Quote:

John Bruce
someone like a "configuration engineer" basically keeps track of what all the other worker-bees do and makes sure everyone knows what the other guy is doing, nobody does it out of order, nobody does something that conflicts with something else, etc.

This really is not quite what a configuration engineer does. Where I work (a very large defense contractor, mostly engineers), these are called configuration managers. They keep track of documentation. They ensure the engineers document their work properly and in accordance with various standards (ie ISO 9001, etc). The person who does what is described above, such as making sure each discipline is coordinated, is done in order and in accordance with requirements and with no conflicts would be a systems engineer (my field - not to be confused with an IT programmer). The systems engineer maintains the requirements of the project, ensures they are flowed properly to each discipline, integrates the work of each discipline and then validates and verifies the system meets the requirements. The configuration engineer (the job listed here) simply makes sure each of these steps are recorded and documented. He is literally a paper pusher. Doesn't make the job un-important, but he provides no direction or leadership as implied above.