Sr Staff R&D Engineer

Synopsys Inc; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Synopsys Inc. seeks an experienced FPGA/RTL engineer to advance HAPS prototyping platforms, enabling real customer designs to run before silicon.

You will own RTL modification, synthesis, timing closure, and hardware validation on AMD/Xilinx devices, while collaborating with hardware, software, and manufacturing teams. You will build production-ready test frameworks, automate high-speed interfaces, perform PRBS testing, and analyze eye diagrams to ensure robust prototypes for customer validation

Qualifications

• 10+ years of FPGA and RTL design experience.
• Expert-level proficiency in SystemVerilog and Verilog for RTL design.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python with production-quality software experience.
• Experience with AMD/Xilinx FPGA synthesis, place-and-route, and timing closure.

Responsibilities

• Develop FPGA-optimized implementations for HAPS platforms, addressing capacity limits and timing closures.
• Own the full FPGA development cycle from RTL modification through synthesis and hardware validation.
• Drive board and system bring-up for HAPS prototyping hardware and perform debugging on complex RTL issues.
• Develop production-ready test frameworks and automation tools using Python and C/C++.
• Build and maintain multi-FPGA solutions including partitioning strategies and inter-FPGA protocols.
• Collaborate across architecture, hardware, software, manufacturing and verification teams.

Skills

SystemVerilog

RTL design

Python scripting

C/C++

Vivado flow

Xilinx tools

Clock domain crossing

Debugging hardware

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscope

Logic Analyzer

Protocol Analyzer

Spectrum Analyzer

Vivado

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.

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 turning ASIC designs into working FPGA prototypes, and you know the difference between RTL that compiles and RTL that actually runs reliably across multiple FPGAs at speed. The challenge excites you: partitioning a design that was never meant to be split, closing timing on a path that crosses three SLRs, or debugging a reset issue that only shows up in hardware after two hours of runtime.

You are equally comfortable writing SystemVerilog that synthesizes cleanly and Python scripts that automate the tedious parts of your workflow. When a bring-up fails, you reach for the logic analyzer, the scope, and the source code in that order, and you do not stop until you understand why. You have learned that production-quality tools matter as much as production-quality RTL, and you build both.

Multi-FPGA systems do not intimidate you. Clock domain crossings, inter-FPGA communication, resource utilization analysis, these are problems you have solved before, and you know how to solve them again under new constraints. You work well with hardware teams, software teams, and manufacturing teams because you understand that your prototype is only useful if it helps someone else move forward.

At Synopsys, you will work on HAPS prototyping platforms that enable real customer designs to run before silicon exists. The problems are hard, the systems are real, and what you build will directly affect how quickly our customers can validate their next chip.

What You'll Be Doing

• Develop FPGA-optimized implementations for HAPS platforms, addressing capacity limits, timing constraints, and multi-FPGA partitioning challenges
• Own the full FPGA development cycle from RTL modification through Vivado synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and hardware validation on AMD/Xilinx devices
• Drive board and system bring-up for HAPS prototyping hardware, including functional validation, performance characterization, signal integrity testing, and root-cause debug of complex hardware and RTL issues
• Develop production-ready test frameworks and automation tools using Python and C/C++ to validate high-speed interfaces, run PRBS testing, analyze eye diagrams, and measure jitter and link margins
• Build and maintain multi-FPGA solutions including partitioning strategies, inter-FPGA communication protocols, clock distribution networks, and reset architectures that work reliably across device boundaries
• Debug RTL, timing, clocking, and integration issues across simulation, emulation, and physical hardware using lab equipment including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and spectrum analyzers
• Collaborate with architecture, hardware, software, manufacturing, and verification teams to deliver prototyping solutions from concept through production deployment

The Impact You Will Have

• Enable customer ASIC designs to run on HAPS platforms months before silicon is available, directly accelerating their validation schedules and reducing risk
• Deliver FPGA implementations that close timing, meet performance targets, and run reliably in production test environments, reducing debug cycles and improving product quality
• Build automation tools and workflows that make FPGA bring-up faster and more repeatable for the entire HAPS Production Test Team
• Solve complex multi-FPGA partitioning and communication challenges that unlock prototyping for designs that would otherwise be too large or too fast for a single device
• Identify and resolve signal integrity, timing, and hardware issues that would otherwise delay product releases or cause field failures
• Create test frameworks and validation infrastructure that catch issues early and give manufacturing teams confidence in what they are shipping
• Contribute technical expertise and design documentation that raises the bar for how the team approaches FPGA development, bring-up, and production test

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of hands‑on FPGA and RTL design experience
• Expert-level proficiency in SystemVerilog and Verilog for RTL design, with deep understanding of digital design fundamentals, clocking architectures, reset strategies, clock domain crossing, and timing analysis
• Extensive experience with AMD/Xilinx FPGA synthesis, place-and-route, and timing closure using Vivado, including optimization for resource utilization, SLR crossings, and routing congestion
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python with a proven track record of developing production-quality software, automation frameworks, debug utilities, and engineering tools
• Proficiency using lab equipment including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and multimeters to debug and validate hardware systems
• Experience with signal integrity characterization, PRBS testing, eye diagram analysis, jitter measurement, and link margining is a strong plus

Who You Are

• When a prototype fails bring-up, you methodically work through the possibilities, RTL bug, clock issue, FPGA tool problem, hardware fault, and you do not assume it is someone else's domain until you have ruled out your own
• You write Python scripts and C/C++ tools that other engineers actually use because you care about usability, error handling, and documentation, not just getting something to run once on your machine
• You can explain a complex multi-FPGA partitioning tradeoff to a hardware engineer or a software validation lead in terms they understand, without losing the technical nuance that matters
• You stay current with FPGA technology, Vivado features, and AMD/Xilinx architecture updates because you know that a new tool capability or device feature can sometimes unlock a solution that was not possible six months ago
• You are comfortable working across teams, whether that means reviewing schematics with hardware engineers, debugging test failures with manufacturing, or aligning on requirements with architecture and verification teams

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the HAPS Production Test Team, a group responsible for enabling customer ASIC designs on Synopsys HAPS prototyping platforms and ensuring those systems are validated, tested, and ready for production deployment. Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and mission during the interview process.