IT Architect
Onsite full time in Irving, TX
24 month contract
Job Description
- Identify and advise on emerging technologies and industry trends related to Autonomy, Embedded Development, Cloud, and IT Architecture.
- Evaluate IT security, server/storage, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, Docker, Kubernetes, and security standards.
- Identify cloud capabilities and benchmark competitor adoption.
- Evaluate Kubernetes and other architectural solutions.
- Review ICS/ACT technologies including Remote Services and MineStar.
- Recommend alternative architectures and work with GIS, Security, and other organizations to finalize solution designs.
Position's Contribution to the Work Group
- Lead adoption of AI-powered software engineering platforms and agentic development capabilities across enterprise engineering teams.
- Establish AI engineering standards, governance, evaluation frameworks, and best practices.
- Drive developer productivity using Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and emerging AI coding tools.
- Provide leadership in software architecture, cloud-native platforms, backend engineering, distributed systems, and AI-assisted development.
- Focus on AI coding platforms, engineering productivity, software quality, SDLC modernization, governance, APIs, and distributed systems.
- Reason for request: Addition (new headcount).
Candidate Value Proposition
- Lead Caterpillar's AI Engineering Transformation initiative.
- Influence engineering strategy and AI-native development practices.
- Evaluate cutting-edge AI engineering technologies.
- Partner with senior technical leaders and shape long-term engineering vision.
Typical Day / Week in the Role
- Evaluate AI coding platforms and benchmark new technologies.
- Develop AI-assisted engineering standards and governance.
- Lead AI pilot initiatives and agentic development workflows.
- Measure productivity, software quality, and SDLC metrics.
- Create reference architectures and implementation guidance.
- Collaborate with engineering, product, platform, DevOps, cybersecurity, and architecture teams.
- Mentor engineers, lead workshops, and present recommendations to executives.
- Team Structure: Individual contributor working across enterprise stakeholders.
- Work Environment: Office.
Education & Experience
- 5+ years of experience.
- Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or Software Engineering (Master's with 3 years or Associate's with 9 years also accepted as listed).
- Internships do not count toward required experience.
Top 3 Skills
- AI-Assisted Software Engineering & Developer Productivity
- Backend / Platform Engineering (Java, Python, APIs, Cloud)
- Technical Leadership, Architecture & Engineering Transformation
Technical Skills
- Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot or similar AI coding tools
- Java/Spring Boot and Python
- Distributed systems, APIs, cloud-native platforms
- Software architecture and engineering best practices
- Prompt engineering and agentic development workflows
- Engineering metrics and productivity measurement
- Desired: Spec-driven development, Robotics/Physical AI, Digital Twin, AWS/Azure, DevOps platforms
Soft Skills
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Agile/Scrum experience
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Comfort in ambiguous environments
- Ownership mindset and technical documentation
- Desired: mentoring, design reviews, stakeholder management, global teams