Principal Product Engineer - Custom Layout & Virtuoso Applications

Job Title

Principal Product Engineer - Custom Layout & Virtuoso Applications

Role Summary

The Principal Product Engineer will bridge Cadence R&D, product, and strategic customers to drive adoption and improvement of the Virtuoso platform for custom analog and FinFET design.

This role combines customer engagement, technical enablement, requirements definition, and hands-on validation to translate customer needs into product changes and field enablement artifacts.

Experience Level

Senior level. The role targets candidates with approximately 5–8 years of experience in EDA or a closely related technical field.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include customer engagement, technical enablement, product validation, and cross-functional coordination.

• Engage directly with customers to gather requirements and capture feedback on custom analog layout and FinFET flows in Virtuoso.
• Perform on-site customer visits to deliver education, debug issues in context, and collect structured feedback for R&D.
• Deliver technical presentations and demonstrations to customers, sales, and pre-sales teams.
• Create demonstrations, Rapid Adoption Kits (RAKs), and training materials to accelerate customer adoption.
• Develop SKILL-based utilities to address customer needs and validate those utilities prior to delivery.
• Use Virtuoso to build test schematics and layouts, validate new features, and file/drive Change Correction Requests (CCRs) to resolution.
• Author Product Requirement Specifications (PRS) and work within cross-functional teams to prioritize customer-driven R&D work.
• Partner with Product Validation to contribute flow tests for regression and quality assurance.
• Collaborate with Technical Publications and Marketing to ensure accurate documentation and appropriate product positioning.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience for successful performance in this role.

• 5–8 years experience in the EDA industry or a closely related technical field.
• Demonstrated experience in custom analog layout workflows and challenges.
• Hands-on experience with the Virtuoso Layout Suite for connectivity-driven layout.
• Proficiency in the SKILL programming language and ability to deliver functional utilities.
• Experience in customer-facing or field applications engineering roles and strong presentation skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present complex technical content to diverse audiences.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with FinFET layout techniques and multi-patterning methodologies.
• Familiarity with Virtuoso ADE, Innovus, Open-Access, or scripting in TCL/Perl.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, or a related technical field — or equivalent professional experience.

About the Company

Company: Cadence Design Systems

Headquarters: San Jose, California, USA

Cadence Design Systems is a global electronic design automation company that provides software, hardware, and intellectual property for designing advanced semiconductor chips. With over 25 years in the industry, Cadence is known for its innovative technology solutions and has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The company is dedicated to solving complex technical challenges in order to enable customers to create revolutionary products and experiences.