated solutions.
Develop technical depth across the broader engineering organization through mentoring and standards.