Manager, CAD & Design Systems

Mainspring Energy, Inc.; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Mainspring Energy, Inc. seeks a Manager, CAD & Design Systems to build and scale the Mechanical Engineering organization responsible for CAD operations, product definition, product integration, design release, and configuration management, with focus on scalable processes and standards.

This onsite role will lead CAD Operations and a new Product Definition & Integration capability, requiring strong CAD judgment, people leadership, and a systems mindset to drive high-impact workflow improvements

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering or related technical field
• 10+ years in mechanical product development, CAD, or related engineering disciplines
• 3+ years leading technical teams
• Deep experience with production CAD environments and SolidWorks or comparable CAD
• Experience with CATIA or enterprise large-assembly CAD platform preferred
• Improved CAD standards, workflows, data quality, or design-release processes in a growing hardware org
• Strong drawings, GD&T, BOMs, config control, and manufacturing handoffs
• Ability to build scalable systems, processes, and teams

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the long-term CAD strategy for Mechanical Engineering
• Lead CAD Operations and Product Definition & Integration teams, including hiring and career growth
• Own CAD standards, modeling, drawing standards, templates, libraries, and assembly methods
• Establish strategy for SolidWorks and CATIA usage for full-product and large assemblies
• Ensure authoritative POR and correct product definition for engineers
• Improve handoffs to accelerate design release across teams
• Represent ME requirements for PLM workflows, automation, and productivity improvements
• Establish metrics and continuous-improvement for CAD throughput and release cycle time

Skills

CAD operations

Mechanical product development

Leadership

Systems thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

CAD standards

Design release

Education

BS in Mechanical Engineering

MS in Mechanical Engineering or Product Design

Tools

SolidWorks

CATIA

ENOVIA

3DEXPERIENCE

Job description

Mainspring is seeking a Manager, CAD & Design Systems to build and scale the Mechanical Engineering organization responsible for CAD operations, product definition, product integration, design release, and configuration management. This leader will set the strategy for how Mechanical Engineering creates, integrates, controls, and releases product definition as the Linear Generator and engineering organization grow in complexity.

The role will lead the existing CAD Operations supervisor and build a new Product Definition & Integration capability. The ideal candidate combines strong CAD and mechanical product-development judgment with people leadership and a systems mindset. This person will not own the PLM software platform; instead, they will represent Mechanical Engineering's needs, prioritize the highest-impact workflow improvements and automations, and partner with the Enterprise Software team to deliver them.

Job Overview

Mainspring is seeking a Manager, CAD & Design Systems to build and scale the Mechanical Engineering organization responsible for CAD operations, product definition, product integration, design release, and configuration management. This leader will set the strategy for how Mechanical Engineering creates, integrates, controls, and releases product definition as the Linear Generator and engineering organization grow in complexity.

The role will lead the existing CAD Operations supervisor and build a new Product Definition & Integration capability. The ideal candidate combines strong CAD and mechanical product-development judgment with people leadership and a systems mindset. This person will not own the PLM software platform; instead, they will represent Mechanical Engineering's needs, prioritize the highest-impact workflow improvements and automations, and partner with the Enterprise Software team to deliver them.

Core Responsibilities

• Define and execute the long-term strategy for CAD, product definition, design integration, release, and configuration management within Mechanical Engineering

• Lead and develop the CAD Operations and Product Definition & Integration teams, including hiring, capability development, workload planning, and career growth

• Own Mechanical Engineering CAD standards, modeling practices, drawing standards, templates, libraries, assembly architecture, and large-assembly methods

• Establish the strategy for SolidWorks and CATIA usage, including scalable methods for full-product and other very large assemblies

• Ensure the organization maintains authoritative POR and future-state reference assemblies so engineers are designing against the correct product definition

• Drive faster and more reliable design release by improving handoffs among Design Engineering, Product Definition, Release, Configuration Management, Manufacturing, and other downstream teams

• Represent Mechanical Engineering requirements for PLM workflows, issue resolution, and automation; prioritize improvements based on engineering productivity and product risk

• Establish metrics and continuous-improvement mechanisms for CAD throughput, release cycle time, product-definition quality, configuration integrity, and team capacity

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, or a related technical field, or equivalent relevant experience

• 10+ years of experience in mechanical product development, CAD, product definition, or related engineering disciplines, including 3+ years leading technical teams

• Deep experience with production CAD environments and strong working knowledge of SolidWorks or comparable parametric CAD systems

• Experience with CATIA or another enterprise large-assembly CAD platform strongly preferred

• Demonstrated experience improving CAD standards, engineering workflows, product-data quality, or design-release processes in a growing hardware organization

• Strong understanding of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, engineering changes, configuration control, and manufacturing handoffs

• Ability to think beyond day-to-day execution and build systems, processes, and teams that scale

• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Configuration Management, and software/tooling teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ENOVIA, 3DEXPERIENCE, or another enterprise PLM/PDM environment

• Experience building or maintaining full-product reference assemblies and product configuration strategies

• Experience scaling a CAD/design organization from a small transactional team into a broader product-definition and integration function

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

This position is onsite at our Menlo Park HQ . The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee. Along with the base salary, Mainspring offers pre-IPO stock options + benefits.