A unique and CAD-consistent geometry model in multidisciplinary, simulation-based product design is deemed a key ingredient that helps to bridge the gap in the digital chain to manufacturing. In CAE design scenarios, the CAD representation is typically considered the “true geometry” of the targeted design. To this end, we aim at a seamless CAD-integration into a framework-based approach for multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO) that allows an automated forward and reverse accumulation of AD-based gradients throughout complex high-fidelity workflows. The suggested framework approach relies on the FlowSimulator HPC ecosystem, in which a number of high-fidelity simulation tools, called plug-ins, share large mesh-based coupling data sets in memory via the FlowSimulator Data Manager (FSDM) in workflows that are MPI-parallel from end-to-end . In previous work, the MDAO framework OpenMDAO was enabled to operate in place on FSDM HPC data sets to allow its seamless integration into the FlowSimulator ecosystem [1]. Moreover, a unified MDAO API provides access to the plug-ins with gradient support. Based on this infrastructure and a granular plug-in integration, OpenMDAO drives the gradient-based optimization. A fully-resolved system representation is generated for the MDAO problem at hand based on a systematic registration of plug-in input/output dependencies. A modular and gradient-enabled framework integration is provided for the CFD software CODA – developed as part of a collaboration between the French Aerospace Lab ONERA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Airbus, and their European research partners. In this work, the algorithmically differentiated CAD kernel OpenCascade Technology (OCCT) was integrated into the FlowSimulator ecosystem to centrally provide a gradient-enabled CAD link for all the simulation plug-ins involved in the problem. The individual FSDM surface mesh objects – that can be (MPI) domain-decomposed – are linked to the corresponding CAD surfaces using a reliable, meta-data enabled mesh-CAD association to robustly deal with fine meshes in the context of high Reynolds-number flows. Selected aerodynamic configurations of different complexity will be considered in the presentation to verify and demonstrate the AD-enabled sensitivity analysis with the focus on the integration of the CFD software CODA and the CAD kernel OCCT in the context of shape optimization.