Autonomy Engineering Specialist - Operator Safety Systems

Career Area:EngineeringJob 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.The Operator Safety Systems Senior Developer uses their experience to provide technical contribution in the design, development, integration, and deployment of production software that helps protect operators, personnel, and equipment in heavy equipment environments. Working with a high degree of independence, this role develops robust C++ software for perception-enabled safety features, operator awareness, and related safety-system capabilities used in mining, construction, and other demanding applications.This individual serves as a hands-on technical leader within an operator safety systems team that supports projects such as Collision Mitigation, Camera/Radar/Sensor Integration, Machine Vision and Perception Pipelines, and Embedded Edge Software for Heavy Equipment.

In doing so, this person would be responsible for influencing software architecture, implementation quality, system integration practices, and engineering decisions while mentoring other developers and partnering closely with systems, validation, product, and field teams.What You Will Do:Design, implement, test, and release production-quality C++ software for operator safety systems on heavy equipmentDevelop and integrate software components that support operator awareness, personnel detection, collision mitigation, and safety-oriented machine responsesBuild and maintain camera, sensor, and perception data pipelines for real-time or near-real-time safety applicationsLead software architecture and design trade-off discussions with a focus on reliability, maintainability, latency, diagnosability, and field supportabilityCollaborate with systems engineering, validation, product, and field teams to translate safety-system needs into clear software requirements and implementation plansTroubleshoot complex software and system issues using logs, traces, telemetry, sensor data, profiling tools, and field observationsFacilitate design reviews, code reviews, debugging sessions, and technical discussions across cross-functional engineering teamsCommunicate complex technical concepts clearly to developers, systems engineers, stakeholders, and leadershipMentor engineers and improve team execution through strong development practices, technical guidance, and exampleWhat You Have: Programming: Advanced C++ development experience for production software in embedded, edge, robotics, perception, or safety-oriented systemsInterprets system designs, software requirements, interface definitions, and test expectations for complex safety-system featuresStrong engineering practices, debugging/profiling skills.

Applies structured, maintainable software design practices in systems with real-time, reliability, and field-support constraintsSoftware Product Design/Architecture: Demonstrates experience designing software for complex systems involving sensors, perception, edge processing, machine interfaces, and safety-oriented behaviorDescribes major software architecture alternatives and considerations. Displays experience in estimating the time to develop a specific design of a proposed product.

Facilitates design reviews and walkthroughs. Analyzes benefits and drawbacks of specific software designs and architecture. Problem Solving: Identifies and documents specific problems and resolution alternatives. Helps to analyze risks and benefits of alternative approaches and obtain decisions on resolution. Uses fact-finding techniques and diagnostic tools to identify problems Tech