Principal Application Engineer

Synopsys•Sunnyvale, CA

101d•$184,000 - $276,000•Onsite

About The Position

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 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.

Requirements

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

Nice To Haves

Experience with ZS5, HAPS platforms, ProtoCompiler, or similar FPGA prototyping tools is a plus

Responsibilities

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