Staff Application Engineer, Physical Design
Originally posted 29 September 2026 by the employer.
Support customers with RTL-to-GDS flow and Fusion Compiler.
About the role
This role involves supporting customers with physical design implementation and design closure, specifically focusing on advanced process nodes such as 5nm and 3nm using Fusion Compiler.
What you'll do
- Support customers through physical design implementation and design closure using Synopsys tools.
- Debug complex design challenges across timing, power, area, congestion, routing, and runtime optimization at advanced process nodes including 5nm and below.
- Provide technical guidance on best practices for synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, power optimization, and advanced implementation methodologies.
- Build and maintain automation scripts in TCL to streamline workflows and improve turnaround time for customer engagements.
- Collaborate with internal R&D teams to reproduce customer issues, validate tool behavior, and feed real-world use cases back into product development.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field with at least 5 years of hands-on ASIC, physical design, implementation, or CAD engineering experience.
- Direct experience with RTL-to-GDS implementation flows, including synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and physical design optimization.
- Strong working knowledge of Fusion Compiler, ICC2, or equivalent digital implementation tools.
- Understanding of timing, power, congestion, routing, and design closure methodologies.
- Proficiency in scripting with TCL and Python to automate design tasks and improve workflow efficiency.
- Business-level English proficiency with the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly in written and spoken form.
Skills: RTL2GDS flow, physical design, timing closure, Fusion Compiler, customer support
This role has been open 8 days — well below the 60-day median for Physical Design roles.
Physical Design · Physical Design
|
Open roles in category
671
|
Median days open
60 d
|
Median salary
$185k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Synopsys | All employers we track in this specialty (671 roles · 78 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 35 | 671 |
| Open roles in the wider Physical Implementation family | 98 | 1485 · 107 employers |
| Median days open | 39 d | 60 d (−21 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $185k |
Skills observed across this category: RTL2GDS flow, physical design, timing closure, Fusion Compiler, customer support
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 130 open roles · median 38 d
- AMD · 59 open roles · median 21 d
- NVIDIA · 42 open roles · median 63 d
- Broadcom · 38 open roles · median 88 d
- Synopsys (this employer) · 35 open roles · median 39 d
- Micron Technology · 25 open roles · median 78 d
How we counted: 671 open Physical Design (Physical Design) roles from 78 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 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 — it is counted in the wider Physical Implementation family row. Figures refresh nightly.