Synopsys Inc

Applications Engineering, Sr. Staff Engineer

Synopsys Inc$150K — $180K *
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent with 9+ years of ASIC physical design experience, or Master's degree with 7+ years
  • Deep expertise in RTL-to-GDSII flows with experience in placement, optimization, clock tree synthesis, and routing
  • Hands-on proficiency with Synopsys backend tools including Fusion Compiler, ICC2, Design Compiler, and PrimeTime
  • Strong understanding of advanced node design challenges (7nm and below) including FinFET effects and multi-patterning constraints
  • Experience with timing closure techniques, multi-scenario optimization, and noise analysis in complex SoC designs
  • Knowledge of clock tree synthesis methodologies such as H-Tree and multi-source CTS is a strong plus
  • Willingness to travel up to 30% to customer sites for technical engagements and on-site support

Responsibilities

  • Support pre-sales and post-sales engagements with semiconductor customers, demonstrating Synopsys physical design tools in live sessions
  • Debug complex physical design issues across the RTL-to-GDSII flow, resolving placement, routing, timing closure, and congestion challenges
  • Develop and deliver technical methodologies for clock tree synthesis, AI-driven optimization, and timing closure for customer production flows
  • Build proof-of-concept designs and benchmarks demonstrating PPA improvements using Synopsys tools
  • Collaborate with product engineering teams to translate customer challenges into feature requests and tool enhancements
  • Train customer engineers on advanced tool capabilities, from multi-scenario optimization to noise-aware routing
  • Travel to customer sites to provide technical support during critical project phases including tape-out preparation

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits
  • Potential eligibility for annual bonuses and equity
  • Discretionary bonuses included in total rewards package
  • Competitive total rewards package based on job-related factors
Full Job Description
Descriptions & Requirements

Job Description and Requirements

What You'll Be Doing
  • Support pre-sales and post-sales engagements with semiconductor customers, demonstrating Synopsys physical design tools including Fusion Compiler and ICC2 in live technical sessions
  • Debug complex physical design issues across the RTL-to-GDSII flow, working directly with customer design teams to resolve placement, routing, timing closure, and congestion challenges at advanced nodes
  • Develop and deliver technical methodologies for clock tree synthesis, AI-driven optimization, macro placement, and timing closure that customers can adopt in production flows
  • Build proof-of-concept designs and benchmarks that show measurable PPA improvements using Synopsys tools compared to customer baseline flows
  • Collaborate with product engineering teams to translate customer pain points into feature requests, tool enhancements, and methodology improvements
  • Train customer engineers on advanced Synopsys tool capabilities, from multi-scenario optimization to noise-aware routing techniques
  • Travel to customer sites to provide hands-on technical support during critical project phases, including tape-out preparation and bring-up


The Impact You Will Have
  • Accelerate customer adoption of Synopsys tools, directly contributing to revenue growth and competitive wins in key accounts
  • Help customers achieve measurable improvements in PPA (power, performance, area) and reduce their time to tape-out by weeks or months through better methodologies
  • Influence the product roadmap by surfacing real-world customer challenges that shape the next generation of Fusion Compiler and ICC2 capabilities
  • Build long-term technical relationships with leading semiconductor companies, becoming the trusted expert they call when a design is stuck
  • Enable customers to successfully adopt advanced node technologies (5nm, 3nm, and beyond) where traditional methodologies break down
  • Expand Synopsys footprint within accounts by demonstrating value across multiple design teams and product lines
  • Contribute to the technical reputation of Synopsys in the industry through customer success stories, white papers, and conference presentations


What You'll Need
  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent with 9+ years of hands-on ASIC physical design experience, or Master's degree with 7+ years
  • Deep expertise in RTL-to-GDSII flows using industry-standard tools, with direct experience in placement, optimization, clock tree synthesis, and routing
  • Hands-on proficiency with Synopsys backend tools including Fusion Compiler, ICC2, Design Compiler, and PrimeTime
  • Strong understanding of advanced node design challenges (7nm and below), including FinFET effects, multi-patterning constraints, and electromigration
  • Experience with timing closure techniques, multi-scenario optimization, and noise analysis in complex SoC designs
  • Knowledge of clock tree synthesis methodologies including H-Tree and multi-source CTS is a strong plus
  • Willingness to travel up to 30% to customer sites for technical engagements and on-site support


Who You Are
  • You can walk into a room where a customer's design is failing timing by 500ps and within an hour identify whether it is a methodology problem, a constraint problem, or a fundamental architecture issue
  • You communicate complex technical tradeoffs clearly, whether you are presenting to a staff engineer debugging a routing issue or a director deciding between tool vendors
  • You stay calm under pressure, especially when a customer is three weeks from tape-out and needs answers today, not next week
  • You are curious about why things break, not just how to fix them, and that curiosity makes you better at preventing problems upstream
  • You balance customer advocacy with product reality, pushing back when a request does not make sense but fighting hard when it does
  • You enjoy teaching, whether it is walking a junior engineer through CTS fundamentals or showing a principal engineer a technique they have not tried before


The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Customer Success Group, the team responsible for helping the world's leading semiconductor companies design and verify advanced silicon chips. This is a technical sales enablement role, which means you will work closely with account teams, product engineers, and directly with customer design teams. The role is based in Sunnyvale, CA, with occasional travel.

In addition to the base salary, this role may be eligible for an annual bonus, equity, and other discretionary bonuses. Synopsys offers comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package. The actual compensation offered will be based on a number of job-related factors, including location, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details on the total rewards package upon request. The base salary range for this role is across the U.S.

About Synopsys Inc

Synopsys, Inc. is an American electronic design automation company that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Products include logic synthesis, behavioral synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, formal verification, hardware description language (SystemC, SystemVerilog/Verilog, VHDL) simulators, as well as transistor-level circuit simulation. The simulators include development and debugging environments which assist in the design of the logic for chips and computer systems.
Learn more about Synopsys Inc
Size
16,361 employees
Market Cap
$48.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$722.6 million
Founded
1986
5 Year Trend
+13.3%
Revenue
$3.8 billion
NASDAQ

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