Lead Product Designer

Technology, Digital and Data

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.

At Caterpillar, User Experience extends beyond the display. We design how people interact with machines, digital products, and connected ecosystems to create experiences that are intuitive, integrated, and trusted.

We're seeking a Lead Product Designer who thrives on simplifying complexity and shaping how experiences are created across a broad portfolio of products and customer journeys.

This role partners closely with Product, Engineering, Research, and business leadership to define experience vision, influence product strategy, and guide the delivery of solutions that help customers accomplish their work safely, efficiently, and confidently.

Success in this role requires strong systems thinking, strategic perspective, and the ability to lead through influence. The ideal candidate excels at connecting customer needs, business objectives, and technical realities while helping teams navigate ambiguity and align around a shared vision. They think beyond individual features and products, understanding how interconnected systems, workflows, platforms, and touchpoints contribute to the overall customer experience.

You'll have the opportunity to influence experiences from early concept through production, establish direction across multiple products and platforms, and help shape the future of design within Caterpillar's digital ecosystem.

• Define and communicate experience vision across products, platforms, and customer journeys.
• Drive strategic design initiatives that influence product direction and support long-term business objectives.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Research, and business leaders to identify opportunities, define priorities, and align teams around customer outcomes.
• Guide discovery efforts and help teams translate customer insights, business goals, and technical constraints into experience strategies and product requirements.
• Drive systems-level thinking across products, platforms, and customer journeys to ensure experiences are cohesive, scalable, and aligned with broader customer and business objectives.
• Identify experience dependencies, opportunities, and gaps across multiple products and workflows to create integrated solutions rather than isolated features.
• Shape end-to-end customer experiences across machine, application, and connected ecosystems.
• Provide design leadership across multiple products, teams, or domains to ensure cohesive, scalable, and high-quality customer experiences.
• Facilitate strategic workshops and alignment sessions that help teams navigate ambiguity and make informed decisions.
• Establish and evolve design standards, frameworks, processes, and best practices that improve consistency and quality across the organization.
• Leverage customer research, usability findings, analytics, and business metrics to evaluate and improve experience effectiveness.
• Influence the evolution of design systems, accessibility standards, interaction patterns, and Design Ops practices.
• Mentor and coach Product Designers through design critiques, knowledge sharing, and professional development activities.
• Champion Human Centered Design and Product Design excellence throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Collaborate closely with Engineering and Product teams to ensure design intent is successfully implemented and customer outcomes are achieved.

Creativity: Knowledge of the approaches, tools, and techniques for promoting creative, original thinking and ability to apply it to a variety of business situations.
Decision Making and Critical Thinking: Knowledge of the decision-making process and associated tools and techniques; ability to accurately analyze situations and reach productive decisions based on informed judgment.
Computer Software Industry: Knowledge of computer software industry; ability to understand future products, vendors, technologies, issues, and trends and directions.
Web Software Design: Knowledge of web software design;…