Applications Engineering, Scientist

We Are:

Synopsys is the leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly innovate AI-powered products. We deliver industry-leading silicon design, IP, simulation and analysis solutions, and design services. We partner closely with our customers across a wide range of industries to maximize their R&D capability and productivity, powering innovation today that ignites the ingenuity of tomorrow.

You Are:

You are a visionary technical leader at the intersection of AI and electronic design automation, with deep expertise in EDA, chip design, and optimization algorithms. You have architected and delivered production-scale systems that solve complex design challenges across billions of gates and multiple silicon generations.

You bring strong knowledge of digital implementation, including synthesis, placement, routing, and timing analysis, along with hands-on experience applying AI/ML techniques to real-world workflows. You can bridge established implementation flows with emerging autonomous agent systems, designing solutions that are scalable, adaptive, and production-ready.

You are passionate about human-agent collaboration and building AI-driven systems that are transparent, controllable, and trustworthy. You communicate architectural vision clearly across technical and executive audiences and are motivated by the opportunity to redefine how advanced chips are designed.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Defining the architectural vision for agentic AI within Fusion Compiler, shaping system design and interfaces between autonomous agents and core implementation engines.
• Architecting advanced multi-agent systems capable of autonomously navigating billion-gate design spaces, setting strategies, allocating resources, and recovering from dead ends.
• Designing the reasoning and planning layer for agents, enabling decomposition of complex objectives (timing closure, congestion mitigation, power optimization) into actionable sub-goals that adapt to dynamic design challenges.
• Pioneering human-agent collaboration models that empower designers to set intent and constraints, while agents handle combinatorial optimization with transparency and controllability.
• Driving seamless integration with Fusion Compiler's synthesis, placement, CTS, routing, and optimization engines to ensure agents act effectively without disrupting proven core algorithms.
• Shaping the learning infrastructure that enables agents to improve across runs, designs, and technology nodes, embedding institutional knowledge into the tool itself.
• Influencing Synopsys's broader AI/EDA strategy by publishing at leading venues, engaging with key customers, and mentoring the next generation of AI-EDA engineers.

The Impact You Will Have:

• Revolutionizing digital implementation by replacing manual optimization passes with autonomous, reasoning agents that drive the entire synthesis-to-signoff continuum.
• Enabling faster, more robust chip design cycles, reducing time-to-market and empowering customers to tackle increasingly complex architectures.
• Establishing new industry standards for AI-driven EDA workflows, positioning Synopsys as the undisputed leader in agentic chip design.
• Delivering technology that directly supports the next generation of smartphones, hyperscale data centers, and AI training clusters.
• Building scalable systems that handle massive state spaces, strict correctness requirements, and multi-objective optimization under hard constraints.
• Driving customer engagement and satisfaction by delivering transparent, controllable, and trustworthy AI-powered tools.

What You'll Need:

• 15+ years of experience in EDA, VLSI CAD, chip design, or adjacent fields, with deep expertise in at least one of: logic synthesis, physical design, static timing analysis, or optimization algorithms.
• Proven leadership in defining and shipping architectural solutions at scale, distinguishing prototypes from production systems.
• Strong foundation in AI/ML, including LLM-based agents, reinforcement learning, search/planning, and retrieval-augmented generation.
• Deep understanding of digital implementation challenges, including timing graphs, placement legality, routing congestion, clock tree trade-offs, and power grid integrity.
• Experience designing systems that operate at scale (109+ objects), with strict correctness and multi-objective optimization.

Who You Are:

• Visionary thinker with a passion for redefining industry paradigms.
• Exceptional communicator, able to articulate architectural visions to diverse audiences.
• Collaborative mentor and leader, inspiring teams and fostering innovation.
• Analytical problem solver, comfortable with ambiguity and complexity.
• Adaptable, open to feedback, and committed to continuous learning.
• Customer-centric with a focus on delivering impactful, trustworthy solutions.

The Team You'll Be A Part Of:

You will join Synopsys's Fusion Compiler architecture team-a group of world-class engineers, architects, and scientists dedicated to advancing digital implementation through agentic AI. The team is collaborative, ambitious, and deeply engaged in both research and production. You'll work alongside experts in synthesis, placement, routing, and AI, driving innovation at the core of the industry's most advanced EDA platform. Together, you will pioneer new workflows, mentor emerging talent, and shape the future of chip design.

Rewards and Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive range of health, wellness, and financial benefits to cater to your needs. Our total rewards include both monetary and non-monetary offerings. Your recruiter will provide more details about the salary range and benefits during the hiring process.

At Synopsys, we want talented people of every background to feel valued and supported to do their best work. Synopsys considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, military veteran status, or disability.

In addition to the base salary, this role may be eligible for an annual bonus, equity, and other discretionary bonuses. Synopsys offers comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package. The actual compensation offered will be based on a number of job-related factors, including location, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details on the total rewards package upon request. The base salary range for this role is across the U.S.

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