Solutions Architect 3 / AI at Caterpillar
Chicago, TX
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Jul 1, 2026
Chicago, TX
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A contract architecture role focused on AI-driven projects, responsible for designing and owning end-to-end solutions for large-scale distributed systems — from concept through production. The work centers on defining AI reference architectures (including RAG pipelines, agentic frameworks, and LLM integration), setting enterprise standards, and collaborating daily with business stakeholders and engineering teams. Best suited to an experienced architect with hands-on AI, cloud-native, and distributed systems background.
Senior level · 5+ years · Remote · Bachelor's required · Contract
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 2,750 people nationally plausibly meet what this posting asks for (computer occupations, all other). range 1,150–4,100
Applicant volume Light — Few people clear these requirements, so an application that does clear them gets looked at. Worth applying to even if you miss a nice-to-have.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $119,144 (middle half $81,115–$160,963).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
The posting is titled 'Solutions Architect 3' but the body frames the role as 'Principal Digital Architect'; the title-level signal ('3') maps to Senior rather than Principal — the scope is large but there is no evidence of org-wide, cross-enterprise authority beyond a single platform domain.
This is a 12+ month contract engagement, not a permanent hire.
No compensation figures were provided in the posting.
All skills appear under a 'Consideration for top candidates' or 'AI Related Skills' section — none are placed under a hard-gate 'Required' heading (the 'Required Technical Skills' section lists only soft/conceptual capabilities, not named technologies). All named technologies are therefore marked as preferred.
The 'Required Technical Skills' section lists architectural thinking, technical leadership, communication, requirements analysis, and platform/application architecture — these are competencies and soft skills, not named technologies, so they are omitted from the skills list per extraction rules.
SOC 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used because 'Solutions/Enterprise Architect' is a recognized role that does not map cleanly to Software Developers (15-1252) — the primary day-to-day work is architecture definition, standards governance, and cross-team technical guidance rather than hands-on software development. 15-1252 is noted as a plausible runner-up given the hands-on coding expectations.
The caller has declared this fully remote; no metro is inferred despite the posting's preference for Chicago, IL or Peoria, IL candidates.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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