Senior Simulation Engineer

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. Help Build the Future of Caterpillar – At Caterpillar, technology always has a purpose, which is to solve our customers’ toughest challenges. Through Cat Technology, we are solving problems by building the intelligence layer that connects machines, data, and people to make jobsites safer, more productive, and more sustainable. By combining deep domain expertise in physical systems with software, connectivity, autonomy, and AI, we deliver solutions that work in the real world—on real jobsites, at global scale. Be Part of What’s Next in Autonomous Construction Sites Construction autonomy is one of the most complex challenges in applied AI, and at Caterpillar, advancements in physical AI, simulation, sensing, and edge computing are turning things that once felt impossible—intelligent machines operating in dynamic jobsites—into reality. If this work motivates you, we invite you to join our team. Apply today to build the new era of construction autonomy at Caterpillar.

Definition The Simulation Engineer builds the simulation engine behind Caterpillar’s autonomous construction machines, developing the framework, simulation components orchestration and scalability enablement to support scenario-driven, high-fidelity machine, jobsite, and sensor simulations at scale in NVIDIA Omniverse to evaluate and improve autonomous systems. The engineer will leverage NVIDIA Omniverse, modern C++/Python, and game engine principles to build the platform that will support the integration of robotic behaviors, autonomy systems, and sensor data into immersive visualization platforms.

Cross-Functional Simulation Workflow Development: Work across autonomy, controls, and field engineering teams to develop and validate simulation workflows. Scalable Software Development: Write maintainable, scalable, and well-tested code in Python and C++ with clean, well-documented interfaces. Scenario-Based Simulation Tooling: Create tooling for scenario-based simulation workflows, including scenario authoring, test automation, and validation plans against real-world data. NVIDIA Omniverse Pipeline Development: Work in NVIDIA Omniverse, including USD workflows, Omniverse Kit/Code, PhysX, and Omniverse-based pipeline development.

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related field. 3+ years of Python experience; C++ experience strongly preferred. 2+ years of software development experience in a relevant domain such as simulation, robotics, game engines, distributed systems, or autonomous systems. Experience building multi-threaded and multi-process networked systems that require deterministic behavior and reliable message delivery, including ordering, retries, and error detection. Experience running containerized workloads in cloud environments, including job orchestration, CI integration, and data I/O with object storage such as Docker, AWS Batch, and S3. Capable of writing clear, concise documentation that accurately captures system design.

Exposure to ROS / ROS2 or similar robotics middleware. Familiarity with machine kinematics, vehicle dynamics, or drivetrain modeling. Familiarity with sensors or sensor simulation models such as camera, GPS, LiDAR, RADAR, and IMU. Experience with simulation environments or game engines such as Nvidia Omniverse,