Principal Spatial Intelligence Architect

Caterpillar

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Irving, TX
Salary
$175,030–$284,430 / yr
Employment
Full-time
Posted
7 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday
Closes
Nov 27, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $223k
This role $230k
$150k $299k
below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 60% of similar roles. Most pay $191,400–$254,225 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $230k versus about $223k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc. is the world''s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Industry: Heavy Equipment & Manufacturing

Caterpillar currently has 131 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $128,470–$192,710 across 125 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Spatial Intelligence Architect

The Principal Spatial Intelligence Architect joins the Robotics team to define the spatial-reasoning architecture for autonomous machines. This role focuses on how machines reason about space, terrain, and reach to plan and execute precise work movements. You will design technical infrastructure, including databases and programming languages, while developing architecture deliverables to solve complex business problems. Key responsibilities include defining standards for task and motion planning, spatially grounded VLA, and behavior generation. You will lead the evaluation of new technologies and manage the IT blueprint for autonomous systems. Required skills include expertise in spatial reasoning, motion planning, and application architecture. You must understand Agile SDLC, public cloud ecosystems, and CI/CD. This role solves the challenge of turning upstream environment inputs into coordinated motion for heavy machinery.

What you'll do

  • Define the spatial-reasoning architecture for autonomous machines to reason about space, terrain, and reach.
  • Design technical infrastructure including specific databases, programming languages, utilities, and testing approaches.
  • Develop architecture deliverables that convert business requirements into technical application designs and roadmaps.
  • Architect real-time motion planning for coordinated movement of actuated implements like buckets, blades, or booms.
  • Define architectural patterns for spatially grounded VLA and behavior generation to enable safe autonomous actions.
  • Establish standards and interfaces for robotics components consumed from upstream engineering teams.
  • Lead the evaluation and deployment of new technologies to enhance existing digital technical capabilities.
  • Provide technical direction and govern technology decisions across multiple engineering organizations.

What we're looking for

  • Must be able to work full-time at the Irving, TX office.
  • Must have a progressive career in software engineering and architecture with a focus on autonomy, motion planning, or robotics.
  • Must possess knowledge of application design, architecture principles, and requirements analysis techniques.
  • Must have knowledge of platform architecture, target architecture, and designing processing mechanisms for business systems.
  • Must have a strong understanding of Agile SDLC implementation in public cloud ecosystems, including CI/CD and test automation.
  • Must have excellent communication skills to mentor, coach, and persuade others on new technologies and solutions.
  • Strong experience architecting spatial reasoning and real-time motion planning for physical machines or autonomous vehicles (preferred).
  • Experience planning coordinated motion of an actuated implement or manipulator to execute work (preferred).

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