Applications Engineering, Principal Engineer

Job Title

Applications Engineering, Principal Engineer

Role Summary

Provide hands-on technical support to customers during silicon bring-up and production for high-speed SerDes IP. Work at the system level to diagnose and resolve interoperability, performance, and board/silicon issues.

Collaborate with internal analog, digital, and software teams and with customers to perform measurements, root-cause analysis, and implement fixes that enable first-pass silicon success.

Experience Level

Senior-level — typically requires 10+ years of relevant industry experience in silicon bring-up, high-speed SerDes, or system-level debug.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include lab debug, cross-team collaboration, and documentation of findings:

• Provide technical support during silicon bring-up and production for high-speed SerDes IP.
• Diagnose and resolve complex interoperability and performance issues spanning analog, digital, firmware, and board interactions.
• Use lab instrumentation (oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, BERT, network analyzer) for hands-on debug and precision measurements.
• Interpret and simulate Verilog/RTL to identify digital causes of silicon behavior.
• Analyze protocol behaviors (PCIe, Ethernet) during link training and operation to find and fix failures.
• Drive root-cause analysis with internal design and software teams and implement corrective actions.
• Document findings, best practices, and reproducible test procedures for customers and internal teams.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience (concise):

• 10+ years of experience in electronics test, silicon bring-up, or related engineering roles.
• Proven experience with test and debug instrumentation: oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, BERT, network analyzer.
• Strong understanding of high-speed SerDes system interactions between analog and digital domains.
• Familiarity with PCIe and Ethernet protocols, including link training and common failure modes.
• Experience interpreting and simulating Verilog/RTL for debug purposes.
• Experience executing precision measurements and system-level troubleshooting at silicon and board level.

Nice-to-have:

• Practical IC design and high-speed board/system bring-up experience.
• Prior customer-facing support during tape-out or production phases.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Electrical or Electronic Engineering or a closely related technical field is specified. The posting also indicates a senior-level experience expectation (approximately 10+ years). No certifications were specified.

About the Company

Company: Synopsys

Headquarters: Mountain View, California, USA

Synopsys is a leading company in electronic design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP solutions. It provides tools and services for designing and verifying complex semiconductor devices and systems. The company plays a pivotal role in the semiconductor industry, helping engineers innovate and deliver higher-quality products faster. Synopsys is committed to advancing technology standards and offers a range of software and hardware solutions to its clients globally.