Sr. Software Engineering Manager (Pre/Post)

Cadence Design Systems; United States; Remote; USD 220,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Cadence Design Systems seeks a development leader to manage pre-processing and post-processing teams for Apex, driving model setup, solver integration, visualization, and workflow automation. You will translate customer needs into engineering plans, guide architecture decisions, and mentor engineers across distributed teams to ensure high-quality releases.

The role emphasizes leadership in CAE software domains, collaboration with product management and QA, and modernization initiatives including

Qualifications

• 20+ years in software engineering in CAE/CAD engineering simulation.
• Proven leadership of pre/post-processing product areas for simulation software.
• Strong CAE preprocessing workflows and solver deck prep experience.
• Experience with MSC Apex, Patran, Adams, ANSA, HyperMesh, or similar CAE tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead pre-processing and post-processing teams for Apex in China.
• Drive technical execution and delivery aligned with roadmap and milestones.
• Provide leadership for CAE model preparation, visualization, and report workflows.
• Mentor engineers and promote cross-team collaboration.
• Define architectures for scalable, high-performance CAE software components.

Skills

C++

Python

Leadership

CAE knowledge

Mentoring

AI tooling

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CAD/Mechanical Eng.

Tools

MSC Apex

Patran

Adams

ANSA

HyperMesh

SimLab

Abaqus/CAE

ANSYS Mechanical

LS-PrePost

Job description

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

Position Summary We are seeking a highly motivated development leader with proven experience managing pre-processing and post-processing teams to join our Apex organization. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading the pre-processing and post-processing domains for Apex in China and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software releases that support business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the pre-processing and post-processing engineering teams responsible for simulation software capabilities, including model setup, solver integration, results visualization, and workflow automation.
• Own the technical execution and delivery of MSC Apex pre- and post-processing features, ensuring alignment with product roadmap, release milestones, and business priorities.
• Provide technical leadership for CAE model preparation, results import, visualization, plotting, animation, and report generation workflows.
• Translate customer needs, usability gaps, and technical challenges into actionable engineering plans and product improvements.
• Guide architecture, design reviews, feasibility evaluations, technical risk assessments, and implementation strategies for complex CAE workflows.
• Drive engineering excellence through improved development practices, code quality, performance optimization, automation, maintainability, and test coverage.
• Manage project planning, sprint execution, resource allocation, dependency tracking, and delivery commitments across multiple releases.
• Troubleshoot complex technical and operational issues, including customer escalations, production defects, performance bottlenecks, and workflow failures.
• Mentor and grow engineers and technical leads, building domain expertise in pre-processing, post-processing, and simulation workflows.
• Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and technical alignment across geographically distributed teams.
• Support long-term modernization initiatives, including platform scalability, workflow automation, API enablement, cloud readiness, and integration with broader simulation ecosystems.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Aided Design/Mechanical engineering or related engineering domains

Experience

• 20+ years of software engineering experience, preferably in CAE, CAD, engineering simulation, computational mechanics, or scientific software domains.
• Proven experience managing pre-processing and post-processing product areas for simulation software, including model setup, geometry preparation, meshing, results visualization, and engineering workflow automation.
• Strong understanding of CAE preprocessing workflows, including material/property assignment, boundary conditions, loads, contacts, and solver deck preparation.
• Experience with post-processing workflows, including simulation results import, contour/vector/tensor visualization, animation, path plots, XY plots, report generation, and interpretation of solver results.
• Experience working with or managing development for tools such as MSC Apex, Patran, Adams, ANSA, HyperMesh, SimLab, Abaqus/CAE, ANSYS Mechanical, LS-PrePost, or similar CAE platforms.
• Strong technical background in C++ software development, preferably for large-scale desktop engineering applications.
• Familiarity with Python scripting, automation, APIs, and workflow customization for CAE users.
• Experience leading teams responsible for geometry, meshing, solver integration, results processing, visualization, and user workflow productivity.
• Ability to guide architecture and technical decisions for scalable, maintainable, and high-performance simulation software components.
• Experience collaborating with product management, QA, solver teams, application engineers, customer support, and field teams to define requirements and deliver product releases.
• Track record of mentoring senior engineers and technical leads in specialized CAE software domains.
• Experience balancing technical debt, modernization, performance improvements, usability, quality, and delivery commitments.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted software development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar tools to improve coding productivity, code review efficiency, documentation, and engineering workflows.

Soft Skills

• Strong people leadership skills with the ability to mentor engineers, set expectations, provide feedback, and build a high-performing delivery-focused team.
• Excellent communication skills for working with engineering teams, product stakeholders, QA, program management, and senior leadership.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make practical decisions under technical and schedule constraints.
• Ability to drive accountability, remove execution blockers, and maintain focus on predictable, high-quality delivery.
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to influence across teams and build alignment around technical priorities and delivery commitments.N/A

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