Product Data Engineer

Sherman and Reilly Inc•Chattanooga, TN

10h

About The Position

The Product Data Engineer (PDE) is responsible for the integrity, governance, and lifecycle management of product-related data. Reporting to the Program Manager, the role owns the structure and accuracy of the Engineering Bill of Materials (eBOM), part master data, technical drawings, and engineering change processes. The PDE is the business data owner for SolidWorks PDM Professional (DocVault) and the authoritative source for product information across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, and SAP. System administration of SolidWorks PDM Professional remains with the CAD/PDM Systems Administrator in IT. The role governs product data in SolidWorks PDM Professional and SAP, manages engineering change processes, supports synchronization between the systems, and coordinates with the CAD/PDM Systems Administrator on workflows, upgrades, and related requirements. The PDE also trains users, supports new product development and continuous improvement, generates data-quality and BOM reports, and supports audits and quality-system requirements. The position is primarily office-based within the engineering environment, with regular interaction with the manufacturing floor and IT. Occasional travel to supplier or customer sites may be required. The role requires sitting and working at a computer for extended periods.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Technology, Industrial Technology, or a related technical discipline; an associate's degree with significant relevant experience may be considered instead.
3–7 years of experience in product data management, configuration management, or a related engineering role in a manufacturing environment.
Direct, hands-on experience with SolidWorks PDM Professional (DocVault), including advanced-user experience and familiarity with vault administration and workflow concepts.
Demonstrated experience managing Bills of Materials and engineering change processes.
Direct experience working in SAP (Business ByDesign and/or S/4HANA); SAP material master and BOM management experience is strongly preferred.
Proficiency reading and interpreting engineering drawings, CAD models, and technical specifications.
Strong understanding of single-level and multi-level BOM structures, eBOM versus mBOM, and SAP BOM management.
Working knowledge of SolidWorks CAD sufficient to navigate assemblies, drawings, and file relationships in the PDM vault.
Working knowledge of SAP material master concepts, including material types, MRP views, units of measure, procurement types, and cost rollups; costing is owned by Finance.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel for data analysis, mass-upload preparation using approved, logged templates, and reporting.
Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.
Strong organizational and process-orientation skills, with comfort building and enforcing standards.
Effective communication across technical and non-technical audiences.
Collaborative approach and ability to influence without direct authority.
Continuous-improvement mindset, including proactively identifying gaps and driving resolution.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting or participating in an SAP implementation or upgrade; S/4HANA Public Cloud experience is especially valued.
Experience using and managing data in SolidWorks Electrical.
Experience using company-approved AI assistants in accordance with company data-handling policy.
Experience in industrial equipment, capital goods, or specialty manufacturing.
Familiarity with ISO 9001 document-control requirements.
Exposure to ISA-95 manufacturing hierarchy and integration concepts across MES, SAP, and PDM layers.
Understanding of rental or configured-to-order product models and their effect on SAP BOM and material master structure.
SolidWorks PDM Professional certification.
SAP certification in ByDesign or S/4HANA.
APICS CPIM or a similar supply-chain certification.

Responsibilities

Own and maintain the Engineering Bill of Materials (eBOM) for active and new products.
Establish and enforce part numbering standards, naming conventions, and data-entry guidelines.
Maintain the accuracy of SAP material master engineering data and alignment between engineering data and operational records.
Govern release and revision status for technical drawings, specifications, and product documents in SolidWorks PDM Professional.
Define and maintain data-quality standards across SolidWorks PDM Professional (DocVault) and SAP.
Own the Engineering Change Order (ECO) and Engineering Change Notice (ECN) processes.
Coordinate cross-functional review and approval of engineering changes with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality.
Ensure design changes are transitioned in a controlled and documented manner into production BOMs and SAP procurement records.
Maintain revision history and audit trails for product changes in SolidWorks PDM Professional.
Serve as the data administrator for SolidWorks PDM Professional (DocVault), including defining folder-structure and data-migration requirements.
Coordinate with the CAD/PDM Systems Administrator on requirements, design input, and user acceptance testing for document workflows, revision states, and approval routing.
Own data requirements for and validate the accuracy of the SolidWorks PDM Professional–SAP integration, including BOM and material master synchronization.
Coordinate with the CAD/PDM Systems Administrator on system upgrades, acceptance testing, backups, and PDM environment performance.
Assist IT and the CAD/PDM Systems Administrator with requirements, user acceptance testing, and rollout of BOM comparison and synchronization tooling; define consistency rules and train users.
Train and support engineering staff on PDM data standards and processes, including modeling, drawing, and eBOM maintenance protocols.
Serve as the functional subject matter expert for product data in SAP, currently Business ByDesign with S/4HANA Public Cloud planned.
Manage SAP material master data and BOM structures related to engineering data, maintaining integrity and consistency across plant codes.
Partner with IT and SAP support teams on data standards, migration requirements, and system improvements.
Establish and document SAP data governance procedures and train users on material master and BOM maintenance.
Act as the primary liaison between Engineering and Operations/Supply Chain on product data matters.
Support New Product Development by establishing BOM structure and SAP/PDM data-readiness milestones.
Participate in SAP continuous improvement initiatives as the subject matter expert for product and material data.
Generate reports on data quality, change-order cycle times, and BOM accuracy.
Support audits and quality-system requirements, including ISO 9001, as they relate to document and data control.
Maintain compliance with internal configuration-management policies and applicable regulatory requirements.
Follow defined access and segregation-of-duties controls, requesting elevated access through IT's standard approval process.