Senior Manager Robotics Engineering

Caterpillar•Irving, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When 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. Help Build the Future of Caterpillar – At Caterpillar, technology always has a purpose, which is to solve our customers’ toughest challenges. Through Cat Technology, we are solving problems by building the intelligence layer that connects machines, data, and people to make jobsites safer, more productive, and more sustainable. By combining deep domain expertise in physical systems with software, connectivity, autonomy, and AI, we deliver solutions that work in the real world—on real jobsites, at global scale. You’ll build and deploy against one of the most unique data foundations—over 1.6 million connected assets generating real-world data daily. These data and platform capabilities are enabling the development of AI models, edge computing architectures, and software systems that scale across fleets, products, and industries. The result will be a new generation of machines that continuously learn, improve, and deliver performance at scale. Role Definition We are building the autonomy stack that lets large off-road machines operate themselves on real customer sites. As Engineering Manager, you will grow and lead a team of robotics engineers in Dallas, own the hiring bar and the craft standard, and keep delivery moving as we scale. You lead people and stay technically credible — you can go deep with your engineers across robotics, you know what "production-quality" looks like on real hardware, and you keep the team always connected to the needs of the customer.

Requirements

Proven engineering-management experience in robotics, autonomy, autonomous vehicles, or a closely related deep-tech domain.
Strong technical foundation in robotics — credible across the autonomy stack (perception, motion planning, controls, SLAM, AI); you don't need to be the deepest in every area, but you must earn the team's technical respect.
C++ / Python / ROS background; hands-on enough to review designs and unblock hard problems.
Full-lifecycle delivery — has led teams that took products from idea to production, not only research or prototypes.
Builds and grows high-performing teams; owns the hiring bar, mentoring, and career growth.
Comfortable in a fast-moving, small-pod operating model — leads through outcomes, not process overhead.
Excited to get out on site with the team and see their code operate on iron — real machines in the real world, not just in the lab.
Field / real-world robotics or off-road autonomy.
Standing up or scaling a robotics team at a new or growing site.
Experience stewarding a stable talent bench and outcome-focused delivery teams.

Responsibilities

Hire, grow, and lead a team of robotics engineers in Dallas.
Own the hiring bar, technical craft standards, and team health.
Partner with capability stewards and pod leads to staff and deliver against the roadmap.
Stay hands-on enough to guide designs, and unblock the hard technical calls.