SURENDRA BALU

Principal PLM Lead · 21+ years

Enterprise PLM.
Beyond the
platform.

I’m Surendra Balu. I connect deep PLM expertise with hands-on cloud architecture, DevOps, and applied AI - taking enterprise systems from the business case to production.

Get in touch

Columbus, Ohio · Open to remote & hybrid roles

MY ENGINEERING PRACTICE01 — 04

01 / The foundation

Enterprise PLM

Product data. Change control. Digital thread.

Cloud & DevOps

AWS · Terraform · Resilient operations

Integration & automation

APIs · Event-driven systems · Delivery

Applied AI

Self-hosted LLMs · Agents · Tool-calling

Strategy, architecture, and hands-on execution

Built across industries.

From energy and automotive to pharma and medical devices, I’ve helped teams connect product data, engineering workflows, and business needs.

Explore my work
21+years in enterprise PLM
$3.7Mannual savings from AWS migration
99.99%platform availability on AWS

01 / Expertise

Four disciplines.
One connected practice.

PLM is my foundation. Cloud, automation, and AI extend what I can deliver — from engineering workflows to the infrastructure behind them.

Enterprise PLM01

From product data to a working digital thread.

Led a first enterprise PLM implementation from feasibility and vendor selection through architecture, migration, and production go-live of 3DEXPERIENCE R2025x with SolidWorks Connected.

5 → 2 hourspart-release cycle time
3DEXPERIENCE / ENOVIASolidWorksData migrationChange control
Cloud & DevOps02

Architecture that holds up in production.

Own multi-account AWS infrastructure with Oracle RDS and dual-AZ availability. In a previous role, migrated PLM to AWS, built deployment pipelines, and used infrastructure as code to reduce recovery time.

15 minrecovery objectives in a previous role
AWSTerraformBlue/green deploymentDynatrace
Integration & automation03

Less manual work. More reliable releases.

Built an Altium-to-3DEXPERIENCE BOM converter and a custom SolidWorks release pipeline. Currently architecting an event-driven PLM-to-ERP/MES integration platform on n8n and AWS.

~90%less manual deliverable effort
n8nEventBridge / SQS / LambdaREST APIsPython / Java
Applied AI04

AI that earns its place in the workflow.

Built a Slack-native PLM support agent on a self-hosted Ollama / MLX stack. LLM tool-calling brings platform support into the conversation, cutting first response from hours to seconds.

~60%of routine support requests deflected
Agentic AILLM tool-callingOllama / MLXSelf-hosted inference

Technical depth, with commercial ownership. I also build the business case, lead vendor selection, and align delivery with the people who use and fund the platform.

02 / Measurable impact

Engineering decisions.
Business outcomes.

Faster releases, lower infrastructure costs, and less work around the work. Selected results across enterprise PLM and cloud programs.

Business case$2.7M+

Projected annual engineering-efficiency savings.

Cloud migration$3.7M

Annual savings from re-platforming 3DEXPERIENCE on AWS.

CAD performance50%

Faster CAD model loads, returning ~1 hour per engineer per day.

ECAD integration~4 hrs

Manual BOM re-entry removed per release.

Part-release cycle

Days per release

Before5 d
After2 d
60% faster releases. Estimated value of ~$1.2M annually across ~500 part releases.

Release pipeline failures

Share of daily jobs

Before~60%
After0%
A reliable deliverable pipeline. Replaced failing vendor jobs with custom SolidWorks automation.

Maintenance downtime

Hours per maintenance window

Before4 h
After0 h
Maintenance without interruption. Blue/green architecture eliminated the downtime window.

Results reflect different initiatives and periods. Projected savings and estimates are labeled; figures are not additive.

03 / How I work

From the first
“why” to go-live.
And beyond.

I connect business analysis, solution architecture, technical delivery, and ongoing operations across the full PLM lifecycle.

20%reduction in total cost of ownership negotiated at vendor selection

  1. 01

    Build the business case

    Quantify engineering bottlenecks, test feasibility, and give leadership a defensible investment case.

  2. 02

    Select the right partners

    Run the RFP, evaluate vendors, and negotiate cost against the outcomes the business needs.

  3. 03

    Translate requirements

    Turn stakeholder needs into functional and technical specifications, balancing standard capability, configuration, and customization.

  4. 04

    Design the solution

    Define the data model, release process, change control, and migration strategy.

  5. 05

    Engineer the platform

    Choose the hosting model and design cloud infrastructure, integrations, deployment, and recovery.

  6. 06

    Deliver. Operate. Improve.

    Coordinate teams through go-live and stay accountable for availability, performance, and day-to-day engineering needs.

04 / Experience

Built over two decades.

From PLM engineering and consulting to principal-level ownership of enterprise platforms.

CURRENT

Feb 2025 — Present

Remote

Principal PLM Lead

  • Delivered the company’s first enterprise PLM: 3DEXPERIENCE R2025x on AWS, from business case through production go-live.
  • Own multi-account AWS operations at 99.99% availability, and built a self-hosted AI support agent that frees ~8–10 admin hours weekly.
  • Developed ECAD BOM and release automation; currently architecting the PLM-to-ERP/MES integration platform.

Jan 2020 — Jan 2025

Columbus, Ohio

Staff PLM Technical Analyst

  • Migrated 3DEXPERIENCE to AWS, delivering $3.7M in annual cost savings.
  • Eliminated maintenance downtime with blue/green architecture and reduced CAD model load times by 50%.
  • Built deployment pipelines, introduced Dynatrace monitoring, and reduced recovery time and recovery point objectives to 15 minutes using infrastructure as code.

Jul 2018 — Dec 2019

Columbus, Ohio

Sr Software Solutions Architect

  • Translated business requirements into 3DEXPERIENCE solutions and configured production ENOVIA 2018x environments.
  • Tuned database, FCS, Exalead, and 3D Index servers for production performance.
Earlier experience · 2005–2018

Dec 2017 — Jun 2018

Detroit, Michigan

Senior PLM Consultant

  • Analyzed stakeholder requirements and adapted ENOVIA applications to customer needs, with database and search performance tuning.

May 2016 — Dec 2017

Detroit, Michigan

PLM Systems Support Senior Analyst

  • Led feasibility studies and authored functional and technical specifications. Coordinated offshore teams, timelines, and resources.

Jun 2014 — Sep 2015

Memphis, Tennessee

Senior Technical Consultant

  • Led a Documentum-to-ENOVIA 2014x migration, developing Adaplet programs to preserve data integrity.

Apr 2013 — Jun 2014

Chicago, Illinois

PLM Consultant

  • Delivered MatrixOne customizations and upgrades, with unit testing, code reviews, and performance tuning.

Aug 2005 — Mar 2013

PLM Engineer

Additional experience

  • Earlier PLM engineering experience. Details available on request.

05 / Technical toolkit

The tools behind the work.

Platform depth, supported by cloud engineering, integration, and AI capabilities.

PLM & product engineering

3DEXPERIENCE / ENOVIA through R2025xTeamcenterCATIASolidWorks ConnectedBMIDEMQLxCADAltium ECAD–MCADData migration & ETL

Cloud & infrastructure

AWSTerraformKubernetesDevOpsOracle / RDSPostgreSQLApache / TomEEDynatraceCybersecurity

Integration & automation

n8nWorkatoREST APIsJavaPythonSQLEventBridge / SQS / LambdaECS FargateJIRASolidWorks API

AI & machine learning

Agentic AILLM tool-callingOllama / MLXSelf-hosted LLMsPyTorchDeep learningNLPComputer vision

Let’s connect

Your next platform.
My kind of challenge.

I’m open to Principal and Director conversations across PLM, platform architecture, and applied AI. If your team needs someone who can connect strategy with hands-on delivery, let’s talk.

EMAILsurebalu@gmail.com LINKEDINsurendra-balu-b3150215