Principal Application Engineer

Synopsys, Inc.; Sunnyvale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Synopsys, Inc. is seeking an experienced pre-sales engineer specializing in emulation and FPGA-based prototyping to engage with customers from evaluation to deployment.

You will map customer challenges, propose tailored hardware-assisted verification solutions, and lead PoC efforts to de-risk decisions and accelerate adoption of HAPS, ZS5, and ZeBu-200 platforms across SoC/AI design validation projects. The role requires deep RTL-to-hardware understanding, strong Verilog/VHDL skills, and travel

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Electronics or Computer Engineering required.
• 10–12 years of hands-on experience in emulation, FPGA-based prototyping, ASIC design, or SoC validation.
• Strong RTL-to-hardware understanding; RTL design in Verilog or VHDL.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites for evaluations and engagements.
• Experience with ZS5, HAPS platforms, ProtoCompiler or similar FPGA prototyping tools is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead pre-sales technical engagements for Emulation with FPGA prototyping platforms and ProtoCompiler, working with prospective customers to understand their design validation challenges.
• Present tailored hardware-assisted verification solutions addressing partitioning, performance, debug, and flow integration.
• Deploy AI-based verification platforms at customer sites, guiding setup, configuration, and bring-up.
• Conduct technical evaluations, PoC projects, and benchmarks that demonstrate platform value.
• Collaborate with sales to shape opportunity strategy, qualify technical fit, handle objections, and move deals through the pipeline.
• Deliver product demos, architecture reviews, and technical presentations to engineering teams and executives.
• Build trusted advisor relationships with customer architects and engineering leaders to extend engagement beyond single sales cycles.

Skills

RTL design

Verilog

VHDL

FPGA architectures

Synthesis flows

Debug bring-up

Travel

FPGA prototyping tools

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electronics/Computer Engineering

Tools

ZS5

HAPS

ProtoCompiler

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 years deep in the world of FPGA prototyping and emulation, and you know the difference between a demo that impresses and a deployment that actually works. When you walk into a customer meeting with a sales team, you listen first. You map their design challenges, their timeline pressure, their past tool frustrations, and you shape your technical approach around what will actually move them forward. You have debugged enough FPGA prototypes to know where customers get stuck: partitioning that does not scale, clock domain issues that surface at bring-up, debug flows that eat weeks. That knowledge is your edge. You use it to de-risk their evaluation and accelerate their decision.

You are equally comfortable talking RTL synthesis with a verification engineer and explaining prototype ROI to a program manager who needs to justify the investment. You do not wait for perfect information to propose a solution. You ask the right questions, understand the constraints, and build a technical plan that fits their reality. At Synopsys, you will work with ZS5, ZeBu-200, and HAPS platforms, helping customers solve real SoC and AI design validation problems while driving competitive wins that matter.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead pre-sales technical engagements for Emulation with ZS5, ZeBu-200 and HAPS FPGA prototyping platforms and ProtoCompiler, working directly with prospective customers to understand their SoC, GPU, and AI design validation challenges
• Present tailored hardware assisted verification solutions that address customer-specific needs around partitioning, performance, debug, and integration with their existing design flows
• Deploy AI-based hardware assisted verification platforms at customer sites, guiding their teams through setup, configuration, and initial bring-up
• Conduct technical evaluations, proof-of-concept projects, and benchmarks that demonstrate how HAPS, ZS5, or ZeBu-200 solves the customer's real problems, not just theoretical capabilities
• Collaborate closely with the sales team to shape opportunity strategy, qualify technical fit, handle objections, and move deals through the pipeline
• Deliver compelling product demonstrations, technical presentations, and architecture reviews to engineering teams and executive stakeholders
• Build and maintain trusted advisor relationships with customer architects and engineering leaders that extend beyond individual sales cycles

The Impact You Will Have

• Your technical credibility and solution design will directly win competitive deals, growing HAPS, ZS5, and ZeBu-200 revenue and expanding Synopsys footprint in strategic accounts
• Proof-of-concept work you lead will de-risk customer decisions and shorten sales cycles by proving value early and clearly
• Solutions you architect will set customers up for long-term success, reducing post-sale friction and creating expansion opportunities
• Customer insights you bring back will shape product roadmap priorities and help R&D build features that win in the field
• Relationships you establish with key technical buyers will open doors for the sales team and create multi-year partnership opportunities
• Technical content and competitive positioning you develop will strengthen the entire field team's ability to sell HAPS, ZS5, and ZeBu-200 effectively
• Your ability to translate complex prototyping challenges into clear business value will elevate how customers perceive Synopsys technical leadership

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's in Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
• 10-12 years of hands-on experience in emulation, FPGA-based prototyping, ASIC design, or SoC validation, with deep understanding of RTL-to-hardware workflows and design challenges
• Strong command of FPGA architectures such as Xilinx or Intel, RTL design in Verilog or VHDL, synthesis flows, and hardware bring-up and debug
• Comfort with travel to customer sites for evaluations, presentations, and technical engagements
• Experience with ZS5, HAPS platforms, ProtoCompiler, or similar FPGA prototyping tools is a plus

Who You Are

• You can walk into a first meeting with a prospective customer, ask three good questions, and leave with a clear picture of what they need to see in order to move forward
• When a customer raises a technical objection or competitive comparison, you address it directly with specifics: real data, real tradeoffs, no deflection or vague promises
• You work seamlessly with sales, you understand their goals, you communicate pipeline status clearly, and you help them shape deals without waiting to be asked
• You present technical content in a way that lands with different audiences, whether you are walking an engineer through a partitioning flow or explaining prototype ROI to a program manager
• You stay organized across multiple active opportunities, managing evaluations, follow-ups, and deliverables without letting anything fall through the cracks
• You care about winning, but you care just as much about winning the right way, setting up customers for success so they come back and expand

The Team You'll Be Part Of

Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and mission during the interview process.

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