R&D Engineering, Staff Engineer

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 building software that lives in the critical path of chip design, where a bug does not just break a test, it can delay a tapeout by weeks. You know that the difference between a tool engineers trust and one they route around is usually in the details, the edge cases you caught, the performance bottleneck you fixed before anyone filed a ticket, the API design that actually makes sense six months later.

You are comfortable in C++ codebases that have been around longer than some of your teammates, and you know how to add value without rewriting everything. Hierarchical DFT, 1687, pattern porting, these are not buzzwords to you, they are problems you have worked on or are ready to dig into with enough context and a good codebase tour.

You do not need perfect clarity to start. You ask the right questions, sketch out the tradeoffs, and make a call. When something breaks, you go deep, not just to fix it but to understand why it happened and how to prevent the next three versions of the same problem.

Mentorship matters to you. You have learned that the best way to scale your impact is to help someone else solve the problem you would have solved yourself, and you are good at that handoff without losing quality or context.

What You'll Be Doing

Design, develop, and debug software tools that support chip design workflows, including DFT automation, pattern generation, and CAD tool functionality

Build and optimize algorithms and data structures that handle complex hierarchical design data and large-scale verification tasks

Work across the software and hardware boundary to influence design decisions that improve tool performance and usability

Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues in production tools, working with customer-facing teams to diagnose root causes and deliver fixes

Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams on projects involving DFT methodologies, IEEE 1687 standards, and pattern porting workflows

Mentor junior engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and technical guidance on architecture and implementation choices

Contribute to the full software development lifecycle, from requirements and design through testing, deployment, and maintenance

The Impact You Will Have

You will improve the performance and reliability of tools used by semiconductor engineers worldwide to design and verify complex chips

Your work will directly enable faster DFT insertion, more efficient pattern generation, and smoother integration of test standards like IEEE 1687

You will help reduce customer tapeout risk by catching issues earlier in the design flow and making verification more robust

Your mentorship will accelerate the growth of junior engineers, raising the technical bar across the team

You will influence hardware and software co-design decisions that shape how Synopsys tools interact with next-generation silicon

Your contributions will help Synopsys maintain its leadership position in EDA by delivering tools that customers depend on for their most critical projects

What You'll Need

5+ years of software development experience, ideally in EDA, semiconductor, or systems software domains

Strong proficiency in C/C++ and deep understanding of data structures, algorithms, and performance optimization

Hands-on experience with operating systems internals, compilers, or low-level systems programming

Prior work in one or more of the following areas: Hierarchical DFT, IEEE 1687, pattern porting, or CAD tool development

Demonstrated ability to debug complex software issues independently and propose effective solutions

Experience working on projects that required hardware-software integration or close collaboration with hardware teams

Familiarity with software development practices including version control, code review, and automated testing is a plus

Who You Are

You can explain a complex tradeoff between performance and maintainability to a senior architect in two sentences without losing the nuance

You do not wait for someone to assign you a bug, if you see something broken or inefficient, you dig in and fix it or flag it with a plan

You are comfortable saying "I do not know yet, but here is how I will figure it out" and then actually following through

You treat code reviews as a teaching moment, not a checklist, and you know how to give feedback that makes the code and the engineer better

You work well across teams and time zones, keeping stakeholders aligned without needing constant check-ins or hand-holding

You stay current with new techniques and tools in your domain, and you bring that knowledge back to the team in practical, actionable ways

The Team You'll Be Part Of

Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and mission during the interview process.