Principal Design Engineer (CAE Cross-Domain)

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 Principal Design Engineer with strong Mechanical Engineering or related engineering background, deep CAE domain expertise, and expert-level understanding of Nastran solver workflows. This role is responsible for studying pre-processing and post-processing workflows, defining complete design specifications, documenting use cases, specifying user interactions, and guiding solver integration requirements for the development team to implement. The successful candidate will act as a senior design authority for CAE workflows, bridging customer engineering needs, solver behavior, product usability, and implementation-ready requirements. The role also includes Python scripting design, development of custom Python tools, and use of design and modeling tools such as Figma and Visual Paradigm to communicate workflow concepts, interaction models, and system behavior clearly.
Key Responsibilities
• Study CAE pre-processing and post-processing workflows and convert customer and engineering workflow needs into clear, implementation-ready design specifications.
• Define complete use cases, user interactions, workflow states, edge cases, validation expectations, and acceptance criteria for development and QA teams.
• Provide expert guidance on Nastran solver integration, including input deck behavior, solver result interpretation, solver-specific workflow requirements, and integration constraints.
• Create workflow designs, wireframes, interaction models, process diagrams, and system behavior models using tools such as Figma and Visual Paradigm.
• Collaborate closely with product management, architecture, development, QA, and solver experts to ensure designs are technically feasible, usable, testable, and aligned with CAE engineering practice.
• Design Python scripting interfaces, automation workflows, and custom Python tools to support CAE workflow validation, productivity, and customer-specific process automation.
• Communicate design rationale, workflow tradeoffs, solver assumptions, implementation dependencies, and user experience expectations clearly to stakeholders and development teams.
Required Qualifications
Education
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer-Aided Engineering, Applied Mechanics, or a related engineering discipline.
Experience
• 12+ years of experience in Mechanical Engineering, CAE, simulation workflow design, solver integration, application engineering, product design, or related engineering software domains.
• Expert-level understanding of Nastran solver workflows, including model setup, input deck structure, boundary conditions, loads, constraints, solution sequences, solver output, and result interpretation.
• Deep expertise in CAE pre-processing and post-processing workflows, including model definition, solver setup, result review, contouring, XY plotting, animation, result probing, derived calculations, and reporting.
• Proven experience defining product use cases, workflow specifications, interaction models, user journeys, edge cases, and acceptance criteria for engineering software development teams.
• Experience working with software development teams to translate engineering workflow knowledge into implementable requirements, design specifications, and validation guidance.
• Hands-on experience designing Python scripting workflows, automation concepts, and custom Python tools for CAE productivity, validation, or process automation.
• Practical experience using design and modeling tools such as Figma and Visual Paradigm to communicate workflows, user interactions, process diagrams, and system behavior.
• Experience with CAE products or simulation platforms such as MSC Apex, Patran, Nastran, Adams, Marc, Abaqus, ANSYS, HyperWorks, or equivalent technologies.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted software development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar tools to improve productivity, documentation, and engineering workflows.
Technical Skills
• Expert knowledge of Nastran solver concepts, solver setup workflows, solver input and output interpretation, and solver-specific CAE integration requirements.
• Strong understanding of CAE model definition, mesh and geometry workflows, materials, properties, loads, constraints, contacts, boundary conditions, result cases, coordinate systems, units, and engineering validation expectations.
• Ability to specify detailed pre-processing and post-processing workflows, including user interactions, workflow transitions, error handling, validation rules, and expected system behavior.
• Proficiency with Python scripting concepts and hands-on ability to design or develop custom Python tools for CAE automation, workflow prototyping, result processing, or productivity enhancement.
• Strong working knowledge of Figma for workflow mockups, user interaction design, wireframes, and design communication.
• Strong working knowledge of Visual Paradigm or equivalent modeling tools for process diagrams, use-case diagrams, sequence diagrams, and system behavior documentation.
• Ability to work with development teams on solver integration design, API expectations, data mapping, workflow validation, and implementation tradeoffs.
• Familiarity with CAE automation, scripting APIs, engineering data models, solver result structures, and validation workflows for commercial engineering software.
Soft Skills
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Problem-solving and analytical thinking.
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.N/AWe’re doing work that matters. Help us solve what others can’t.