Staff Software Engineer, EDA Tools Development

Category Engineering Hire Type Employee Job ID 17910 Remote Eligible No Date Posted 06/21/2026

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 building software that has to actually work, not demo well, actually work, under pressure, across large codebases with complex interdependencies. You know that the difference between a system that scales and one that breaks is usually a decision made three months earlier, and you are the kind of engineer who catches that decision before it ships. You do not need perfect requirements to get started. You ask the right questions, align with stakeholders, and find a way through ambiguity without creating more of it downstream.

Standard cell libraries are the foundation of every chip that ships, and you understand that the tools that build them need to be bulletproof. You have worked close enough to silicon to know what matters: accuracy, runtime, and the ability to handle complexity without falling over. When a characterization run takes six hours instead of two, you dig in and figure out why.

You are already experimenting with AI-assisted coding tools, not because they are trendy, but because you have seen them cut debug time in half when used right. You know when to trust the output and when to rewrite it. At Synopsys, you will work on Primelib and the tools that power library creation for the most advanced process nodes in the world.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design, develop, and own features in Primelib and related tools for standard cell library generation, characterization, and validation
• Build performance-critical software in C/C++ and automation layers in Python that support library flows used across the industry
• Integrate AI and LLM-based coding tools into your development workflow to accelerate feature delivery, improve code quality, and reduce manual effort
• Develop and optimize algorithms for faster library creation, data processing, and large-scale characterization runs
• Collaborate with R&D, product engineering, validation, and customer support teams to align tool capabilities with real-world design requirements
• Debug complex issues across the stack, from SPICE simulation integration to data pipeline performance bottlenecks
• Mentor engineers on the team, lead technical design reviews, and contribute to architectural decisions that shape the product roadmap

The Impact You Will Have

• You will directly improve the speed and accuracy of standard cell library creation for advanced nodes, enabling faster time-to-market for semiconductor products worldwide
• Your work will reduce characterization runtimes and improve tool scalability, giving design teams more iterations and better results
• You will help define how AI-assisted development is adopted across the R&D organization, setting patterns that other teams will follow
• The algorithms you build will process terabytes of characterization data and make library workflows more efficient at scale
• You will influence product direction by working directly with customers and field teams who depend on these tools every day
• Your mentorship will level up the engineers around you and raise the technical bar for the entire team
• The tools you ship will be used to build chips that power everything from data centers to autonomous vehicles

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with 6+ years of hands-on software development experience
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for performance-critical systems and Python for automation and scripting
• Solid grounding in data structures, algorithms, and software engineering principles applied to complex, production-grade systems
• Experience working in Linux/Unix environments with command-line tools, build systems, and version control
• Hands-on experience with standard cell library development, characterization flows, or related EDA tooling is a strong plus
• Familiarity with SPICE simulation, PDKs, or semiconductor design flows is a strong plus
• Demonstrated use of AI-powered developer tools or LLMs to improve coding efficiency, debug workflows, or automate repetitive tasks is a plus

Who You Are

• You can explain a complex tradeoff between runtime and accuracy to a product manager in two sentences without losing the nuance
• You have debugged a performance issue that turned out to be three layers deeper than anyone expected, and you stayed with it until it was fixed
• You are comfortable working across time zones with teams in the US, Europe, and Asia, and you know how to communicate clearly in writing when a quick call is not an option
• You push back when a feature request does not make technical sense, and you do it in a way that moves the conversation forward instead of shutting it down
• You treat code reviews as a teaching moment, not a checklist, and you leave every review better than you found it
• You are already using tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar AI assistants in your workflow, and you have opinions on what works and what does not

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.