Applications Engineering, Staff Engineer

Job Title

Applications Engineering, Staff Engineer

Role Summary

Customer-facing engineering role focused on advanced photolithography and mask synthesis. You will develop OPC recipes, models, and automation, deliver technical support and training to fab customers, and work with global R&D and product teams to ensure tools meet production requirements.

Experience Level

Senior. The posting specifies 3+ years of hands-on experience in OPC, lithography rule check, patterning applications, or fab lithography processes.

Responsibilities

Primary day-to-day responsibilities include developing lithography solutions, supporting customers, and coordinating with product teams.

• Develop and deploy OPC recipes, models, and mask synthesis workflows for advanced photolithography (OPC, assist features, source mask optimization, lithography verification).
• Create automation and tooling using Python, Tcl, or other high-level languages to improve model accuracy and runtime.
• Provide hands-on technical support and consulting to fab customers; troubleshoot process and tooling issues.
• Deliver customer-specific training on mask synthesis tools, including setup, tuning, and best practices for process nodes.
• Collaborate on joint development projects with customers and co-author technical papers for conferences and publications.
• Work with Synopsys R&D and product teams to validate features and ensure tool releases meet fab requirements.
• Maintain proactive customer contact to anticipate and address evolving lithography challenges.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience; concise and concrete.

Must-have:

• Strong scripting skills in Python, Tcl, or similar; able to produce production-quality automation for lithography workflows.
• Proficiency with Linux command-line, job scheduling, and file system operations.
• Direct experience with mask synthesis areas such as OPC recipe development, model calibration, assist feature generation, source mask optimization, or design rule verification.
• Proven ability to work with customers in a technical support or consulting capacity and translate requirements into working solutions.
• Experience coordinating work across global teams and time zones.
• Fluency in English for customer communication and documentation.

Nice-to-have:

• Japanese language skill preferred but not required.

Education Requirements

MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical field. The posting also specifies 3+ years of hands-on experience in OPC, lithography rule check, patterning applications, or fab lithography processes.

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.