Applications Engineering, Sr Staff Engineer

Synopsys; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 157,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Equity

Discretionary bonuses

Health benefits

Job summary

Synopsys is seeking an Applications Engineering Senior Staff Engineer in Sunnyvale, CA to lead pre-sales and post-sales engagements, debug complex physical design issues, and deliver optimized flows for cutting-edge nodes.

You will collaborate with customers to translate their constraints into production-ready methodologies, travel to sites as needed, and help shape tool capabilities based on real-world tape-out challenges.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent with 9+ years of hands-on ASIC physical design experience.
• 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).
• Experience with timing closure techniques, multi-scenario optimization, and noise analysis in complex SoC designs.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% to customer sites.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

Technical communication

Customer engagements

Problem solving

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Master's degree

Tools

Fusion Compiler

ICC2

Design Compiler

PrimeTime

Job description

Applications Engineering, Sr. Staff Engineer

Job ID

18505

City

Sunnyvale

State/Province

California

Date Posted

28-Aug-2026

Job Category

Job Subcategory

Applications Engineering

Employee

Base Salary Range: $157000 - $ 235000

Descriptions & Requirements

Job Description and Requirements

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 years in the trenches of physical design, not just running tools but understanding why a clock tree converges or falls apart, why congestion shows up in one corner and not another, and what it actually takes to close timing at 3nm when the margin for error is measured in picoseconds. You know the difference between a flow that works on paper and one that ships silicon, and you have debugged enough failed tape-outs to spot the warning signs three weeks before they become crises.

Working directly with customers energizes you. You are the engineer who can sit across from a design team struggling with a routing hotspot, pull up Fusion Compiler, and show them three ways to fix it before the meeting ends. You do not just answer questions, you ask better ones. You dig into their constraints, their schedule pressure, their process node quirks, and you help them find a path forward that actually fits their reality.

You have a point of view on methodologies. You know when to push multi-scenario optimization and when to fall back to simpler techniques. At Synopsys, you will work with customers building the chips that power everything, and what you help them solve will show up in products millions of people use.

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.

At Synopsys, we want talented people of every background to feel valued and supported to do their best work. Synopsys considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, military veteran status, or disability.

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.