Principal SW Engineer – Distributed Systems & Cloud-Native Platform (Java)

Job description

**Career Area:** Engineering **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. **Role Summary** We’re seeking a Principal Software Engineer to build and evolve large-scale, distributed systems that power mission-critical platforms. This is a senior technical leadership role for engineers who thrive on solving hard, ambiguous problems at scale, and who can influence architecture across teams. You will drive system design, scalability, and engineering excellence, while remaining deeply hands-on in building high-performance backend systems on a modern cloud-native stack. **What You’ll Do** - Architect and build **high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems** using Java and microservices - Lead **end-to-end system design** across services, data, and platform layers - Design for **scale, resilience, fault tolerance, and operability** from first principles - Build and operate **containerized workloads on Kubernetes** (multi-service, production scale) - Define and raise the bar on **architecture, APIs, and engineering quality standards** - Drive **cross-team technical decisions** and resolve complex system bottlenecks - Mentor senior engineers and act as a **technical multiplier across teams** - Influence **platform roadmap, modernization, and developer productivity** **Basic Qualifications** - **12+ years** of experience building and operating backend systems at scale - Strong expertise in **Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, Distributed Systems** - Proven experience designing **highly available, large-scale systems (traffic, data, or compute)** - Hands-on with **Kubernetes and Docker in production environments** - Strong fundamentals in **system design, concurrency, data modeling, and performance optimization** - Deep experience with **PostgreSQL or similar databases** **Preferred Qualifications** - Experience with **event-driven architectures (Kafka / streaming systems)** - Exposure to **cloud platforms (AWS/Azure) and hybrid architectures** - Experience with **observability, reliability engineering, and production operations** - Contributions to **platform engineering, frameworks, or internal developer platforms** - Track record of **influencing architecture across multiple teams or product** **Tech Stack** Java | Spring Boot | Microservices | Kubernetes | Docker | PostgreSQL | CI/CD | Cloud (AWS/Azure) **Posting Dates:** July 2, 2026 - July 15, 2026 Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community.