Academic/Outreach, Sr Associate

Synopsys, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Synopsys invites you to join the Academic Program team to advance engineering education by creating curriculum materials, tutorials, assessments, and certification programs for structural engineering.

You will partner with professors and universities, translate goals into engaging content, and deliver trainings, webinars, and workshops that equip educators and students to apply structural analysis tools effectively.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Structural Engineering or related discipline, with 3+ years of relevant experience or a Master's with 1+ years.
• Hands-on use of Ansys Mechanical and Ansys LS-DYNA or equivalent software for structural analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication; ability to explain technical concepts clearly.

Responsibilities

• Build curriculum materials for structural engineering disciplines including lectures, tutorials, learning pathways, assessment libraries, and certification programs that align with how engineering is taught today
• Work directly with professors, researchers, and student teams at universities to understand their goals, challenges, and workflows, then translate that into content and adoption strategies
• Develop content plans for assigned disciplines based on input from academic field teams, application engineers, business units, and direct feedback from educators
• Deliver training sessions, guest lectures, webinars, and workshops that teach educators and students how to apply Ansys Mechanical and LS-DYNA to real structural analysis problems
• Support the academic field sales team by strengthening relationships with universities, identifying opportunities to grow tool usage, and providing technical guidance on product application
• Represent Ansys at conferences, academic events, and webinars to grow adoption and gather feedback on how our education resources are being used in the classroom
• Stay current on pedagogical trends, educational technology, and structural engineering practices to ensure content remains relevant and effective

Education

Bachelor's degree in Structural Engineering

Master's degree in Structural Engineering or related field

PhD in Structural Engineering (preferred)

Tools

Ansys Mechanical

Ansys LS-DYNA

Job description

We Are

Synopsys is the leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly innovate AI-powered products. We deliver industry-leading silicon design, IP, simulation and analysis solutions, and design services. We partner closely with our customers across a wide range of industries to maximize their R&D capability and productivity, powering innovation today that ignites the ingenuity of tomorrow.

You Are

• You have spent time in structural engineering, whether in industry or academia, and you have come to realize that the best tools in the world only matter if people know how to use them.
• You understand the gap between a software feature and a student actually learning something meaningful, and you care about closing that gap with content that works, not just content that exists.
• You are comfortable walking into a conversation with a professor about their curriculum challenges and walking out with a plan to build tutorials, assessments, or certification programs that actually fit their needs. You do not wait for a perfect brief. You ask the right questions, synthesize feedback from field teams and educators, and move forward with clarity.
• You have used simulation software in real applications, so when you write a tutorial or deliver a workshop, it comes from a place of understanding what breaks, what confuses people, and what clicks. You are organized enough to manage content development timelines across multiple universities and creative enough to make structural analysis feel approachable to a sophomore who has never opened Ansys Mechanical before.

At Synopsys, you will work with a global academic community and help shape how the next generation of engineers learns to solve hard problems.

What You'll Be Doing

• Build curriculum materials for structural engineering disciplines including lectures, tutorials, learning pathways, assessment libraries, and certification programs that align with how engineering is taught today
• Work directly with professors, researchers, and student teams at universities to understand their goals, challenges, and workflows, then translate that into content and adoption strategies
• Develop content plans for assigned disciplines based on input from academic field teams, application engineers, business units, and direct feedback from educators
• Deliver training sessions, guest lectures, webinars, and workshops that teach educators and students how to apply Ansys Mechanical and LS-DYNA to real structural analysis problems
• Support the academic field sales team by strengthening relationships with universities, identifying opportunities to grow tool usage, and providing technical guidance on product application
• Represent Ansys at conferences, academic events, and webinars to grow adoption and gather feedback on how our education resources are being used in the classroom
• Stay current on pedagogical trends, educational technology, and structural engineering practices to ensure content remains relevant and effective

The Impact You Will Have

• Shape how thousands of engineering students worldwide learn structural analysis and simulation, influencing the next generation of engineers entering the workforce
• Increase adoption and effective use of Ansys tools across academic institutions by creating content that actually fits into real curricula
• Strengthen relationships between Synopsys and key universities, turning one-time software users into long-term partners who integrate our tools deeply into their programs
• Provide the academic field and product teams with grounded, actionable feedback from educators that informs product development and go-to-market strategies
• Improve academic customer satisfaction and learning consumption metrics by delivering materials that educators trust and students can follow
• Expand the reach of Ansys structural products in higher education, making them the default choice for teaching mechanics, dynamics, and structural simulation
• Contribute to a growing library of high-quality educational resources that support engineering education standards and modern teaching methods

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in Structural Engineering or a related discipline with 3+ years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree with 1+ years of experience in industry or academia
• Demonstrated hands‑on use of Ansys Mechanical and Ansys LS-DYNA, or equivalent experience with commercial simulation software for structural analysis
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences
• Ability to travel domestically up to 40% of the time for university visits, events, and workshops
• Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to prioritize competing projects and meet deadlines
• A PhD in a structural engineering discipline is a plus
• Experience teaching, developing educational content, or working as a teaching assistant at the university level is a plus

Who You Are

• You can sit in a meeting with a professor who is frustrated with their current lab setup and walk out with a concrete plan to build something better, not just a list of complaints
• You are comfortable presenting technical material to a room full of students or faculty, adjusting your delivery on the fly based on what is landing and what is not
• You work well across time zones and cultures, collaborating with academic contacts, field teams, and internal stakeholders who may be spread across continents
• You are a self-starter who does not need to be told what to do next, you see a gap in content or adoption, and you build a plan to address it
• You balance urgency with quality, shipping content that is good enough to be useful now while continuing to refine it based on real feedback
• You bring a team-oriented mindset, contributing to broader program initiatives even when they fall outside your core discipline

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Academic Program team, a group focused on driving technical engagement and adoption of Synopsys tools in universities worldwide. The team's work splits between two core activities: creating technical content that supports teaching and learning of electronics engineering topics, and delivering that content through workshops, lectures, training, demos, and direct support to educators, researchers, and students. Your work will be both creative and customer-facing, and you will collaborate closely with academic field sales, application engineers, and product teams across Synopsys.