The electrical submersible pumping (ESP) system is an important artificial lifting method of crude oil in the world oil production process. The three-phase induction motor that drives the pump has accentuated geometric restrictions and operates in hostile conditions of temperature and pressure in the production environment, so it has some design improvement points that must be explored for better machine performance, such as increased efficiency and higher power density. This work presents a development methodology for the electromagnetic design of a permanent magnet ESP motor using opensource software. The objective is to demonstrate that the appropriate and coordinated tools usage allows the design and optimization of systems with high technological challenges. In addition, there are advantages such as software transparency, no need for license costs and the possibility of parallel computing. Key design requirements and basic procedures are discussed in this paper.