Software Engineering Director

Software Engineering Director Location: SAN JOSE At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology. Role Overview Responsible for end-to-end product validation to ensure the solution works reliably in real customer environments. This role operates downstream of Software Testing and Evaluation, focusing on validating full product behavior, interfaces, configurations, and release readiness. Key Responsibilities 1. Feature & Regression Validation Validate all product features against specifications for each release candidate Own regression coverage and identify behavioral drift across releases Reproduce, triage, and track customer-reported issues through resolution 2. Interface & UX Validation Test across all user interfaces: TUI, VS Code extension, web UI, and future surfaces Validate workflows, interactions, and usability across platforms (OS, IDEs, terminals) 3. Environment & Configuration Testing Validate across deployment environments: AWS, GCP, and on-prem Ensure functional parity across model providers (e.g., Claude, GPT, Gemini) Test authentication, licensing, and network/proxy configurations Maintain a documented support and validation matrix 4. Customer Environment Replication Build and maintain replicas of key customer environments Run parallel validation across multiple customer profiles Keep environments aligned with evolving customer setups 5. Release Readiness & Gating Define and enforce QA pass/fail criteria for releases Own validation plans, test checklists, and QA sign-off Block releases when quality standards are not met 6. Cross-Team Collaboration Work with Software Testing and Evaluation as downstream validation owner Route defects to the appropriate teams (Engineering, Testing, Evaluation) Feed real-world data back into evaluation frameworks 7. QA Infrastructure & Automation Maintain validation environments, test harnesses, and automation frameworks Drive automation where cost-effective while preserving critical manual coverage Ensure validation processes are documented and reproducible The annual salary range for California is $178,500 to $331,500. You may also be eligible to receive incentive compensation: bonus, equity, and benefits. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive compensation structure. Please note that the salary range is a guideline and compensation may vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies and work location. Our benefits programs include: paid vacation and paid holidays, 401(k) plan with employer match, employee stock purchase plan, a variety of medical, dental and vision plan options, and more. We’re doing work that matters. Help us solve what others can’t.