Applications Engineering, Sr Staff Engineer

United States, California, Mountain View 700 East Middlefield Road (Show on map) Sep 20, 2026 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 working at the intersection of verification technology and customer success, and you have learned that the hardest part of emulation is rarely the platform itself, it is understanding the customer’s design well enough to configure, debug, and optimize it for their specific use case. You know the difference between a setup that compiles and one that actually performs, and you have debugged enough customer environments to recognize the patterns that lead to problems before they become blockers. You are comfortable working directly with customer engineering teams, whether that is walking them through a complex bring-up issue, explaining why their testbench is bottlenecking performance, or helping them rethink their verification strategy to get more value from emulation. You do not wait for perfect information, you assess what you have, ask the right questions, and move forward. When something is outside your expertise, you know who to pull in and how to escalate effectively without creating chaos. You have hands-on experience with hardware emulation platforms like Palladium, Zebu, or Veloce, or deep FPGA prototyping and virtual platform experience that translates directly. You can read and debug Verilog and VHDL, work with SystemVerilog testbenches, and navigate C/C++ code when the issue spans hardware and software. At Synopsys, you will work with customers building some of the most complex chips in the industry, and what you help them accomplish will directly affect whether their products tape out on schedule. What You’ll Be Doing

• Deploy and configure Synopsys emulation platforms including ZeBu for customer ASIC and SoC verification environments, leading bring-up, debug, and performance optimization efforts
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues across hardware emulation, FPGA prototyping, and virtual platforms, diagnosing problems that span RTL design, testbenches, software stacks, and platform configuration
• Lead pre-sales technical evaluations and proof-of-concept engagements, demonstrating emulation capabilities on customer designs and helping them understand how the technology fits their verification strategy
• Work directly with customer engineering teams to resolve design-specific challenges, whether that is a failing testbench, a performance bottleneck, or an integration issue with their existing tool flow
• Collaborate with Synopsys sales, marketing, and R&D teams to communicate customer requirements, surface technical issues, and provide field feedback that influences product priorities
• Develop technical content including application notes, reference designs, setup guides, and best practice documentation that helps customers adopt and scale emulation across their verification flows
• Stay current on verification methodologies, emulation technology, and customer use cases, building expertise that makes you a trusted technical resource for both customers and internal teams

The Impact You Will Have

• Enable customers to bring up complex SoC designs on emulation platforms faster and with fewer issues, directly affecting their tape-out schedules and project success
• Drive successful proof-of-concept evaluations that help Synopsys win competitive deals and expand adoption of emulation solutions at key accounts
• Reduce escalations and support load by resolving difficult technical problems independently and building customer confidence in the platform
• Influence product development by surfacing patterns in customer issues and translating field experience into actionable feedback for R&D
• Build long-term customer relationships rooted in technical credibility, turning one-time engagements into ongoing partnerships where customers trust your guidance
• Contribute to the verification success of chips that power everything from AI accelerators to autonomous vehicles, with your work directly enabling innovation across industries
• Strengthen the technical capability of the applications engineering team by mentoring junior engineers and sharing what you learn in the field, You will join the applications engineering team supporting Synopsys’ ZeBu emulation platform, working with customers, sales, marketing, and R&D to deliver the most complete verification solutions in the market. The team is global, customer-focused, and deeply technical, and your work will directly shape how leading semiconductor companies verify the chips that power everything from data centers to autonomous vehicles. 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.

• 6-10 years of hands-on experience in IC design, verification, emulation, or FPGA prototyping, with a strong track record of supporting real ASIC or SoC verification projects
• Deep understanding of ASIC design verification methodologies including simulation, emulation, and prototyping, and how they fit together in a complete verification strategy
• Proficiency with HDLs such as Verilog and VHDL, and strong experience with SystemVerilog for testbench development and assertion-based verification
• Working knowledge of C/C++ for software validation, embedded firmware debug, or performance analysis on emulation and prototyping platforms
• Experience with hardware emulation platforms such as Palladium, Zebu, or Veloce is highly valued, as is hands-on work with FPGA-based prototyping or virtual platforms
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose and resolve issues that span RTL design, verification environments, platform configuration, and software integration
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to customers, work effectively across global teams, and represent Synopsys in customer-facing situations

Who You Are

• You can walk into a customer engagement, assess a complex emulation setup, and identify what is actually blocking progress without needing days of ramp-up time
• You are comfortable leading technical conversations with customer engineers and managers, explaining tradeoffs and recommendations in a way that helps them make decisions
• You know when to dig deeper on a problem yourself and when to escalate or pull in R&D, and you do both effectively without creating unnecessary friction
• You work well across time zones and customer sites, managing multiple engagements without losing track of commitments or letting things fall through the cracks
• You are genuinely interested in understanding how customers use the technology, not just whether it works, and that curiosity makes you better at supporting them
• You can mentor less experienced engineers by sharing what you have learned in the field, helping them build the judgment and technical skills they need to grow

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.