Senior Software Engineer - Search Engineering

Caterpillar•Chicago, IL

1d•$112,710 - $183,140

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. Job Description: The Cat® Digital group is the digital and technology arm of Caterpillar Inc., responsible for bringing world class capabilities to our products and services. With over 1.5 million connected assets worldwide, we're focused on using data, advanced analytics, and AI capabilities to help our customers build a better world. Job Summary: As a Senior Software Engineer – Content Search, you play a pivotal role in driving the success of advanced search solutions by actively contributing to their strategic direction and hands-on implementation. Through your technical expertise and collaborative approach, you help build scalable, high-performance search platforms that provide outstanding user experiences and support the continued growth of Caterpillar’s eCommerce initiatives.

Requirements

Experience in Web content / large Content search solutions.
Previous experience with Search products such as OpenSearch, Elastic Search, SOLR, Lucene, Coveo, and LucidWorks Fusion.
Strong expertise in building crawlers, Web information parsing solutions.
Distributed Systems: Proven experience building large-scale, highly available systems.
Programming: Proficiency in Java, Python, or Scala, including source control tools and practices for managing code and changes to it.
Proficiency in software debugging and problem-solving techniques.
Proficiency in AI code generation tools such as Claude Code, ChatGPT, or GitHub Copilot.
Familiarity with DevOps tools and techniques for cloud deployment.
Producing and consuming APIs
Data Technologies: Familiarity with event streaming and cloud platforms.
Machine Learning: Practical experience applying ML to improve search relevance.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or related field.
5+ years of experience in search engineering.
2+ years in a technical leadership role.
Strong understanding of modern search technologies and frameworks.
Working experience with building Low-latency API in AWS using Memory-storage solutions.
Familiarity with A/B testing frameworks for evaluating and improving
Strong knowledge with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.)
Advanced experience with version control / repositories such as GitHub
Experience operating in an Agile / Global team environment
Must demonstrate strong initiative, interpersonal skills, and the ability to communicate effectively.

Responsibilities

Contribute to defining and implementing the long-term technical vision for the search platform, supporting scalability and adaptability as data volumes and query complexity increase.
Participate in technical reviews, share best practices, and collaborate with search engineers to solve technical challenges as part of the team.
Assist in developing advanced features such as NLP, vector search, and personalization to improve relevance and accuracy.
Support the creation of search capabilities with measurable KPIs (e.g., CTR, Query Distribution, Zero Search) and use analytics to help continuously optimize search performance.
Work closely with product managers, data scientists, and engineering teams to align search efforts with business goals.