Principal Software Engineer - Digital Twin and Simulation Platform

Career Area: Technology, Digital and Data Job Description: 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. Summary At Caterpillar, technology has a purpose: to solve our customers' toughest challenges. Construction autonomy and Physical AI require trusted digital twins, high-fidelity simulation, scalable GPU computing, intelligent automation, and rigorous validation. This Principal Engineer role is a hands-on technical leadership position responsible for architecture, critical implementation, engineering standards, cross-team alignment, and mentoring. Role Purpose Lead the architecture and development of the next-generation digital twin and simulation software stack, connecting machine models, environments, physics, operational data, mapping, rendering, and robotics software through reusable, interoperable platform services. What You Will Do ● 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. Principal-Level Leadership Expectations ● Own a major technical capability across multiple teams and programs. ● Translate ambiguous business and engineering problems into scalable architectures and production software. ● Lead architecture reviews, technical investigations, design decisions, and engineering standards. ● Balance research and prototyping with secure, maintainable, production-ready delivery. ● 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. Required Skills and Experience ● 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. Top Candidate / Preferred Experience ● 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 | CoreWeave Success Measures ● 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. ADDITIONAL DETAILS This position requires the candidate to be based in Irving, TX (Dallas) Domestic relocation assistance is available for this position. Visa sponsorship is available for this position Summary Pay Range: $147,760.00 - $240,110.00 Compensation and benefits offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, job level, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, individual performance and experience. Please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Caterpillar. Benefits: Subject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits. Medical, dental, and vision benefits* Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)* 401(k) savings plans* Health Savings Account (HSA)* Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)* Health Lifestyle Programs* Employee Assistance Program* Voluntary Benefits and Employee Discounts* Career Development* Incentive bonus* Disability benefits Life Insurance Parental leave Adoption benefits Tuition Reimbursement * These benefits also apply to part-time employees Posting Dates: Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen. Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply. Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community .