Application Engineering, Sr Engineer
Compensation
Base Salary Range: $109000 - $163000
Job Description and Requirements
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 enough time in the FPGA prototyping world to know where designs break down. Partitioning schemes that looked fine on paper but collapse under real SoC complexity. Clock domain crossings that surface three weeks into bring-up. Debug flows that turn a two-week eval into a two-month slog. When you walk into a customer meeting with a sales team, you listen first. You map their design challenges, their timeline pressure, their past tool frustrations, and you shape your technical approach around what will actually move them forward. You do not pitch features, you solve problems. You have debugged enough prototypes to anticipate the questions before they are asked, and you use that credibility to de-risk evaluations and accelerate decisions. You are comfortable translating RTL-level complexity into business value that resonates with a program manager, and you can flip back into deep technical mode when an architect wants to talk partitioning strategy. At Synopsys, you will work on HAPS FPGA prototyping platforms and ProtoCompiler, helping customers validate SoCs faster and with fewer surprises.
What You'll Be Doing
- Lead pre-sales technical engagements for HAPS FPGA prototyping platforms and ProtoCompiler, working directly with prospective customers to understand their SoC validation challenges, design requirements, and timeline constraints
- Present tailored prototyping solutions that address customer-specific needs around partitioning, performance, debug, and integration with their existing RTL-to-hardware workflows
- Conduct technical evaluations, proof-of-concept projects, and benchmarks that demonstrate how HAPS solves the customer's real problems, not just theoretical capabilities
- Collaborate closely with the sales team to shape opportunity strategy, qualify technical fit, handle objections, and move deals through the pipeline with clear technical milestones
- Deliver compelling product demonstrations, technical presentations, and architecture reviews to engineering teams and executive stakeholders, adapting your message to the audience
- Build and maintain trusted advisor relationships with customer architects and engineering leaders that extend beyond individual sales cycles and create long-term partnership opportunities
The Impact You Will Have
- Your technical credibility and solution design will directly win competitive deals, growing HAPS revenue and expanding Synopsys footprint in strategic accounts
- Proof-of-concept work you lead will de-risk customer decisions and shorten sales cycles by proving value early and clearly, turning skeptical evaluators into advocates
- Solutions you architect will set customers up for long-term success, reducing post-sale friction and creating expansion opportunities as their prototyping needs grow
- Customer insights you bring back from the field will shape product roadmap priorities and help R&D build features that win in real-world engagements
- Relationships you establish with key technical buyers will open doors for the sales team and create multi-year partnership opportunities that go beyond single transactions
- Technical content and competitive positioning you develop will strengthen the entire field team's ability to sell HAPS effectively, raising the bar across the organization
- Your ability to translate complex prototyping challenges into clear business value will elevate how customers perceive Synopsys technical leadership in the FPGA prototyping space
What You'll Need
- Bachelor's or Master's in Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
- 1-2+ years of hands-on experience in FPGA-based prototyping, ASIC design, or SoC validation, with deep understanding of RTL-to-hardware workflows and the design challenges that surface during bring-up
- Strong command of FPGA architectures such as Xilinx or Intel, RTL design in Verilog or VHDL, synthesis flows, and hardware bring-up and debug techniques
- Comfort with travel to customer sites for evaluations, presentations, and technical engagements, often on short notice
- Experience with HAPS platforms, ProtoCompiler, or similar FPGA prototyping tools is highly desirable and will accelerate your impact
Who You Are
- You can walk into a first meeting with a prospective customer, ask three good questions, and leave with a clear picture of what they need to see in order to move forward
- When a customer raises a technical objection or competitive comparison, you address it directly with specifics, real data, real tradeoffs, no deflection or vague promises
- You work seamlessly with sales, you understand their goals, you communicate pipeline status clearly, and you help them shape deals without waiting to be asked
- You present technical content in a way that lands with different audiences, whether you are walking an engineer through a partitioning flow or explaining prototype ROI to a program manager
- You stay organized across multiple active opportunities, managing evaluations, follow-ups, and deliverables without letting anything fall through the cracks
- You care about winning, but you care just as much about winning the right way, setting up customers for success so they come back and expand
The Team You'll Be Part Of
Your recruiter will share more about the team structure and mission during the interview process.
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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.

