Principal Software Engineer - Robotics & Physical AI Simulation
Caterpillar3 days ago
Base Salary
$148k - $240k/yr
Responsibilities
- Define technical architecture and roadmaps for robotics and Physical AI simulation capabilities.
- Build closed-loop simulation environments for autonomous and semi-autonomous machines.
- Lead Software-in-the-Loop, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and Vehicle-in-the-Loop strategies.
- Integrate ROS 2, autonomy software, machine controls, sensors, and simulation platforms.
- Develop camera, LiDAR, radar, GNSS, IMU, and machine-sensor simulation capabilities.
- Lead scenario generation, replay, regression testing, robot learning, and policy evaluation.
- Establish simulation-to-real correlation, fidelity, timing, determinism, and acceptance criteria.
- Scale parallel robotics simulation, reinforcement learning, and synthetic-data workloads on GPU infrastructure.
- Own a major technical capability across multiple teams, lead architecture reviews and technical investigations, and establish engineering standards.
- Mentor engineers and support technical hiring and onboarding while partnering across simulation, robotics, autonomy, controls, AI, data, cloud, product, and customer-facing organizations.
Requirements
- Advanced software engineering experience with 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.
- Deep hands-on experience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for robotics simulation, learning, training, testing, and validation.
- Expertise with NVIDIA Newton or comparable GPU-accelerated physics engines, including rigid-body dynamics, contacts, friction, terrain interaction, vehicles, and robotic manipulation.
- Experience with NVIDIA Omniverse, OpenUSD, ROS 2, Python, C++, and NVIDIA Replicator.
- Experience with NVIDIA Cosmos or comparable world foundation models for Physical AI and sim-to-real workflows.
- Knowledge of perception, localization, planning, control, reinforcement learning, and autonomous-machine systems.
- Experience with SIL, HIL, VIL, real-time systems, coordinate frames, synchronization, and deterministic execution.
- Experience using CUDA, Docker, Kubernetes, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, and CoreWeave or comparable GPU cloud platforms.
- Seven or more years of software development experience in robotics, autonomy, controls, or simulation is preferred.
- Preferred experience includes heavy equipment, off-road autonomy, autonomous vehicles, industrial robotics, closed-loop regression environments, sim-to-real correlation, and large-scale parallel simulation or robot-learning workloads.
- Strong communication, mentoring, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills, including experience with AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, or Cursor.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits, subject to eligibility.
- Paid time off including vacation, holidays, and volunteer time.
- 401(k) savings plans, Health Savings Account, and Flexible Spending Accounts.
- Health Lifestyle Programs, Employee Assistance Program, voluntary benefits, and employee discounts.
- Career development, incentive bonus, disability benefits, life insurance, parental leave, adoption benefits, and tuition reimbursement.
- Position is based in Irving, TX, and domestic relocation assistance is available.
- Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
About Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc. designs, manufactures, and services construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives for infrastructure, resource, and energy customers. The public company, founded in 1925 and headquartered in Irving, Texas, sells primarily through an independent worldwide dealer network and provides equipment financing. It operates through Construction Industries, Resource Industries, and Energy & Transportation segments, with shares traded on the NYSE and Euronext Paris.