Applications Engineering Principal Engineer

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 verification trenches and now you understand that the best tool in the world means nothing if the customer cannot deploy it or does not trust it to solve their real problem. Walking into a customer site and seeing a broken flow does not intimidate you, it energizes you. You know how to ask the right questions to uncover what is actually blocking their team, not just what they say is blocking them.

You are comfortable presenting a technical solution to a room of skeptical engineers and walking out with their buy-in because you spoke their language and showed them something that will save them three weeks on their next tapeout. You have debugged enough testbenches to know when a methodology problem is masquerading as a tool problem, and you are not afraid to tell a customer the truth about what needs to change.

The idea of working with Generative AI agents in verification excites you because you see the potential, but you are grounded enough to focus on what actually works today. You think in terms of benchmarks, deployment plans, and measurable outcomes. At Synopsys, you will work with customers who are building the chips that power everything, and the solutions you help them adopt will directly affect whether their product ships on time.

What You'll Be Doing

• Analyze customer verification environments and methodologies, identify bottlenecks, and recommend deployment strategies for Synopsys Verification Platform tools including VCS, Verdi, and VIP
• Deliver technical demonstrations and proof-of-concept projects that show customers how Generative AI agents can accelerate their chip development workflows
• Conduct benchmarking studies comparing customer flows to best practices, then present findings and actionable recommendations to engineering teams and management
• Work directly with R&D and product management to translate customer pain points and feature requests into requirements for next-generation AI-enhanced EDA capabilities
• Lead technical discussions and training sessions with customer teams on UVM methodologies, low power verification techniques, and advanced debugging using Verdi
• Build and maintain deep technical relationships with customers, becoming the trusted advisor they call when a verification problem is blocking tapeout
• Debug customer testbenches, simulation environments, and scripts to resolve deployment issues and prove out tool capabilities in real production flows

The Impact You Will Have

• Accelerate customer adoption of Synopsys Verification Platform, directly reducing their time to tapeout and improving chip quality
• Shape the future roadmap of AI-enabled verification solutions by feeding real customer requirements and use cases back to product teams
• Enable customers to shift left in their verification process, catching bugs earlier and reducing costly respins
• Build reusable deployment methodologies and best practices that scale across multiple customer engagements and industry segments
• Expand Synopsys footprint within strategic accounts by proving technical value and building trust with engineering teams
• Influence how the semiconductor industry adopts Generative AI in verification, helping define what actually works versus what is just hype
• Contribute to customer success stories and case studies that demonstrate measurable ROI from Synopsys solutions

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Engineering with 7+ years of hands-on functional verification experience
• Deep knowledge of VLSI design flow and verification methodologies, including fluency in SystemVerilog, Verilog, VHDL, or SystemC
• Proven experience with front-end verification work including RTL and testbench coding, simulation debug, and coverage analysis
• Working knowledge of UVM methodology and how it is actually deployed in production environments, not just textbook understanding
• Proficiency in UNIX/Linux environments and scripting in shell, Perl, or Python to automate workflows and debug customer environments
• Experience with low power design and verification techniques is a strong plus, as is hands-on debug experience using Verdi
• Strong technical communication skills, you can explain a complex verification concept to a customer engineer and also present ROI to their director

Who You Are

• You can walk into a customer meeting with incomplete information, ask the right diagnostic questions, and leave with a clear action plan
• When a customer says "the tool is broken," you dig deeper to understand whether it is a configuration issue, a methodology gap, or an actual bug, and you know how to triage accordingly
• You are comfortable presenting technical content to both hands-on engineers who want to see waveforms and executives who want to see schedule impact
• You do not need perfect documentation to be effective, you can read code, trace through a testbench, and figure out what is happening even when the setup is messy
• You treat customer problems like puzzles worth solving, not interruptions to your day, and you follow through until the issue is actually resolved
• You can balance multiple customer engagements at once without dropping threads or losing track of commitments you made

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Technical Sales Group supporting the Synopsys Verification Platform, working closely with field sales, R&D, and product management. This team is responsible for driving adoption of industry-leading verification technologies including VCS simulation, Verification IP, formal verification tools, and hardware-assisted verification systems. Your focus will be primarily on VCS and emerging AI-enabled verification solutions, partnering with customers across multiple industries to optimize their verification flows and accelerate chip development.

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.