Lead Software Engineer (Postprocessing)

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 Lead Software Engineer focused on CAE post-processing to help design, develop, and deliver capabilities for MSC Apex and related simulation result workflows. This role will contribute to solver result interpretation, result data management, contouring, XY plotting, animation, result probing, derived result calculations, reporting, validation, and scalable handling of large engineering simulation datasets. The successful candidate will work as an experienced individual contributor, partnering with engineering, QA, architecture, and product teams to deliver reliable, maintainable, and customer-focused post-processing solutions. Key Responsibilities • Design, develop, and maintain CAE post-processing capabilities for engineering simulation products, with focus on result accuracy, performance, robustness, usability, and maintainability. • Contribute to workflows for solver result reading, result case management, contour plots, XY plotting, animation, result probing, min/max extraction, derived result calculations, result comparison, and report generation. • Implement and enhance support for scalar, vector, tensor, transient, modal, frequency-domain, and load-step-based result data. • Participate in design reviews, feasibility analysis, debugging, performance tuning, and implementation planning for assigned post-processing components. • Investigate result interpretation issues, plotting errors, result synchronization problems, solver output discrepancies, performance bottlenecks, and customer-reported post-processing issues. Required Qualifications Education • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer-Aided Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related engineering discipline. Experience • 8+ years of software engineering experience delivering commercial or enterprise engineering software, preferably in CAE, simulation results, post-processing, scientific computing, or data-intensive engineering domains. • Strong experience in CAE post-processing workflows, including solver result interpretation, result case management, contouring, XY plotting, animation, result probing, visual result comparison, and report generation. • Good understanding of CAE results data structures, result cases, load steps, time steps, modes, scalar/vector/tensor data, coordinate systems, units, result transformations, and result metadata. • Hands-on experience implementing post-processing workflows such as contouring, XY plotting, animations, result probing, min/max extraction, derived result calculations, result comparison, report generation, or automated post-processing. • Strong background in C++ software development for engineering, scientific, CAE, post-processing, visualization, or data-intensive desktop applications. • Experience developing production-quality solver result readers, result data models, plotting, reporting, validation, or post-processing components. • Working knowledge of solver output formats, transient and frequency-domain results, scalar/vector/tensor result handling, result transformations, units, coordinate systems, and customer-driven usability requirements. • Experience with CAE products or simulation platforms such as MSC Apex, Patran, Adams, Nastran, Marc, Abaqus, ANSYS, HyperWorks, ParaView, Tecplot, or equivalent technologies is preferred. • 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. Technical Skills • Strong proficiency in C++ for CAE post-processing, solver output interpretation, scientific computing, visualization, or data-intensive engineering applications. • Practical experience with CAE result concepts, including result cases, load steps, time steps, modes, scalar/vector/tensor quantities, coordinate systems, units, transformations, averaging, extrapolation, and derived results. • Hands-on experience implementing post-processing features such as contouring, XY plotting, animation, result probing, min/max extraction, envelope calculations, result comparison, report generation, or automated validation workflows. • Working knowledge of visualization frameworks such as VTK, OGRE, OpenGL, ParaView, Tecplot, Qt graphics/view frameworks, or equivalent technologies used to present simulation results. • Hands-on development experience on Windows and Linux platforms, including platform-specific debugging, build, deployment, runtime diagnostics, and performance analysis. • Strong debugging skills using tools such as Visual Studio Debugger, GDB, LLDB, core dump analysis, crash dump analysis, stack traces, logging frameworks, and diagnostic instrumentation. • Familiarity with automated testing strategies for post-processing workflows using Python, including regression tests, numerical result validation, visualization baselines, solver result comparison, benchmark models, and customer model validation. 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/A We’re doing work that matters. Help us solve what others can’t.