Principal Applications Engineer - Photonics

Job Title

Principal Applications Engineer - Photonics

Role Summary

Lead technical engagement for regional and global photonics customers, providing hands-on simulation, workflow architecture, and technical advisory across silicon photonics and PIC tapeout flows. Work with product, sales, and foundries to integrate photonics and multiphysics solutions into production EDA/EPDA flows.

Primary objectives are to reduce tapeout risk, accelerate customer adoption of photonics tools, and mentor junior engineers.

Experience Level

Senior. Typical experience guidance: approximately 10+ years post-BS, 8+ years post-MS, or 5+ years post-PhD in engineering software or photonics design environments.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include technical leadership, customer engagement, and workflow development:

• Act as primary technical authority for key APAC and global photonics accounts.
• Architect, deploy, and optimize photonics and multiphysics workflows; integrate solutions into foundry-aligned EDA/EPDA flows.
• Perform, review, and troubleshoot component- and system-level PIC simulations using tools such as Lumerical.
• Guide customers through design iteration, verification, and tapeout milestones to ensure successful handoffs.
• Collaborate with sales and regional leadership to translate technical wins into long-term adoption.
• Provide actionable customer feedback to product teams to influence roadmap and feature priorities.
• Mentor junior application engineers and represent the organization at technical forums and industry events.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience; differentiators listed as nice-to-have.

• Practical expertise in optics and photonics with direct experience in PIC, silicon photonics, or co-packaged optics.
• Full-cycle experience with PIC tapeout, including design, fabrication, and testing.
• Proficiency with photonics simulation tools (for example: Lumerical, Rsoft, Tidy3D).
• Strong scripting and automation skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar.
• Experience working with foundry PDKs, compact models, and model validation.
• Ability to communicate complex technical topics in English to internal teams and customers.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers and contributing to internal knowledge sharing.
• Nice-to-have: familiarity with numerical methods (FDTD, RCWA, BPM), multiphysics/3DIC projects, EDA/EPDA flows and tools such as OptoCompiler, Custom Compiler, 3DIC Compiler, TCAD, SPICE, or Verilog-A; publications or patents in photonics.

Education Requirements

BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Optics, Photonics, Physics, or a related technical field.

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.