> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Engineering Lead, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/134ddbfeed5b6395 Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Pleasanton, CA, at $160,000–$220,000 base, level with the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Leads hands-on technical delivery of PLM integrations and AI capabilities, connecting enterprise PLM, CAD/PDM, ERP, and MES systems to Avathon's platform. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/avathon-formerly-sparkcognition) Posted Oct 9, 2026 by Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$160,000–$220,000** Pleasanton, CA On-site Leads hands-on technical delivery of PLM integrations and AI capabilities, connecting enterprise PLM, CAD/PDM, ERP, and MES systems to Avathon's platform. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F134ddbfeed5b6395&placement=top) - [View posting at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://avathon.com/company/careers-job-listing/?gh_jid=4742835005) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $160K–$220K Level with the median Midpoint $190K · median $190K This job $160K to $220K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **8+ years** software engineering - **3+ years** leading engineers or technical delivery Background - **Software engineering** - **Implementation and data engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in Pleasanton, CA. Could you work there? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Pleasanton, CA - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Remote work restrictions**: Must be based in the Bay Area, CA; report to the Pleasanton office five days a week. - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated - **Pay**: ## More like this [Deepgram](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/deepgram) ### [Software Engineer - Applied AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/62ba0cdc84fdffe7) San Francisco, CA On-site New · 3d ago $173,800–$212,400 [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer, Forward Deployment Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/818aaa7b6b639645) East Palo Alto, CA · Boston, MA · +2 more 2w ago $143,700–$223,600 [Cogent Security, Inc.](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cogent-security-inc) ### [Forward Deployed Agent Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8b2ffedbcbde8090) San Francisco, CA Hybrid 7w ago $100,000–$300,000 - [Other jobs at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) (5)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/avathon-formerly-sparkcognition) ## The job description from Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) Posted by Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) on Oct 9, 2026 ### Who We Are & Why Join Us **Avathon** is the leading Industrial AI autonomy platform, helping customers across heavy industries -- energy, mining, manufacturing, aerospace, defense, and logistics -- accelerate the journey toward autonomous operations. Our platform is built on a Computational Knowledge Graph foundation that contextualizes and connects operational data across siloed systems, bringing together time series, structured, unstructured, and machine vision data to power AI-driven applications in asset performance management, supply chain intelligence, visual AI, and global trade management. With capabilities spanning digital twins, normal behavior modeling, natural language processing, and computer vision, Avathon delivers real-time predictive intelligence and agentic decision-making at industrial scale. **Cutting-Edge AI Innovation** -- Join a team at the forefront of AI, developing groundbreaking solutions that shape the future. **High-Growth Environment** -- Thrive in a fast-scaling startup where agility, collaboration, and rapid professional growth are the norm. **Meaningful Impact** -- Work on AI-driven projects that drive real change across industries and improve lives. Learn more at: avathon.com We are hiring an Engineering Lead for Product Lifecycle Management to own the technical delivery of Avathon's PLM integrations and the AI capabilities built on top of them. You will work alongside our Forward Deployed Design Leads and customer engineering teams to connect PLM, CAD/PDM, ERP and MES systems to the Avathon platform, model product structures and engineering change flows in our Computational Knowledge Graph, and ship the BOM comparison, change impact and digital thread features customers use every day. This is a hands-on lead role. You will write code, own the integration architecture, and lead a small team of engineers through implementation, go-live and hypercare. ### You Will ### PLM Integration Architecture - Own the technical design for integrating customer PLM systems (Teamcenter, Windchill, 3DEXPERIENCE, SAP PLM, Oracle Agile) with the Avathon platform - Build and maintain connectors and data pipelines from PLM, CAD/PDM, ERP and MES sources into our Bronze/Silver/Gold data lake - Define canonical data models for parts, EBOM and MBOM structures, variants, effectivity and engineering changes - Set standards for data quality, sync latency and reconciliation between source systems and the platform ### Knowledge Graph and AI Features - Model product structures and change relationships (ECR, ECO, MCA, MBOM, BOP) in the Computational Knowledge Graph so any change can be traced to its downstream impact - Build the backend services behind BOM comparison, engineering change impact and clear-to-build views - Work with our ML, data science and agent teams to apply Normal Behavior Models and AI agents to PLM data, such as flagging unusual ECR patterns or change-driven supply risk - Turn one-off customer work into reusable platform components ### Delivery and Technical Leadership - Hands on lead to through discovery, build, go-live and hypercare on customer deployments - Run technical working sessions with customer PLM, IT and engineering teams and act as the senior technical contact on the account - Own go-live readiness: integration testing, data validation, performance and security review - Review designs and code, set engineering practices, and mentor engineers on the PLM domain - Partner with design, product and customer success to scope work, call out risk early and keep delivery on plan ### You'll Have - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field - 8+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years leading engineers or technical delivery - Hands-on integration experience with at least one enterprise PLM platform (Teamcenter, Windchill, 3DEXPERIENCE, SAP PLM or Oracle Agile), including its APIs and data model - Strong working knowledge of BOM management, engineering change management, variants and effectivity - Experience integrating PLM with ERP, CAD/PDM, MES and quality systems - Strong backend skills in Python with experience building data pipelines and REST APIs - Experience with graph data models or graph databases is a strong plus - Familiarity with digital thread concepts; MBSE exposure (SysML, Cameo, Rhapsody) is a plus - Experience in manufacturing, automotive, aerospace or defense environments - Comfortable working directly with customers and traveling to customer sites - Clear technical writing and communication ### Compensation **Pay Range:** $160,000-$220,000 salary annually. Pay for this position is based on a number of factors including geographic location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. **Location:** This role is not remote. Candidates must be based in the Bay Area, CA and are expected to report to our Pleasanton office 5 days a week. *Avathon is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.* *Avathon is committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us to discuss how we can assist you.* [View posting at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://avathon.com/company/careers-job-listing/?gh_jid=4742835005) ## About Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) Avathon builds AI for industrial asset performance, renewable energy, and defense/autonomy use cases. 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