Product Manager - CAD Engineering Lead

The CAD Engineering Lead 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 role is responsible for the 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 position with an operational role. The person in this seat will be expected to think in terms of roadmaps, business cases, and measurable outcomes, while remaining close 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 data has to flow accurately from design into manufacturing and on into service—without distortion, duplication, or loss of context. You will own that flow end to end. 

• Ensure product data flows accurately from design manufacturing service 

• Own product data quality, version control, and traceability 

• Eliminate duplication, rework, and downstream errors 

Drive Engineering Productivity 

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

• Deliver automation through scripts, templates, and design reuse 

• Optimize performance 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 just maintain. 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 engineering expertise 

• Identify and deliver measurable productivity gains 

Manage Vendors and Partners 

Our engineering systems run on a 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 

• Proven track record leading 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, this role demands the ability to operate at both strategic 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