Academic Account Manager (North America)

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 have spent years building relationships in academia and you understand that universities do not buy like enterprises. Faculty care about research impact, department heads care about budgets and accreditation, and students care about learning tools that will actually matter when they graduate. You know how to navigate all three conversations at once without losing the thread of what you are really there to do, which is to get the right tools into the right hands and build partnerships that last beyond a single contract cycle.

You think regionally, not just account by account. When you see a trend starting at three universities in your territory, you connect the dots and turn it into a coordinated play. You are the person your team comes to when a renewal is stuck or a multi-university consortium is forming and no one is quite sure how to structure the deal. You do not just close your own deals, you make the people around you better at closing theirs.

You are comfortable at a student hackathon on Saturday and in a provost's office on Tuesday. You know when to escalate, when to coach, and when to just get in the room and help your team get it done. At Synopsys, you will lead academic sales across North America and shape how the next generation of engineers learns to build the technology that powers everything.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead academic account strategy across North America, managing a portfolio of university relationships while coaching and supporting a distributed team of Regional Managers
• Step into complex deals and renewals when your team needs senior support, whether that means negotiating with procurement, reframing value with a dean, or unsticking a multi-year agreement
• Identify market trends and emerging opportunities across your region by synthesizing feedback from your team, then turn those insights into coordinated plays that the whole team can execute
• Plan regional coverage for conferences, student competitions, and university events to maximize team presence, optimize travel budgets, and ensure we show up where it matters
• Coach Regional Managers in real time on deal strategy, stakeholder management, and positioning, helping them level up their skills while increasing win rates
• Connect cross-region opportunities like multi-university research consortia or national lab partnerships, ensuring we coordinate across teams and do not leave value on the table
• Build and maintain relationships with key academic stakeholders including department chairs, research administrators, and university leadership to position Synopsys as a long-term strategic partner

The Impact You Will Have

• Your regional strategy and market insights will shape how Synopsys shows up across North America's top engineering programs, ensuring we are present and positioned where the next generation of talent is being trained
• Deals that would have stalled or walked will close because you stepped in with the right framing, the right stakeholder conversation, or the right structural solution
• Your team will get better at their jobs because you coach them through real situations, not in theory but in the middle of live deals where the learning actually sticks
• Universities will adopt Synopsys tools more broadly and renew more predictably because you help your team build partnerships, not just transactional relationships
• Regional budget and travel planning will be smarter and more efficient because you see the whole map and plan coverage that maximizes impact without burning out your team
• Cross-region opportunities will get captured and coordinated instead of missed because you connect the dots between what is happening in different parts of the country
• The academic pipeline that feeds talent into the semiconductor industry will be stronger because more students will graduate having learned on the tools that matter in the real world

What You'll Need

• 7+ years in academic sales, university partnerships, or education technology sales with a proven track record of managing complex, multi-stakeholder deals
• Experience leading or coaching a sales team, whether formally or informally, you have been the person others come to for deal strategy and you know how to make them better
• Deep understanding of how universities buy, including procurement processes, budget cycles, faculty influence, and the difference between departmental and institutional decision-making
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate complex agreements that balance pricing, adoption goals, and long-term strategic value for both sides
• Comfort working across a large geographic territory, managing your own accounts while supporting a distributed team and coordinating regional activity
• Experience with CRM tools like Salesforce for pipeline management, forecasting, and activity tracking
• Willingness to travel regularly across North America for customer meetings, conferences, and team collaboration, approximately 40-50% travel expected

Who You Are

• You can walk into a stalled renewal conversation, ask three questions, and know exactly what is actually blocking the deal and what levers you have to move it
• When a Regional Manager brings you a tricky negotiation, you do not take it over, you coach them through it so they can close it themselves and handle the next one without you
• You see patterns across your territory that others miss because you are always asking what is happening at other schools, what is working, and what we should be doing differently
• You are organized enough to manage your own pipeline, support your team's deals, and plan regional coverage without dropping threads or losing track of commitments
• You know how to talk to a department chair about research impact and a procurement officer about contract terms, and you switch between those conversations without missing a beat
• You do not wait for perfect information or a fully formed strategy, you work with what you have, make decisions, and adjust as you learn

The Team You'll Be Part Of

Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and mission during the interview process.

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.