Senior Safety-Critical Embedded Architect for Autonomy

Caterpillar Brazil; Irving (TX); On-site; USD 128,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

PTO

401(k)

HSA

FSAs

Career development

Incentive bonus

Job summary

Caterpillar Inc. seeks a Safety Systems Software Architect to lead architecture for operator safety systems and safety-critical software across embedded and edge computing environments.

You will translate safety goals into robust software designs and guide teams through verification and safety cases. The role emphasizes leadership, collaboration with safety, cybersecurity, and validation teams, and a strong background in real-time, deterministic software, with a focus on maintainability and

Qualifications

• Safety-Critical Software Engineering: Expert-level C++ design and implementation experience for embedded, real-time, or safety-critical software systems
• Experience designing software components with clear ownership, deterministic behavior, testability, fault detection, fault isolation, and recovery mechanisms
• Strong engineering practices including requirements traceability, design documentation, code quality, debugging, profiling, static analysis, and disciplined change control
• Experience owning architecture for major software products, safety systems, autonomy systems, or distributed embedded platforms
• Ability to define software architecture alternatives and evaluate trade-offs across safety, performance, reliability, diagnosability, maintainability, and product delivery
• Experience establishing interface contracts, data flows, safety monitors, watchdogs, degraded-mode strategies, and safe-state behavior across software and system boundaries
• Experience facilitating architecture reviews, design walkthroughs, failure-mode discussions, and cross-discipline technical alignment
• Experience with operator-aware or sensor-driven systems using presence detection, proximity sensing, cameras, radar, LIDAR, GNSS/GPS, inertial sensors

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the software architecture for operator safety systems, human-machine interaction safety, supervisory control, and safe-state management systems
• Translate safety goals, system requirements, hazard analyses, and operational design constraints into software architecture, interface contracts, safety mechanisms, and verification strategies
• Lead architectural trade-off decisions for real-time performance, determinism, fault containment, diagnostics, monitoring, redundancy, graceful degradation, and maintainability
• Partner with systems engineering, functional safety, cybersecurity, controls, perception, positioning, validation, and product teams to integrate safety considerations into product architecture
• Provide technical leadership across requirements traceability, architecture documentation, design reviews, verification planning, validation evidence, and safety case support
• Develop and guide production-quality C++ software design patterns, reusable safety components, middleware interfaces, and integration approaches for embedded and edge-computing environments
• Troubleshoot complex safety-system behavior across simulation, bench, machine, and production environments, including timing, sensor fusion, perception, fault handling, and integration issues
• Communicate architecture decisions, safety risks, assumptions, constraints, and technical recommendations clearly to engineers, stakeholders, and leadership
• Mentor engineers on safety-focused software architecture, design quality, review practices, and disciplined development of safety-critical systems

Skills

C++ Embedded

Safety-Critical Systems

Real-time Architecture

Software Verification

Leadership / Mentoring

Requirements Traceability

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Embedded Linux

Job description

Caterpillar Inc. seeks a Safety Systems Software Architect to lead architecture for operator safety systems and safety-critical software across embedded and edge computing environments.

You will translate safety goals into robust software designs and guide teams through verification and safety cases. The role emphasizes leadership, collaboration with safety, cybersecurity, and validation teams, and a strong background in real-time, deterministic software, with a focus on maintainability and