Engineering Manager - Analytics, PLM and Tools

Caterpillar · Clayton, NC

Level: Manager
Team: Manufacturing
Base pay: $128k–$193k
Travel: 10%
Degree: Required
Industry: Industrial
Posted: Today

The role in 30 seconds

A management manufacturing role at Caterpillar (industrial) in Clayton, NC. , and support teams through successful completion of projects and initiatives.

They ask for: degree required
Tools it names: Root cause, Automation, EHS / safety
Base pay: $128k–$193k
Day to day: about 10% travel

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026

Manufacturing Engineer roles in North Carolina: typical posted base $97k–$143k. This one lists $128k–$193k.

Median of the low and high ends of 14 live postings that list pay, out of 42 manufacturing engineer openings in North Carolina, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

North Carolina plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 41 other live manufacturing postings in North Carolina.

Base pay: About 34% above similar roles
Experience asked: Not stated

Skills these teams ask for most

Tooling 45%
✓ Root cause 33%
Lean 33%
Team leadership 31%
✓ New product launch 29%
✓ Automation 24%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

Stands out: this posting asks for Power BI / Tableau, Python, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.

At a glance

Promotion path mentioned

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at Caterpillar
We found 3 people at this company and state: 2 in this kind of role, 1 leaders. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Andrew → (free)
3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- The posting says about 10% travel. Between which sites?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

This plant: Caterpillar in Clayton

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Full description from CaterpillarAs posted on their careers site.Show

What You Will Do

◆Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team across analytics, PLM, and engineering productivity tools.
◆Define the team’s strategy, roadmap, governance, priorities, and performance measures.
◆Partner with internal customers to prioritize needs and deliver scalable technical solutions.
◆Deliver intuitive dashboards, reports, interfaces, and shared data products that translate insights into action and support informed decision-making.
◆Improve PLM systems and develop automation tools that streamline workflows, increase adoption, and reduce cost and rework.
◆Partner with enterprise teams to acquire, govern, and analyze telematics and other business-critical data, turning it into actionable insights.
◆Apply AI and machine learning to analytics products and engineering workflows where they create measurable value.
◆Communicate the team’s value, drive adoption, support investment decisions, and share best practices and reusable solutions across Caterpillar.

Requirements

Analysis: Working knowledge of gathering, documenting, and managing business and system requirements, ensuring alignment between user needs, system capabilities, and business objectives.

✓Products and Services Knowledge: Working knowledge of how products, services, and supporting systems are developed, released, and supported within an engineering organization, including an understanding of linkages across functions and value chains.

Required Qualifications

✓Bachelor’s degree in engineering, data science, computer science, information systems, or a related field.
✓Experience leading technical teams, projects, or workstreams in an engineering or business environment.
✓Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar business intelligence software, including the development of visually effective, intuitive reporting and decision-support solutions.
✓Experience with Snowflake or a comparable cloud-based data warehouse or enterprise data platform.
✓Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and nontechnical audiences.
✓Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

Preferred Qualifications

✓Programming experience with SQL, Python, and DAX.
✓Demonstrated ability to collaborate across engineering, purchasing, supply chain, manufacturing, and other business disciplines.
✓Exposure to a machine learning platform such as TensorFlow, scikit-learn, or other industry-standard applications.
✓Experience developing analytics products using Snowflake, data lakes, or similar enterprise data platforms.
✓General knowledge of product development frameworks and processes, including Caterpillar New Product Introduction (NPI).
✓Understanding of PLM platforms, engineering data, configuration management, and related product development workflows.
✓Understanding of how Caterpillar telematics data is collected, stored, consumed, and used to serve internal and external customers.
✓Knowledge of Caterpillar or other equipment manufacturers’ products, applications, and customer use cases.
✓Experience with applying automation, machine learning, or artificial intelligence to engineering or business processes.

Show full 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.

Position Overview

As the Engineering Manager for Analytics, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Tools, you will lead a specialized team that delivers data, digital, and process solutions for the global BCP organization. You will establish the strategy, priorities, and performance measures for the function while partnering with engineering and other product development teams to improve speed, quality, cost, and user experience.

This role provides the opportunity to influence product design and business performance by partnering across a diverse global organization—including engineering, procurement, information technology, EHS, analytics, advanced technology, and other business functions. You will help unlock insights from machine telematics, enterprise data platforms, and engineering systems; advance PLM transformation and continuously improve existing PLM tools; and contribute to division-level artificial intelligence initiatives.

Core Skills

•Data Analysis and Decision Support: Experience using data and analytics to support informed decision-making, including organizing relevant information, assessing alternatives, and clearly communicating findings.
•Team Collaboration and Facilitation: Ability to work effectively with cross-functional and global teams, facilitate discussions on goals and responsibilities, and support teams through successful completion of projects and initiatives.
•Analytical Thinking: Knowledge of techniques and tools that promote effective analysis; ability to determine the root cause of organizational problems and create alternative solutions that resolve these problems.
•Troubleshooting and Problem Solving: Ability to anticipate, identify, and resolve technical and process issues by analyzing data, evaluating impacts, and applying structured problem-solving techniques.

Additional Information

•Travel: 10% or less domestic and international
•Locations: Clayton Machine Development Center
•Work Arrangement: On-site, five days per week
•Work Sponsorship: No
•Relocation offered : Yes

Summary Pay Range

$128,470.00 - $192,710.00