Director, Product Management — Custom & Analog Design Solutions
Cadence · San Jose, United States · 3d ago
At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.
About Cadence
Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic systems design, applying its Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware, and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Cadence customers are the world's most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to complete systems. Within Cadence, the Custom & PCB Group (CPG) is responsible for the custom, analog, RF, and mixed-signal design solutions used by design teams worldwide, anchored by the industry-standard Virtuoso platform.
The Role
We are hiring a Director, Product Management to own the strategy, roadmap, and go-to-market for a product line within CPG's custom and analog design portfolio. This is a role for a product leader with genuine analog credibility — someone who can sit across from senior analog circuit designers, speak their language, understand the problems they lose sleep over, and earn the technical trust required to influence how they work.
Analog and custom designers are expert, discerning, and rightly protective of proven methodologies. Success in this role depends on the depth to engage them as a peer, the judgment to prioritize what genuinely moves their productivity, and the influence to align R&D, sales, and marketing behind a single, well-articulated plan. Reporting to CPG Product Management leadership, you will translate deep customer insight into a compelling product and drive its adoption across demanding analog and custom design teams.
Key Responsibilities
Engage and influence expert practitioners. Build deep, credible relationships with senior analog and custom circuit designers and their leadership; understand their design challenges first-hand, and earn the technical trust needed to shift entrenched methodologies and drive adoption of Cadence solutions.
Own the product. Set the vision, strategy, multi-year roadmap, detailed requirements, and release priorities for your product line, grounded in direct customer and market feedback from analog design teams.
Go-to-market. Own positioning, messaging, and technical value narrative; articulate — in terms analog designers respect — how the product improves their productivity and time-to-results, and equip sales and field teams to carry that story.
Drive adoption & revenue. Lead key customer engagements and business-development activity; convert skeptical, high-expertise design teams into active users and advocates, and grow adoption and revenue across strategic accounts.
Pricing & packaging. Define how the product is packaged, priced, and licensed, partnering with commercial and deal-desk teams on terms that win and scale.
Competitive & market intelligence. Continuously monitor the analog, mixed-signal, and broader semiconductor design landscape; translate trends and competitive moves into product and positioning decisions.
Cross-functional leadership. Align R&D, sales, marketing, and other stakeholders around a single coherent plan, and represent the product in executive, analyst, partner, and customer forums.
Build the team. As the product scales, hire, coach, and develop product managers — leading by context, not control — and instill rigorous product discovery and delivery practices.
Measure what matters. Define and track the success metrics for the product line: adoption and active usage, customer productivity impact, pipeline, and revenue.
Required Qualifications
Deep, hands-on understanding of analog and mixed-signal circuit design — circuit topologies, device-level design, sizing and biasing, layout and parasitics, PVT and corner behavior, and verification methodology — and a first-hand grasp of the real challenges analog teams face (long design cycles, designer ramp-up, layout closure, cross-node migration).
Proven ability to communicate credibly with and influence expert analog circuit design engineers — the technical depth and presence to be taken seriously by senior designers, and the persuasive skill to change how experienced practitioners work.
10+ years in the semiconductor / EDA industry, including 5+ years in product management, product marketing, or product-line ownership.
Demonstrated ownership of a product or product line — roadmap, requirements, pricing/packaging, and go-to-market — with accountability for adoption and revenue.
Strong executive-communication skills and the ability to lead by influence across R&D, sales, and marketing.
BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or a related field; MSEE with an analog / mixed-signal specialization strongly preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
Hands-on analog or mixed-signal circuit design experience earlier in your career — you have designed, simulated, and/or laid out analog circuits yourself and can engage designers from lived experience.
Familiarity with the Virtuoso custom/analog ecosystem and the broader custom IC design flow.
Experience with AI/ML-assisted design tools and modern design-productivity approaches.
Experience with EDA or software commercial models (subscription, term, and consumption-based licensing).
Prior people-management experience building and coaching a product management team.
MBA or equivalent commercial experience is a plus.
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.