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About This Role
Career Area:
Technology, Digital and DataJob 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.
We are seeking an experienced Software Engineer (.NET & AI) to join our team supporting .NET & AI-powered application development initiatives for the Construction Industries - Building Construction Products division. This role will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining scalable .NET applications and AI-powered solutions. The engineer will collaborate with solution architects, data engineers, business analysts, and business stakeholders to deliver secure, scalable, and innovative solutions that leverage modern software engineering and artificial intelligence technologies to drive business value.
What You Will Do:
- Design, develop, and maintain .NET applications using C#, ASP.NET (.NET Framework), ASP.NET Core, JavaScript, jQuery, DevExpress, and related technologies.
- Design, develop, and integrate AI-powered capabilities, including intelligent assistants, copilots, agentic workflows, and generative AI solutions, into business applications to improve productivity and decision-making.
- Design the data and presentation layers of web applications and AI-enabled user experiences.
- Build and consume RESTful APIs and integrate with enterprise platforms, data sources, and Azure AI services.
- Collaborate with solution architects and business stakeholders to understand requirements and translate them into scalable technical solutions.
- Evaluate and implement emerging AI and software technologies, frameworks, and patterns to address business challenges and improve productivity.
- Ensure application performance, scalability, security, responsible AI practices, and governance through best practices and code reviews.
- Participate in Agile development processes, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.
- Troubleshoot and resolve application and AI solution issues across development, test, and production environments.
- Maintain technical documentation and contribute to knowledge sharing across the team.
What You Have:
- Experience in .NET development using C#, ASP.NET Core & .NET Framework, Entity Framework, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, SQL Server, and Azure DevOps.
- Strong experience with RESTful API development and integration.
- Experience developing, integrating, or supporting AI-enabled solutions using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI services, Microsoft Copilot Studio and similar technologies.
- Understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), vector search, and AI orchestration concepts.
- Solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), Agile methodologies, and modern AI application development practices.
- Experience with relational databases such as SQL Server and writing complex SQL queries.
- Strong critical thinking skills and attention to detail.
- Excellent communication and documentation skills.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a challenging environment.
- Hands-on experience implementing Azure AD (Entra ID) authentication/authorization for web apps and APIs (OIDC/OAuth2, app registrations, scopes, roles/claims).
- Familiarity with Azure Key Vault for secure management of secrets, certificates, and keys (managed identities, secret rotation, Key Vault references).
- Understanding of responsible AI principles, security, governance, model evaluation, and human oversight practices.
Top Candidates Will Also Have:
- Experience developing enterprise AI assistants, copilots, agentic AI solutions, or intelligent automation workflows.
- Experience with Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, or similar AI platforms and frameworks.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and AI solution deployment practices.
- Experience in manufacturing, or dealer network domains.
- Familiarity with Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, and Power Platform tools (Power BI, Power Automate, Github Copilot, Copilot Studio).
- Experience building solutions on Microsoft Azure cloud services.
Additional Info:
- The ideal location for this role is Cary-NC
- This position may require 10% travel.
About Caterpillar –
For more than a century, Caterpillar has helped build a better, more sustainable world. With 2025 sales and revenues of $67.6 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is shaping the future as the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Backed by one of the largest independent global dealer networks and financing services through Cat Financial, the company’s primary business segments: Power & Energy, Construction Industries and Resource Industries are solving customers’ toughest challenges through commercial excellence and advanced technology, driven by a highly skilled, dedicated global team. Learn more at www.caterpillar.com.
Summary Pay Range:
$112,710.00 - $183,140.00 Compensation and benefits offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, job level, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, individual performance and experience. Please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Caterpillar.
Benefits:
Subject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits.
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits*
- Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)*
- 401(k) savings plans*
- Health Savings Account (HSA)*
- Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)*
- Health Lifestyle Programs*
- Employee Assistance Program*
- Voluntary Benefits and Employee Discounts*
- Career Development*
- Incentive bonus*
- Disability benefits
- Life Insurance
- Parental leave
- Adoption benefits
- Tuition Reimbursement
- These benefits also apply to part-time employees
This position requires working onsite five days a week. Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position.Posting Dates:
September 29, 2026 - October 10, 2026 Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.
Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply.
Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community.
Salary Context
This $112K-$183K range is in the lower quartile for AI Software Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $192K across 146 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
AI Software Engineers build the applications and systems that AI models run inside. They own the API layers, data pipelines, frontend integrations, and infrastructure that turn a model into a product users interact with. Every AI company needs engineers who can build the software around the AI.
The challenge is building reliable systems around inherently unreliable components. Models are probabilistic. They'll give different answers to the same question. They hallucinate. They're slow. They're expensive. Your job is to build an application layer that handles all of this gracefully while delivering a product that users trust and enjoy.
Across the 8,943 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 4% of the market. At Caterpillar, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: building API endpoints that serve model inference with caching and fallback logic, designing the data pipeline that feeds context to a RAG system, implementing streaming responses in the frontend, debugging a race condition in the async inference pipeline, and optimizing database queries for the vector search layer. It's full-stack engineering with AI at the center.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
Skills Required
Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.
Knowledge of vector databases, embedding APIs, and LLM integration patterns (function calling, structured outputs, retry logic) differentiates AI software engineers from general software engineers. Understanding cost optimization (caching strategies, model routing, batched inference) is valuable since inference costs can dominate application economics.
Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI Software Engineer roles pay a median of $220,000 based on 1,448 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200. This role's midpoint ($147K) sits 33% below the category median. Disclosed range: $112K to $183K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,000.
Caterpillar AI Hiring
Caterpillar has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across AI Software Engineer. Based in Cary, NC, US. Compensation range: $183K - $183K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (521 positions) offer remote work, while 8,351 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,416 roles, $263,811 median); Los Angeles (1,340 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI Software Engineer roles include Software Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Backend Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager.
If you're a software engineer, you're already 80% there. Learn the AI integration patterns: RAG, streaming inference, function calling, structured outputs. Build a project that demonstrates you can wrap an AI model in a production-quality application with proper error handling, caching, and user experience. That's the portfolio piece that gets you hired.
What to Expect in Interviews
Technical screens look like standard software engineering interviews with an AI twist. Expect system design questions about building reliable applications around probabilistic models: handling streaming responses, implementing retry logic for API failures, and designing caching strategies for LLM outputs. Coding rounds test standard algorithms plus practical integration patterns like async processing and rate limiting.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 8,943 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 175 entry-level, 4,132 mid-level, 3,268 senior, and 1,368 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (521 positions). The remaining 8,351 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 8,943 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (6,739), AI Product Manager (403), AI Software Engineer (402). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (175) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,132) and senior (3,268) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,368 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (521 positions), with 8,351 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,380. Top-quartile roles start at $264,148, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,310. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,422 postings), Aws (808 postings), Azure (638 postings), Rag (555 postings), Gcp (457 postings), Pytorch (433 postings), Claude (341 postings), Kubernetes (337 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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