Staff Application Engineer, Physical Design

Synopsys • Sunnyvale, CA

2d • $129,000 - $193,000 • 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 the last few years deep in the RTL2GDS flow, and you know that the real work happens in the messy middle where verification meets implementation and theory meets timing closure. You understand that a clean ECO is not about clever tricks, it is about knowing the tools well enough to make the right call under pressure when a customer's tapeout schedule depends on it.

You are comfortable debugging complex place-and-route issues, timing convergence challenges, congestion problems, power optimization opportunities, and physical implementation bottlenecks using Fusion Compiler. Advanced nodes do not intimidate you because you have seen what breaks at 5nm and 3nm, and you have learned how to anticipate and solve those challenges.

You can work directly with senior design engineers and technical leads, understand their implementation constraints, and provide practical solutions that help them reach tapeout goals. Knowledge of complementary tools such as Formality, PrimeTime, and other Synopsys signoff solutions is highly valued.

You also embrace modern AI-assisted workflows and understand how to leverage AI tools to improve productivity, accelerate debug, automate repetitive tasks, and deliver faster, more effective customer support.

At Synopsys, you will work directly with customers building the chips that power everything from AI accelerators to automotive systems, and the solutions you deliver will matter.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field with at least 5 years of hands-on ASIC, physical design, implementation, or CAD engineering experience.
• Direct experience with RTL-to-GDS implementation flows, including synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and physical design optimization.
• Strong working knowledge of Fusion Compiler, ICC2, or equivalent digital implementation tools.
• Understanding of timing, power, congestion, routing, and design closure methodologies.
• Working knowledge of Formality, PrimeTime, or related EDA tools is a strong advantage.
• Proficiency in scripting with TCL and Python to automate design tasks and improve workflow efficiency.
• Experience with advanced process nodes (7nm and below) is a strong plus, especially if you have worked through design closure challenges at those nodes.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools and automation technologies to improve engineering productivity and problem-solving effectiveness.
• Business-level English proficiency with the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly in written and spoken form.
• Willingness to engage directly with customers, including senior engineers and design managers, in both remote and onsite settings.

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge of complementary tools such as Formality, PrimeTime, and other Synopsys signoff solutions is highly valued.
• Experience with advanced process nodes (7nm and below) is a strong plus, especially if you have worked through design closure challenges at those nodes.

Responsibilities

• Support customers through physical design implementation and design closure using Synopsys tools.
• Debug complex design challenges across timing, power, area, congestion, routing, and runtime optimization at advanced process nodes including 5nm and below.
• Help customers achieve implementation closure while meeting aggressive tapeout schedules and design quality requirements.
• Provide technical guidance on best practices for synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, power optimization, and advanced implementation methodologies.
• Build and maintain automation scripts in TCL to streamline workflows and improve turnaround time for customer engagements.
• Utilize AI-powered tools and workflows to improve productivity, accelerate issue resolution, and enhance customer support effectiveness.
• Collaborate with internal R&D teams to reproduce customer issues, validate tool behavior, and feed real-world use cases back into product development.
• Present technical solutions and recommendations to senior customer engineers and design leads during critical project phases.
• Work across the full RTL-to-GDS flow, from implementation through signoff and tapeout readiness.

Benefits

• comprehensive range of health, wellness, and financial benefits
• monetary and non-monetary offerings
• annual bonus
• equity
• other discretionary bonuses
• comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior