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Posted 5 days ago

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CAD Configuration Manager

Kearny, NJRemoteFull-time

AI Summary

The Configuration Manager owns the configuration and integrity of Thea Energy’s products by managing the top-level assembly in Siemens NX, establishing CAD and PDM standards, and coordinating interfaces across engineering disciplines.

About this role

About Thea Energy:
Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering to create a faster and simpler approach to commercializing fusion energy. The company is reinventing the stellarator using computer-controlled arrays of planar coils thereby replacing the intricate, complex modular magnets required in all other stellarator architectures. Thea Energy is on a mission to create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future.

Position Overview:

The Configuration Manager owns the configuration and integrity of Thea Energy's products by directly managing the top-level assembly in Siemens NX and creating, maintaining, and enforcing the modeling standards, drafting standards, review workflows, and release process for the company. The role pairs end-to-end ownership of one or more top-level assemblies with process and procedure governance over CAD and PDM standards and processes. These responsibilities will be executed using Siemens NX and Siemens Teamcenter to achieve project goals through a lean, high-performance process adhering to ISO 9001 standards.

The Configuration Manager is the single point of accountability for how Thea structures, controls, and evolves its top-level CAD configurations, and for ensuring that the PDM environment remains stable, current, and well-governed as the team scales. The role combines deep CAD authority with system-administrator responsibility, and partners closely with subassembly leads, systems engineering, and engineering leadership.

Key Responsibility Areas:

1. Top-Level Assembly Configuration Ownership

  • Assembly Ownership: Serve as the named owner of a designated top-level assembly (TLA), responsible for its structure, release state, and configuration integrity from concept through production.

  • Subassembly Coordination: Partner with subassembly leads to maintain alignment between subordinate models and the TLA, including merge cadence, naming conventions, structural standards, interfaces, space claim, and modeling best practices.

  • Conflict Resolution: Drive resolution of configuration conflicts between subassemblies and ensure design intent preservation across the assembly hierarchy.

2. Cross-Functional Interface Coordination

  • Interface Tracking: Partner with the Systems Engineer to track and document mechanical-to-electrical, mechanical-to-fluid, and mechanical-to-software interfaces relevant to the assigned TLA.

  • Interface Register: Maintain a PDM-based interface register based on an authoritative source that reflects the current physical and logical boundaries between subsystems.

  • Drift Detection: Flag interface drift early including geometry, tolerance, and connector changes and lead the change-control conversation when shifts occur.

3. Teamcenter PDM Operations

  • System Administration: Serve as the system administrator for Teamcenter, accountable for environment uptime, system upgrades, and patch cycles.

  • Licensing: Support negotiations for Teamcenter licensing with Siemens and adjacent partners by providing information on usage and managing seat allocation, and steward annual or multi-year renewals.

  • Feature Lifecycle: Scope, test, evaluate, and roll out new Teamcenter features and modules in response to evolving company needs, in coordination with IT and engineering leadership.

  • PDM Proliferation: Lead integration of Teamcenter into the larger company software stack. For example, PDM interaction with Manufacturing and Test software platforms.

4. Access Control & Workflow Governance

  • Access Control: Own user access and permissions for Teamcenter and Siemens NX, including provisioning, role definitions, and periodic access reviews.

  • Workflow Templates: Define and maintain Teamcenter workflow templates (release, change, review) so that the process is consistent across teams and meets the needs of the team for speed versus complexity.

  • Workflow Auditing: Audit workflow activity, identify bottlenecks, and iterate workflow design with feedback from all company stakeholders.

5. Training & Documentation

  • CAD and Configuration Training: Develop and deliver training on CAD and configuration management practices, including modeling best practices, top-level assembly structure, subassembly coordination, and naming and merge conventions.

  • Teamcenter Usage Training: Build and maintain onboarding and ongoing-use training for Teamcenter, covering navigation, item creation, revision control, and day-to-day data management.

  • Release Workflow Training: Author training and reference materials that walk users through release workflows, including ECO/ECR initiation, review responsibilities, approval routing, and post-release obligations.

  • Best-Practice Documentation: Maintain a living set of best-practice guides and quick-reference documents for the engineering organization, updated as Teamcenter features and CAD practices evolve.

6. Additional Support

  • VFX and Marketing Graphics: Interface with and provide support to VFX and marketing groups for graphics generation, as necessary.

Ideal Experience & Skillsets:

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.

  • Five to seven years of professional experience in mechanical design and CAD, including ownership of complex assemblies in Siemens NX or an equivalent commercial CAD package.

  • Hands-on experience administering Teamcenter or another commercial PLM platform (e.g., Windchill, Enovia).

  • Demonstrated ability to coordinate across engineering disciplines on shared deliverables, including interface management with systems engineering.

  • Working familiarity with engineering change management (ECO/ECR) and release control.

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in documenting configuration management and PDM administration practices, and in producing training materials for technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Direct experience as the named owner of a top-level assembly on a hardware product through release.

  • Prior responsibility for PDM license negotiation or vendor management.

  • Familiarity with Model-Based Definition (MBD), Design-in-Context methodologies, and Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) workflows.

  • Experience designing or auditing Teamcenter workflow templates.

  • Experience developing and delivering technical training for engineering teams (CAD, PDM, or workflow-related).

  • Experience in fusion energy, aerospace, defense, medical devices, or another regulated hardware environment.

  • Familiarity with NX Open or Teamcenter customization (BMIDE, ITK, or comparable).

Company Benefits:

  • Salary range $150,000-$185,000
  • Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
  • Employee equity stock options
  • 20 days PTO
  • Skills

    CADDesign-in-ContextECM/ECRISO 9001Model-Based Definition (MBD)NX OpenPDMProduct Manufacturing Information (PMI)Siemens NXSiemens Teamcenter

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