Software Engineering Manager

Caterpillar Caterpillar · Industrial · Brisbane, Queensland

Caterpillar is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager (Software) to lead cross-functional software delivery teams building and evolving their MineStar products. The role involves leading, coaching, and developing engineers, owning delivery outcomes, embedding a culture of quality, and driving technical strategy. The focus is on delivering measurable customer outcomes for industrial technology solutions.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead, coach, and develop engineers through clear expectations, regular feedback, performance management, and career growth plans.
  2. Build and sustain high-performing teams: hiring, onboarding, resource planning, and succession planning aligned to product and platform strategy.
  3. Own delivery outcomes across one or more teams: predictable execution, transparent reporting, and effective risk/issue management.
  4. Embed a culture of built-in quality through engineering excellence practices (e.g., automated testing, code review, SRE/operability, and continuous improvement).
  5. Define, track, and improve key engineering metrics (throughput, quality, reliability, and customer impact) and use data to drive decisions.

Skills

Required

  • Exceptional stakeholder and people leadership skills, with success leading geographically distributed teams and influencing across organisational boundaries.
  • Strong technical breadth and curiosity across current and emerging technologies, with sound engineering judgement.
  • Experience leading teams through change (modernisation, operating model uplift, or delivery transformation) while maintaining delivery commitments.
  • Proven delivery leadership using Agile and DevOps practices in commercial product environments, with a strong focus on reliability, security, and customer value.
  • Working knowledge of modern delivery frameworks and methods (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, Lean, SAFe) and when to apply them pragmatically.
  • Strong customer orientation and experience shaping technical strategy and roadmaps in partnership with product and business leaders.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and clear communication at all levels, including senior leaders and external partners.

Nice to have

  • Domain knowledge in mining technology and operational environments (or the ability to learn complex industrial domains quickly).

What the JD emphasized

  • Demonstrated leadership in modern software engineering across the full product lifecycle (build, run, and continuous improvement), including experience scaling teams and delivery practices.
  • Proven people leadership experience (e.g., Engineering Manager/Team Lead) with accountability for performance, hiring, and coaching.