Principal Application Engineer

Principal Application Engineer

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

Position Title

Principle Application Engineer – Customer Excellence

Department

Customer Success / Customer Excellence

Reporting To

Head of Customer Success

Location

Remote / Hybrid

Travel

Periodic travel to customer sites, industry events, and internal planning sessions

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Customer Excellence Manager (CEM) is responsible for helping strategic customers achieve measurable business and engineering outcomes through successful adoption of our simulation and engineering software solutions.

The CEM serves as the trusted advisor and primary post-sales relationship owner, developing customer success plans, driving adoption initiatives, monitoring customer health and sentiment, and ensuring customers realize maximum value from their investment.

The ideal candidate combines strong CAE and engineering software knowledge with customer engagement, strategic account management, stakeholder alignment, and business acumen. This role requires close collaboration with Sales, Application Engineering, Support, Product Management, and Marketing teams to deliver exceptional customer outcomes while supporting retention and long-term account growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer Success & Value Realization: Own customer success outcomes by driving product adoption, value realization, and achievement of customer business and engineering objectives throughout the customer lifecycle.
• Strategic Customer Engagement: Build trusted relationships with technical, management, and executive stakeholders, serving as a strategic advisor and advocate for customer success.
• Customer Health & Retention: Monitor customer health, adoption trends, and sentiment to proactively identify risks, develop recovery plans, and support long-term customer retention.
• Account Planning & Growth: Collaborate with Sales and Account Teams to contribute customer insights, support account planning activities, and identify opportunities for product adoption, expansion, and growth.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Coordinate activities across Sales, Application Engineering, Support, Product Management, Professional Services, and Marketing to ensure successful customer outcomes.
• Voice of the Customer: Represent customer needs and feedback within the organization, helping influence product priorities, adoption strategies, and customer experience improvements.
• Executive Business Reviews & Governance: Lead customer governance discussions and business reviews that demonstrate value, align stakeholders, identify opportunities, and strengthen strategic relationships.
• Customer Advocacy: Develop customer champions and advocates who can participate in reference programs, industry events, case studies, and other strategic engagement initiatives.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Customer Success, Technical Account Management, Business Development, Application Engineering, Technical Consulting, Pre-Sales, or Account Management within engineering software, CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, or related technology industries.
• Experience managing strategic customer relationships and driving long-term adoption programs.
• Experience conducting customer reviews, executive engagements, and technical discussions with multiple stakeholder levels.
• Proven history of supporting customer retention, adoption growth, and business expansion initiatives.

Core Competencies

• Strong customer-centric mindset.
• Strategic account planning and stakeholder management.
• Ability to leverage AI tools to enhance customer engagement, adoption, reporting, and productivity.
• Executive communication and presentation skills.
• Customer health and sentiment management.
• Value realization and adoption planning.
• Cross-functional leadership and influence without authority.
• Analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong business and commercial acumen.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Tools & Platforms

• CRM platforms such as Salesforce.
• Customer Success platforms such as Gainsight.
• Bring AI expertise
• Customer adoption and engagement analytics tools.
• Microsoft Office and collaboration platforms.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Customer Outcomes: Achievement of customer success plan objectives; customer adoption and utilization growth; successful onboarding and adoption milestones.
• Customer Health: Customer health score improvements; customer sentiment and relationship strength; risk identification and mitigation effectiveness.
• Retention & Growth: Customer retention rate; contribution to Net Revenue Retention (NRR); expansion opportunities identified and supported; renewal readiness and account stability.
• Customer Advocacy: Customer references and success stories generated; product feedback submitted and acted upon; participation in advocacy and community initiatives.
• Operational & Reporting: Accurate customer planning, reporting, and cross-functional execution.

Ideal Candidate Profile

A successful candidate will be a technically credible CAE professional who can build trusted relationships, drive customer adoption, influence cross-functional teams, manage customer sentiment, contribute to account planning, and identify business growth opportunities while ensuring customers achieve measurable engineering and business outcomes.

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Experience Level

Senior Level