RTL2GDS Principal AE - San Jose, United States
$127,400 - $236,600 USD yearly
Originally posted 21 October 2026 by the employer.
Drive digital implementation and signoff flows across advanced nodes (3nm and below) using Genus and Innovus.
About the role
The Principal Application Engineer serves as a senior technical leader within Cadence’s North America Field Applications Team, driving strategic customer engagements for digital implementation and signoff technologies across advanced nodes (3nm and below).
What you'll do
- Define and execute technical engagement strategies for semiconductor design teams, ensuring alignment with customer success metrics. - Guide customer adoption of Cadence digital implementation, signoff technologies, and Agentic-AI features at advanced nodes (3nm and below). - Partner with R&D and Product Engineering to influence tool enhancements based on customer requirements. - Drive benchmarks, flow optimizations, and methodology deployment for Synthesis, RTL power estimation, Formal Verification, P&R, STA, IR Drop, and power/timing closure. - Establish best practices for engagement models, resource planning, and technical escalations.
What you'll need
- 8+ years of experience in IC design implementation with demonstrated success in managing large-scale technical programs. - BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field. - Expertise in digital design fundamentals, advanced node implementation (3nm and below), and EDA tool ecosystems. - Proven track record of leading technical teams and interfacing with customer stakeholders. - Strong proficiency in scripting with Tcl, Python, or Perl, along with flow customization for design closure.
Nice to have
- Prior experience with Cadence tools including Genus, Innovus, Conformal, and Cerebrus, or competitive solutions.
Skills: Principal AE, Innovus, Genus, Place and Route, STA, Tcl
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 34-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · EDA Tools
|
Open roles in category
121
|
Median days open
34 d
|
Median salary
$182k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Cadence Design Systems | All employers we track in this specialty (121 roles · 11 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 33 | 121 |
| Median days open | 24 d | 34 d (−10 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $182k |
Skills observed across this category: Principal AE, Innovus, Genus, Place and Route, STA, Tcl
Who's hiring in this category
- Synopsys · 61 open roles · median 31 d
- Cadence Design Systems (this employer) · 33 open roles · median 24 d
- Keysight Technologies · 9 open roles · median 57 d
- Renesas Electronics · 9 open roles · median 70 d
- Amazon · 2 open roles · median 12 d
- Arteris · 2 open roles · median 122 d
How we counted: 121 open Applications FAE (EDA Tools) roles from 11 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 23 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.