Applications Engineering Scientist

Job Title

Applications Engineering Scientist

Role Summary

Lead architect role combining AI and electronic design automation to create agentic systems inside Synopsys Fusion Compiler. Drive system architecture, integration with core implementation engines, and production-ready autonomous agents that improve digital implementation workflows.

Experience Level

Senior-level — requires approximately 15+ years of experience in EDA, VLSI CAD, chip design, or closely related fields.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include:

• Define the architectural vision for agentic AI in Fusion Compiler and design interfaces between autonomous agents and core engines.
• Architect advanced multi-agent systems to autonomously navigate billion-gate design spaces, allocate resources, and recover from failure modes.
• Design reasoning and planning layers to decompose objectives (timing closure, congestion mitigation, power optimization) into adaptive sub-goals.
• Develop human-agent collaboration models that enable designer intent, constraints, transparency, and controllability.
• Integrate agents with synthesis, placement, CTS, routing, and optimization engines without disrupting core algorithms.
• Shape learning infrastructure so agents improve across runs, designs, and technology nodes.
• Publish, engage with key customers, and mentor engineers to influence Synopsys's AI/EDA strategy.

Requirements

Key qualifications — must-have items first, then desirable skills.

• Must-have: 15+ years in EDA, VLSI CAD, chip design, or adjacent fields with deep expertise in one or more of: logic synthesis, physical design, static timing analysis, or optimization algorithms.
• Must-have: Proven leadership in defining and shipping architecture and production-grade systems (distinguish prototypes from production).
• Must-have: Strong foundation in AI/ML, including LLM-based agents, reinforcement learning, search/planning, and retrieval-augmented generation.
• Must-have: Deep practical understanding of digital implementation challenges: timing graphs, placement legality, routing congestion, clock tree trade-offs, and power integrity.
• Must-have: Experience designing systems that operate at scale (10^9+ objects) with strict correctness and multi-objective optimization.
• Nice-to-have: Record of publishing at leading venues and direct customer engagement.

Education Requirements

Not 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.