---
title: 'Manager, CAD & Design Systems at Mainspring Energy'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/manager-cad-design-systems-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-racgnz1hdbew'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Manager, CAD & Design Systems at Mainspring Energy

- **Company:** Mainspring Energy
- **Location:** Menlo Park, CA
- **Compensation:** $180k–$210k
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/mainspringenergy/fe52c6f5-f488-4182-bcc5-e7f8325e4d9c

## Job description

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

## About Mainspring Energy

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Mainspring Energy designs and manufactures fuel-flexible linear generators that provide low-emission, dispatchable onsite power for utilities, data centers, and industrial customers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series F)
- **Headquarters**: Menlo Park, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2010
- **Founders**: Shannon Miller

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Electric Power Generation
- Target customers: B2B – utilities, data center developers, enterprise, industrial
- Mission statement: "Redefining how local power is delivered to capacity constrained companies and communities" – enabling clean, reliable, and fuel-flexible power.

## Products & Services
- **[Linear Generator (LGen)]**: A flameless, fuel-flexible generator that converts gaseous fuels (natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, propane) into electricity with near-zero NOx emissions. Modular (0.25 MW per unit), fast-ramping (0-100% dispatchable), 46% electrical efficiency (LHV). Standardized 2.5 MW configuration (10 units). Suitable for grid-parallel or grid-independent operation, microgrids, and balancing renewables.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metrics**: Annual revenue $117M (latest fiscal year); total funding $813M; 407 employees
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: General Catalyst (led Series F, 2025, $258M), Lightrock (led Series E, 2022, $140M), BloombergNEF (grant), and others.
- **Growth Signals**: Powering the largest U.S. EV truck charging depot; >1 GW of capacity trusted by Fortune 500 companies and utilities; headcount growing +3.4% YoY; job postings up +121.4% YoY (62 active openings); recently expanded into data center market.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Fuel Flexibility**: Single generator can seamlessly switch between natural gas, RNG, hydrogen, and propane without hardware retrofits.
- **Near-Zero Emissions**: <1.5 ppm NOx (0.05 lb/MWh) – meets stringent air quality standards.
- **Dispatchability**: 0-100% load following, grid-independent operation, capable of firming renewables.
- **Low Maintenance**: Only two moving parts, no oil changes, modular design reduces downtime.
- **High Efficiency**: 46% electrical efficiency (LHV) across all scales.
- **Fast Deployment**: Factory-built, skid-mounted units enable rapid installation.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling manufacturing and deployment to meet growing demand from data centers and utilities.
- Advancing hydrogen and biogas compatibility to support long-term decarbonization.
- Expanding standardized 2.5 MW configurations to lower installed cost and accelerate timelines.
- Building a diverse, cross-disciplinary team to drive innovation in power generation.

## Why Work Here
- Culture of inclusion, respect, and collaboration across engineering, operations, and field teams.
- Emphasis on growth: "We invest in your growth because progress requires people who keep getting better."
- Hybrid/Remote options: headquarters in Menlo Park, manufacturing facilities, and remote field service roles.
- Active hiring across engineering (mechanical, electrical, software), operations, supply chain, and field service.
- Competitive salary ranges (e.g., Engineer ~$107k, Controls Engineer ~$109k, Manufacturing Engineer ~$91k) plus benefits.
- Diverse talent origins from Tesla, Stanford, Apple, SunPower, and other top clean energy companies.

## Sources
1. [mainspringenergy.com/company](https://www.mainspringenergy.com/company)
2. [mainspringenergy.com/careers](https://www.mainspringenergy.com/careers)
3. [jobs.lever.co/mainspringenergy](https://jobs.lever.co/mainspringenergy)
4. [linkedin.com/company/mainspringenergy](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mainspringenergy)
5. [mainspringenergy.com/product](https://www.mainspringenergy.com/product)

## Other roles at Mainspring Energy

- [Vice President, Electrical Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/vice-president-electrical-engineering-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-p78zqkakjf87) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Staff Power Systems Site Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-power-systems-site-integration-engineer-mainspring-energy-remote-ad1s0terv790)
- [Staff Project Engineer - Grid Scale](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-project-engineer-grid-scale-mainspring-energy-remote-x5ke2wm3a57g)
- [Senior Product Integration Engineer (CAD)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-integration-engineer-cad-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-ax1bd2rd6xyb) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Senior Product Performance Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-performance-engineer-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-tkn2srq295k3) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Staff Product Performance Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-product-performance-engineer-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-ev3fhf1v0m38) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Senior Staff Software Test & Automation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-software-test-automation-engineer-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-81j3epyw7kdp) — Menlo Park, CA
- [FP&A Manager — Services](https://feeny.ai/job/fp-a-manager-services-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-za5am2fn9ga5) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Sustaining Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sustaining-controls-engineer-mainspring-energy-menlo-park-cycxdbkwtkxh) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Corporate Paralegal](https://feeny.ai/job/corporate-paralegal-mainspring-energy-remote-avwq5bg1kn28)