Principal RTL Design Engineer, Interconnect IP (PCIe digital design and architecture)

Category Engineering Hire Type Employee Job ID 16923 Remote Eligible No Date Posted 04/14/2026

Job Title:

• Principal Digital Design Engineer, PCIe

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 deep in the details of PCIe digital design, and somewhere along the way you became the person others come to when a design decision matters or when something complex needs untangling. You know PCIe architecture not just from specs but from living through silicon bring-up, debugging corner cases at 2 a.m., and watching designs either hold up or fall apart under real-world conditions. That experience shaped how you think about micro-architecture, trade-offs, and what actually ships.

You are technical first. You still review RTL. You still care about how a clock domain crossing is handled or whether a state machine will scale to the next generation. But you have also learned how to lead without needing to own every line of code. You set direction, you make the hard calls on architecture, and you help engineers work through problems that do not have obvious answers.

You do not wait for perfect clarity. You work with what you have, ask the right questions, align across verification and physical design and firmware, and move the design forward. At Synopsys, you will work on PCIe IP that powers silicon across commercial, enterprise, and automotive customers, and the technical decisions you make will matter.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the PCIe digital architecture and drive RTL design execution across block, subsystem, and IP integration levels, staying directly involved in design decisions and reviews
• Define micro-architecture, design specifications, and implementation strategies for high-performance, power-efficient, and scalable PCIe IP
• Lead end-to-end digital design activities from architecture definition through RTL development, debug, design convergence, and post-silicon support
• Serve as the technical authority for PCIe design, resolving complex issues and making critical design trade-offs that affect current and next-generation IP
• Mentor ASIC digital design engineers through design reviews, technical feedback, and hands-on problem solving
• Collaborate with verification, physical design, formal, emulation, firmware, and system teams to ensure seamless IP integration and silicon success
• Drive design quality through rigorous reviews, coding standards, and maintainability practices that raise the bar across the team

The Impact You Will Have

• Deliver industry-leading PCIe digital IP that powers silicon for customers building next-generation products across commercial, enterprise, and automotive markets
• Strengthen the technical foundation and execution quality of PCIe designs used by leading semiconductor companies
• Influence the technical strategy and roadmap for Synopsys PCIe and interconnect IP, shaping architecture decisions that affect multiple product generations
• Raise the technical capability of the team through mentorship, design leadership, and knowledge sharing that builds long-term strength
• Improve design predictability, quality, and execution efficiency through strong architectural leadership and disciplined engineering practices
• Drive Synopsys' position as a leader in high-speed interface IP by delivering robust, scalable, and silicon-proven solutions
• Enable faster time-to-market for customers by delivering PCIe IP that integrates cleanly and performs reliably in complex SoC environments

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with 12+ years of ASIC digital design experience, or Master's degree with 10+ years
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead or principal engineer driving complex ASIC digital design projects
• Deep expertise in PCIe digital design and architecture, with direct ownership of RTL design and micro-architecture definition
• Strong understanding of ASIC design fundamentals including clocking, resets, low-power techniques, and design for test
• Proven ability to drive designs from concept through silicon, including post-silicon debug and support
• Experience with CXL, DDR, AMBA, UCIe, or related high-speed interconnect protocols is highly desirable
• Familiarity with AI-driven design tools, scripting languages like Perl, TCL, or Python for design automation is a plus

Who You Are

• You lead through technical depth, not just delegation. You review RTL, you understand the trade-offs, and you help engineers navigate decisions that do not have clean answers
• You communicate clearly across disciplines. You can explain a complex PCIe architecture decision to a verification lead, a physical design engineer, and a program manager without losing the thread
• You care about design quality and maintainability. You push back when a shortcut will create problems three months from now, and you build designs that the next engineer can actually work with
• You are collaborative and direct. You work well across global teams, you give clear feedback, and you build trust through follow-through and technical credibility

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the DesignWare Digital IP R&D organization at Synopsys, focused on architecting and delivering world-class PCIe IP. The team spans multiple global sites and works closely with verification, analog, system, and platform teams to deliver silicon-proven solutions for next-generation semiconductor products.

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.