Principal Lead Field Applications Engineer – Processor IP, Software, and Custom Silicon
$146,000 - $254,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 21 July 2026 by the employer. Relisted by the employer on 15 September 2026.
Support customer engagements across North America focused on open RISC-V architecture, processor IP, and custom silicon solutions.
About the role
This is a customer-facing technical individual contributor role supporting customer engagements across Industrial, Automotive, and Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) accounts in North America. The position focuses on enabling design wins across processor IP, software tools, and custom silicon solutions.
What you'll do
- Act as the primary technical interface for customers during pre-sales and early development phases, delivering presentations, architectural reviews, and product demonstrations. - Provide technical guidance on processor IP integration, software toolchains, development environments, and system architecture considerations. - Support technical discussions and design-in activities to secure design wins for CPU IP licensing, custom silicon programs, and software solutions. - Help customers evaluate and implement solutions involving open RISC-V architecture, multi-threaded compute, scalable neural processors, and functional safety-ready designs. - Partner with Business Development on opportunity creation, proposals, RFIs, and translating customer technical requirements into product feedback. - Support ecosystem partner engagements across EDA, software, and design services, as well as customer workshops and industry events.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in an engineering discipline or related field. - 10+ years in Field Application Engineering, Applications Engineering, or Design Engineering. - Experience in semiconductor IP, SoC/ASIC development, or embedded systems across Industrial, Automotive, or IDM electronics markets. - Demonstrated background supporting customer engagements and achieving design wins. - Solid understanding of MCU, SoC, and domain/zonal controller architectures. - Familiarity with processor architectures, embedded software development (compilers, SDKs, OS), and system-level design and integration.
Nice to have
- Experience with the RISC-V ecosystem or CPU IP integration. - Prior experience supporting industrial, automotive, or IDM customers in North America. - Experience with SoC development and custom silicon implementation flows. - Understanding of functional safety standards or design requirements in Industrial and Automotive markets.
Skills: technical interface for customers, processor IP, SoC/ASIC development, customer engagements, design wins
This role has been open 89 days — well above the 73-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · SOC Architecture
|
Open roles in category
41
|
Median days open
73 d
|
Median salary
$215k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | GlobalFoundries | All employers we track in this specialty (41 roles · 11 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 10 | 41 |
| Median days open | 92 d | 73 d (+19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $215k |
Skills observed across this category: technical interface for customers, processor IP, SoC/ASIC development, customer engagements, design wins
Who's hiring in this category
- GlobalFoundries (this employer) · 10 open roles · median 92 d
- Baya Systems · 9 open roles · median 88 d
- Texas Instruments · 5 open roles · median 37 d
- Arm Holdings · 4 open roles · median 116 d
- AMD · 3 open roles · median 33 d
- NVIDIA · 3 open roles · median 52 d
How we counted: 41 open Applications FAE (SOC Architecture) roles from 11 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 19 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.