Product Manager - CAD Engineering Lead

Location: United States, CA, Morgan Hill (Office)

TheCAD EngineeringLead owns the digital backbone of how we design, develop, and deliver product. From the engineer’s first sketch in CAD through release into manufacturing and service, this roleis responsible forthe platforms, data, and processes that make product development fast, reliable, and scalable. It is a deliberate evolution beyond traditional CAD administration—less about keeping the lights on, and more about shaping how engineering works at scale.

This is a strategic, business-aligned positionwith an operational role. The person in this seat will be expected to think in terms of roadmaps, business cases, and measurable outcomes, whileremainingclose enough to the technology to make confident architectural decisions. They will partner across Engineering, IT, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing to ensure our engineering systems are a competitive advantage rather than a constraint on growth.

What You'll Do

• Own the Engineering Systems Landscape
• You will be accountable for the architecture, configuration, performance, and roadmap of our CAD and PDM/PLM platforms—making sure they are stable on their own and integrated cleanly into the broader ecosystem.
• Own the architecture, configuration, and performance of CAD and PDM/PLM platforms
• Ensure seamless integration across CAD, PLM, ERP, and manufacturing systems
• Define a system roadmap aligned to product development and supply chain strategy
• Establish Governance and Standards
• Engineering at scale depends on consistency, and consistency depends on standards. You will define and enforce the standards that allow engineers across geographies to work as one team.
• Establish and enforce CAD modeling standards
• Define data structures, naming conventions, and BOM governance
• Own release and change management processes
• Drive consistency across global engineering teams
• Protect the Digital Thread
• Product datahas toflow accurately from design into manufacturingand oninto service—without distortion, duplication, or loss of context. You will own thatflowend to end.
• Ensure product data flows accurately from design → manufacturing → service
• Own product data quality, version control, and traceability
• Eliminateduplication, rework, and downstream errors

Drive Engineering Productivity

Engineers should spend their time engineering, not fighting tools. You will improve productivity through targeted automation and performancetuning, andserve as the escalation point when complex issues block the team.

Deliver automation through scripts, templates, and design reuse

Optimizeperformance for large assemblies and overall system speed

Define and deliver a training strategy for engineers and designers

Act as escalation point for complex technical and system issues

Lead Transformation and Continuous Improvement

This role is expected to lead, not justmaintain. The bar is real, measurable productivity gains—not technology adoption for its own sake.

Lead PLM modernization and upgrade initiatives

Drive cloud CAD / SaaS adoption

Advance the move to model-based engineering (MBE)

Evaluate emerging engineering technologies (simulation, digital twins, MBE)

Drive adoption of AI-accelerated CAD — generative and topology-optimized design, AI-assisted part search and design reuse, automated simulation setup, and intelligent validation — to compress design cycles, reduce duplicate parts, and scale engineeringexpertise

Identifyand deliver measurable productivity gains

Manage Vendors and Partners

Our engineering systemsrun ona network of external relationships, and you will own them—holding partners accountable to SLAs and continuously looking for ways to optimize cost without compromising capability.

Manage external partners for CAD/PLM support, upgrades, and implementations

Own strategic vendor relationships (Dassault, PTC, Siemens, Autodesk, etc.)

Ensure SLA performance and cost optimization

Partner Across the Business

Engineering systems do not exist in isolation. A central part of the job is translating business needs into system capabilities—and translating system constraints back into business-friendly language.

Partner with engineering leadership on design organization needs

Work with IT on infrastructure, security, and identity

Align with supply chain and manufacturing on downstream data needs

Translate business needs into system capabilities

What We're Looking For

Experience

We are looking for someone with deep experience in engineering systems who has been through significant implementations from end to end.

8–12+ years in engineering systems, CAD administration, or PLM roles

Hands-on depth with one or more major platforms

PTC Windchill / Creo

Siemens Teamcenter / NX

Dassault 3DEXPERIENCE / SolidWorks PDM

Proventrack recordleading system implementations or transformations

Technical Skills

• You should be technically credible across the full stack of engineering data—from CAD geometry through PLM lifecycle and into ERP integration—and comfortable getting hands-on with automation and configuration.
• Strong understanding of CAD data structures and large assembly management
• Working knowledge of PDM/PLM workflows and lifecycle models
• Practical experience with BOM management and ERP integration
• Automation skills (Python, VBA, APIs)
• Experience with data governance and system configuration
• Familiarity with cloud/SaaS engineering platforms is a plus
• Leadership and Business Skills
• Above all, thisrole demands the ability tooperateat bothstrategic and hands-on levels—able to build a multi-year roadmap one day and debug a complex configuration issue the next.
• Strategic and hands-on:able to set direction and execute against it
• Strong stakeholder management across Engineering, IT, and Operations
• Data-driven mindset with a focus on measurable outcomes
• Experience building roadmaps and business cases—and delivering against them