Sr. Principal Engineer, Emulation & IP Verification

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 15 years learning that emulation is not just about running tests faster, it is about finding the bugs that matter before they cost millions in silicon respins. The difference between a verification plan that looks complete and one that actually catches corner cases is something you can spot in the first ten minutes of a review. You know PCIe, DDR, and Ethernet at the protocol level, not just the spec level, because you have debugged enough real failures to understand where theory and implementation diverge.

Working with Zebu is second nature to you. You have built emulation environments that bridge the gap between what the platform can do and what your design team actually needs. When someone says 'the emulation IP does not support that feature,' you do not stop there. You figure out the workaround, propose the enhancement, or find another path entirely.

You operate comfortably across geographies and functions. Design teams, verification teams, IP teams, they all speak slightly different languages, and you translate between them without losing the technical thread. Matrixed organizations do not slow you down because you know how to build consensus without waiting for perfect alignment. At Synopsys, you will define how we validate the next generation of high-speed interfaces, and the IP you help verify will ship in products that power everything from data centers to autonomous systems.

What You'll Be Doing

• Close the gap between Zebu emulation IP capabilities and what Design IP teams need to verify PCIe, DDR, and Ethernet controllers and PHYs across functional and performance domains
• Define technical requirements for emulation IP, working directly with IP development teams to ensure correct implementation, deployment, and integration into verification flows
• Track and report emulation IP quality metrics, identifying trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities that directly impact product schedules and silicon success
• Stay ahead of evolving PCIe, DDR, and Ethernet standards, translating specification updates, ECNs, and errata into actionable requirements for both emulation and design teams
• Review and validate test plans for emulation IP and design IP, ensuring coverage is complete, traceable, and aligned with real-world use cases and customer requirements
• Drive cross-functional alignment on verification methodology, standardizing workflows and best practices across global teams to improve efficiency and reduce rework
• Mentor engineers on emulation strategy, IP verification techniques, and how to think critically about coverage and quality in pre-silicon environments

The Impact You Will Have

• Accelerate time to market for high-speed interface IP by catching critical bugs in emulation before they reach silicon
• Influence the roadmap and feature set of Synopsys emulation IP, shaping tools that thousands of engineers across the company depend on
• Elevate verification quality across multiple product lines by defining and evangelizing best practices that become the standard
• Reduce costly silicon respins by ensuring emulation environments accurately model real-world system behavior and corner cases
• Build bridges between geographically distributed teams, turning fragmented verification efforts into cohesive, repeatable strategies
• Position Synopsys as the industry leader in pre-silicon validation by driving adoption of cutting-edge emulation techniques
• Enable the next generation of AI, automotive, and data center products by ensuring the IP that powers them is verified to the highest standard

What You'll Need

• 15+ years of hands-on experience in emulation, IP verification, or ASIC digital design
• Deep expertise in PCIe and DDR protocols, including verification strategies, corner cases, and standards compliance
• Extensive experience with Zebu or similar emulation platforms, particularly for IP-level verification and system-level integration
• Proven track record leading or contributing to IP product development with a focus on emulation-based verification
• Strong ability to work across global, matrixed teams and drive alignment between emulation IP and design IP organizations
• Excellent communication skills, you can explain a complex tradeoff to a design lead in two sentences without losing the nuance
• Experience interpreting and applying industry standards updates, ECNs, and errata in real verification contexts is a strong plus

Who You Are

• You can walk into a test plan review, spot the missing corner case that everyone else missed, and explain why it matters in two sentences
• When something does not work in emulation, you do not wait for someone else to fix it. You dig in, reproduce it, and come back with a proposal
• You are comfortable saying 'this verification strategy will not catch that class of bugs' in a room full of senior engineers, and you can back it up with data
• Ambiguity does not slow you down. You ask the right questions, make reasonable assumptions, document them, and keep moving
• You have mentored engineers before and you know the difference between giving someone the answer and helping them learn how to find it
• You treat verification like a product. You think about the user experience, the failure modes, and what happens six months from now when someone else has to maintain what you built

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join a dynamic, high-performing engineering team focused on IP development, emulation, and verification at the forefront of semiconductor innovation. Our team is collaborative, cross-functional, and globally distributed, working together to solve complex challenges and deliver industry-leading solutions. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with experts across multiple domains, drive impactful initiatives, and shape the future of digital design and verification at Synopsys.

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.