Layout Design Senior Staff 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 trenches of layout design, working at nodes where every micron matters and where a floorplan decision made in week one determines whether your PHY meets timing, power, and area targets six months later. You know the difference between a layout that passes DRC and one that actually survives EMIR, latch-up, and real-world ESD events, and you have debugged enough tapeout issues to spot trouble before it becomes a showstopper.

Leading a team does not mean delegating and disappearing. You stay technical. You jump into Calibre when someone is stuck on a PERC violation at 3nm. You review floorplans with the same rigor you expect from your team. Mentoring junior engineers is not a checkbox activity for you, it is how you scale your impact, and you know how to push senior engineers to do their best work without micromanaging them.

You think in tradeoffs. FinFET versus GAA at 5nm. Matching topology versus routing congestion. Customer pitch requirements versus your team's bandwidth. You do not wait for perfect specs, you work with what you have, clarify what is critical, and move the project forward. At Synopsys, you will lead layout development for DDR and HBM PHY IP that powers the memory subsystems in everything from data centers to AI accelerators.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead layout development for next generation DDR and HBM PHY IP across 7nm, 5nm, 3nm, and future nodes using FinFET and GAA process technologies
• Drive floorplanning, layout matching, ESD hardening, latch-up mitigation, and PERC/EMIR closure for analog and mixed-signal blocks in high-speed memory interfaces
• Own effort estimation, schedule planning, and execution for layout projects, coordinating across design, verification, and customer engagement teams
• Mentor junior layout engineers on deep submicron effects, DFM best practices, and advanced layout techniques while challenging senior engineers to deliver higher quality on tighter timelines
• Conduct layout reviews, manage quality checks using Calibre and internal flows, and drive LEF generation, bond-pad layout, IO frame design, and release processes
• Translate PHY-level customer requirements into actionable layout constraints and work directly with customers to resolve pitch, area, and integration challenges
• Stay hands-on, jumping into critical layout tasks when schedules tighten or technical problems require deep expertise to unblock the team

The Impact You Will Have

• Your leadership will directly shape the performance, power, and area of memory PHY IP used in flagship SoCs across hyperscale data centers, AI training systems, and mobile platforms
• The floorplans and layout techniques you establish will become the foundation for future generations of DDR and HBM IP, influencing how Synopsys scales to next-node technologies
• Your mentorship will build a stronger, more capable layout team that can tackle increasingly complex process nodes and customer requirements with less escalation
• The quality and turnaround time improvements you drive will accelerate customer tapeouts and reduce costly respins, strengthening Synopsys relationships with top-tier semiconductor companies
• Your ability to translate ambiguous customer specs into executable layout plans will reduce integration risk and improve first-pass success rates for memory subsystems
• The cross-functional collaboration you foster between layout, design, and verification will break down silos and make the entire PHY development process more efficient
• Your hands-on problem solving during critical project phases will keep schedules on track and ensure that hard-won layout optimizations actually make it into silicon

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of hands-on layout design experience in deep submicron CMOS technologies, with direct exposure to 7nm or below
• Demonstrated ability to lead layout projects from floorplan through tapeout, including effort estimation, resource planning, and cross-functional coordination
• Deep technical expertise in layout matching techniques, ESD design, latch-up prevention, PERC/EMIR analysis, DFM rules, LEF generation, and IO frame layout
• Strong understanding of FinFET and GAA process effects, including fin quantization, middle-of-line routing constraints, and advanced node design rules
• Experience working with memory PHY IP (DDR, HBM, LPDDR, or similar high-speed interfaces) and translating customer requirements into layout constraints is a strong plus
• Proficiency with Cadence Virtuoso, Calibre, and other industry-standard layout and verification tools

Who You Are

• You can walk into a layout review, spot a matching issue or an EMIR hotspot in thirty seconds, and explain the fix in a way that teaches the engineer something they will use on the next block
• When a customer asks for a 10% area reduction with no performance hit, you do not say yes or no immediately, you go back to the floorplan, run the numbers, and come back with two options and the tradeoffs for each
• You hold your team to high standards, but you also know when someone is stuck because the problem is genuinely hard versus when they need to dig deeper, and you adjust your coaching accordingly
• Schedules slip when dependencies break, you are the person who sees it coming, pulls the right people into a room, and gets the project back on track without drama
• You write clear, concise technical summaries that a design lead, a verification engineer, and a customer can all read and understand without needing three follow-up meetings
• You stay current on process technology trends, not because it is required, but because you want to know what is coming at 2nm and how it will change the way you approach layout

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Silicon IP team in Hyderabad, working on DDR and HBM PHY IP development that serves customers across automotive, data center, mobile, and AI markets. This is a cross-functional environment where layout, design, and verification engineers collaborate closely to deliver cutting-edge memory interfaces on aggressive schedules. The team operates globally, with engineering centers across multiple time zones, and you will work with senior technical leaders who have been driving memory IP innovation for years. Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and current project portfolio during the interview process.

Rewards and Benefits

We offer a comprehensive range of health, wellness, and financial benefits to cater to your needs. Our total rewards include both monetary and non-monetary offerings. Your recruiter will provide more details about the salary range and benefits during the hiring process.

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.