Building a 13-year Engineering Career at SoftInWay | Clement Joly’s Story

What engineering career growth looks like at SoftInWay.

The dream to fly began early for Clement Joly. “Growing up, like my son today, I often made the wish to fly,” he says. Inspired by metal birds and movies like Back to the Future, he was always thinking about new ways to soar.

After high school, Clement pursued his passion through engineering school and interning where he’d work on cutting-edge science for high-speed travel. “I was hooked,” he says. What started as a childhood wish quickly turned into a journey focused on pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Figure 1. The Early Days of Clement Joly

Starting Out at SoftInWay

Clement joined SoftInWay fresh out of graduate school and was immediately drawn to the company’s startup-like energy at the time. He found himself wearing different hats across the entire company including engineering, sales, and marketing, gaining cross-functional collaboration experience that became foundational for his growth.

Now serving as SoftInWay’s Associate Director of Customer Success, Clement spent the past 13 years helping shape both client success and internal operations. He’s played a key role in refining internal communication, processes, and collaboration, helping SoftInWay scale into the global company it is today while keeping its early day curiosity.

“Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible is part of our daily activities here at SoftInWay,” he says.

Figure 2. Clement Joly Working at SoftInWay

Engineering Projects That Shaped His Career

Throughout his career, Clement has contributed to a wide variety of projects spanning defense propulsion systems, global power generation equipment, high-performance automotive applications, and cleaner residential heating and cooling solutions.

However, one moment stands out to him.

“I still remember to this day the excitement I had when I was asked to give my first AxSTREAM demonstration,” he says “It made me feel valuable and trusted by the team to show all the hard work everyone has put in over the years.”

Looking back, he sees that experience as a key milestone that not only shaped his place within the team and his path within the company, but also reassured him that he was exactly where he was meant to be.

One of the core projects he’s contributed to is helping to refine and develop SoftInWay’s holistic modeling approach. “No software platform on the market can do what we have,” Clement says, “We can include all components and sub-assemblies that will be present in real hardware, and leverage multi-fidelity modeling to adjust the level of detail at any step.”

This approach has contributed to his favorite project where he created a holistic turbofan model where the engine’s turbomachinery is predicted by AxSTREAM’s 1D and 2D solvers, coupled to the aircraft’s fuel supply, environmental control, secondary air system, and wing anti-icing system.

Figure 3. Clement Joly’s Holistic Turbofan Model Built with AxSTREAM

These are just a few of the many meaningful projects and achievements Clement has contributed to, and his impact on both the team and the company has been truly instrumental.

What Keeps Him Moving Forward and What’s Next?

After more than a decade at SoftInWay, what continues to inspire Clement is how both the team and company’s offerings have evolved over time. What started as ‘just’ a tool for turbomachinery flow path design is now a complete suite, enabling teams to look holistically into thermal-fluid systems, rotordynamics, integrated workflows with third-party tools, and more.

As Clement reflects on SoftInWay’s 27 years in the industry, its hundreds of years of combined turbomachinery expertise, and a platform that continues to evolve every day, he says, “The only direction is onwards and upwards”.

Now, Clement’s dream of flying has turned into a reality where he helps build the technology that makes it possible.

Figure 4. Clement Joly Speaking on Behalf of SoftInWay at the TETS Conference

SoftInWay’s drive to innovate and its commitment to collaboration are embodied by team members like Clement Joly. Their stories remind us that engineering is not just about technology, but about the people shaping what happens next.

At SoftInWay, legacy lives here.