Avio Usa Inc
CAD Services Manager
Full Time • Hurt, VA
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- 401(k) matching
- Competitive salary
- Opportunity for advancement
- Vision insurance
Benefits/Perks
- Competitive Compensation
- Great Work Environment
- Career Advancement Opportunities
Job Summary
Avio USA is seeking a CAD Services Manager to establish and lead the CAD and engineering data management function supporting solid rocket motor design, analysis, and production. This position owns the company’s SolidWorks environment and SolidWorks PDM system, defines how engineering data is created, checked, signed off, released, and revised, and ensures that data management practices meet customer and contract requirements.
This is a working manager role. Because Avio USA is building its engineering organization from the ground up, the successful candidate will initially perform much of the hands-on work personally: building the company’s SolidWorks templates, standing up and configuring PDM, helping define the signoff and revision structure, and building models that support structural and thermal analysis. As the company grows, the role will shift toward hiring, developing, and leading a CAD services team of designers, drafters, and PDM administrators supporting multiple programs.
The ideal candidate is a strong SolidWorks and PDM practitioner who has set up or substantially rebuilt a CAD/PDM environment before, understands configuration control in a regulated aerospace or defense setting, and wants to build both the system and the team that runs it.
Key Responsibilities
SolidWorks Templates, Standards & Libraries
- Establish company SolidWorks part, assembly, and drawing templates, sheet formats, title blocks, custom properties, and drafting standards.
- Define modeling conventions, file naming, and part and drawing numbering schemes in coordination with engineering and configuration management.
- Build and maintain standard part, hardware, and material libraries, including Toolbox and material database configuration.
- Define CAD system settings, add-ins, and workstation configurations; manage licensing and version upgrades.
- Document CAD standards and procedures and train engineers and designers on their use.
SolidWorks PDM Implementation & Administration
- Lead implementation of SolidWorks PDM Professional, including vault architecture, folder structure, data cards, variables, user groups, and permissions.
- Configure PDM workflows, states, transitions, and notifications that enforce the company’s review, signoff, and release process.
- Establish revision schemes and link drawing revision tables and title block approvals to workflow states.
- Manage bills of material in PDM and, as the company matures, support integration with ERP/MRP systems.
- Administer vault backup, replication, archive, and recovery in coordination with IT.
- Migrate legacy, customer-furnished, and supplier data into the vault with correct metadata and configuration.
Signoff, Release & Revision Control
- Help define the engineering release process, including drawing check, approval signoff, release authority, and change authority.
- Support the engineering change process (ECR/ECO), ensuring all affected models and drawings are updated and released consistently.
- Maintain the vault so that released data matches the approved configuration, with an auditable history of approvals and revisions.
- Support assembly of technical data packages for customer, supplier, and internal use.
Customer & Contract Data Compliance
- Ensure CAD and PDM practices comply with customer and contract requirements for engineering data management, configuration control, data deliverables, and data rights markings.
- Implement PDM access controls to protect export-controlled (ITAR/EAR), Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and proprietary data, in coordination with security and IT.
- Build required distribution statements, export control legends, and data markings into templates and deliverables.
- Support internal, customer, and government audits of engineering data and configuration management practices.
Hands-On Design & Analysis Modeling
- Build and maintain 3D models and assemblies of motor components, tooling, and test hardware.
- Prepare analysis-ready geometry for structural and thermal analysis, including defeaturing, simplification, midsurfaces, split surfaces, and symmetry sections, in partnership with analysis engineers.
- Maintain traceability between analysis models and the released design configuration.
- Create detail and assembly drawings applying GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and drawing practice per ASME Y14.100.
Team Leadership & Growth
- Hire, train, and lead CAD designers, drafters, and PDM administrators as the organization grows.
- Balance hands-on work with team leadership; set priorities and allocate CAD support across multiple programs.
- Plan CAD services capacity, tools, and staffing to match program needs and company growth.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for CAD, PDM, and engineering data questions across engineering, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain.
- Evaluate and recommend tools and process improvements, including model-based definition and CAD-to-analysis workflows.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, engineering technology, or a related discipline; or an associate degree with equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of mechanical design and CAD experience producing released production data, including 3+ years administering or leading SolidWorks PDM.
- Expert-level SolidWorks proficiency with parts, assemblies, drawings, configurations, and custom properties.
- Demonstrated experience configuring SolidWorks PDM Professional vaults, data cards, workflows, permissions, and revision schemes.
- Experience creating company CAD templates, sheet formats, and drafting standards.
- Working command of GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and drawing practices per ASME Y14.100.
- Experience with engineering release, signoff, revision control, and change processes under configuration management.
- Experience preparing CAD geometry for finite element structural or thermal analysis.
- Working knowledge of export control (ITAR/EAR) and controlled technical data handling requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, train, or mentor designers and drafters.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with engineers, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and customers.
Preferred Qualifications
- Aerospace or defense engineering data management experience.
- Experience with rocket motors, propulsion hardware, missile systems, or other complex mechanical assemblies.
- Experience standing up a CAD/PDM environment in a new or rapidly growing organization.
- Experience with SolidWorks Simulation, ANSYS, Abaqus, or similar tools, including CAD-to-analysis data exchange.
- Experience with composite, bonded, or filament-wound structure models and drawings.
- Experience preparing technical data packages under MIL-STD-31000B and with model-based definition per ASME Y14.41.
- Familiarity with configuration management standards such as SAE EIA-649 and MIL-HDBK-61.
- Experience working to AS9100 or a comparable aerospace quality management system.
- Familiarity with CUI handling requirements, NIST SP 800-171, and CMMC.
- Experience integrating PDM with ERP/MRP systems.
- SOLIDWORKS certification (CSWP, CSWE, or PDM Administrator).
- Prior supervisory experience.
- Active U.S. security clearance or prior experience working in a cleared environment.
Clearance, Export Control & Facility Access Requirements
This position may involve access to U.S. Government-controlled information, export-controlled technical data, controlled equipment, or secure facilities.
Where required by applicable law, regulation, contract, program, or facility requirements, the successful candidate must meet applicable U.S. citizenship, security clearance, export-control, and/or facility-access requirements.
Any citizenship or security-clearance requirement will be based on the specific requirements of the position and applicable law.
Physical Requirements
The position is performed primarily in an office and engineering workstation environment, with regular presence in manufacturing, inspection, and industrial areas. The employee may be required to:
- Sit and work at a computer workstation for extended periods.
- Navigate manufacturing areas, inspection areas, equipment platforms, and other industrial work environments.
- Occasionally lift and carry materials or equipment weighing up to 25 pounds.
- Bend, stoop, reach, climb stairs or ladders, and perform other physical activities reasonably associated with the position.
- Wear required personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Work in environments where exposure to manufacturing equipment, industrial noise, temperature variations, and other workplace conditions may occur.
Avio USA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the position, consistent with applicable law.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Avio USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Avio USA is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans and to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in accordance with applicable law.
As a federal contractor or subcontractor, Avio USA complies with applicable requirements of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), as amended, including applicable nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements.
Applicants who require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or employment process may contact Human Resources at humanresources@aviousa.com.
Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
Compensation: $100,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
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