Principal Software Engineer (Autonomy Services)
Cat · Irving, TX
$147,760–$240,110from the description
Jul 27, 2026
Irving, TX
Jul 28, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Principal Software Engineer role at Caterpillar focused on defining and driving backend architecture for cloud-native microservices, APIs, and integration platforms supporting Physical AI, digital twin, and simulation systems. The position involves setting engineering standards, leading complex system design across distributed services, and mentoring engineers — suited to a senior technical leader with deep backend and cloud-native experience.
Staff level · Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Staff.
Long application — this platform typically asks you to create an account and re-enter your work history.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
Why we read it this way (6)
Java and Python appear together in the requirements section as the primary backend languages; they are listed as a pair ('Java or Python') so each is captured separately with the other as an alternative.
The 'TOP CANDIDATES WILL HAVE' section is framed as differentiating preferred qualifications rather than hard gates — skills from that section (e.g. autonomy/robotics experience, AI-assisted development workflows) are conceptual rather than named technologies and are therefore not emitted as skills.
The 'Nice to Have' section explicitly flags LangChain/LangGraph, LLM integration, MLOps, and AI agent experience as optional; these are marked preferred accordingly.
The role title is 'Principal Software Engineer' but the scope — setting cross-team architecture standards and mentoring engineers — maps more closely to a Staff-level band than a true org-wide Principal; advertised seniority reflects the title as stated.
The posting states the role requires onsite five days per week in Irving, TX (Dallas metro); remote is not available.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): cloud-native architecture.
Read the full posting
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