Staff Application Engineer - Physical Implementation

Job Title

Staff Application Engineer - Physical Implementation

Role Summary

Provide advanced application engineering support for physical implementation flows, focusing on Performance, Power, and Area (PPA) optimization for advanced semiconductor technologies. Work closely with customers, product teams, and R&D to identify design/EDA tool issues, develop solutions, and drive tool and methodology improvements.

Member of the Application Engineering organization supporting customer adoption and deployment of implementation technologies and methodologies.

Experience Level

Senior-level — minimum 5+ years of relevant experience in synthesis, implementation methodology, or related EDA application engineering.

Responsibilities

Accountabilities include technical customer support, methodology development, and collaboration with R&D and product teams:

• Solve complex PPA challenges using Synopsys implementation technologies (physical synthesis, RTL-to-GDS flows, AI/ML implementation techniques).
• Address formal verification and early power-estimation problems as part of the implementation flow.
• Benchmark Synopsys solutions versus competitor flows and demonstrate superior results to customers.
• Develop, debug, and optimize synthesis and implementation methodologies for emerging process nodes.
• Identify design and EDA tool issues, deliver actionable resolutions, and drive follow-up with R&D.
• Translate customer findings into product requirements and enable R&D-driven tool enhancements.
• Deploy new tool features and support customer migrations to updated tool versions and technology nodes.
• Act as a customer advocate in internal discussions and represent the product externally when needed.

Requirements

Key qualifications and skills required to perform the role:

• Must-have: At least 5 years of hands-on experience in synthesis with proven ability to debug and resolve synthesis challenges.
• Must-have: Advanced scripting and automation skills (TCL, Unix shell, Perl) for methodology development and debugging.
• Must-have: Strong exposure to methodology changes aimed at meeting PPA targets for complex designs.
• Must-have: Excellent communication and customer-facing skills.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with synthesis and formal verification tools and flows.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with benchmarking competitor flows, AI/ML-assisted implementation techniques, and RTL-to-GDS physical synthesis.

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.