Synopsys

We Are:

At Synopsys, we drive the innovations that shape the way we live and connect. Our technology is central to the Era of Pervasive Intelligence, from self-driving cars to learning machines. We lead in chip design, verification, and IP integration, empowering the creation of high-performance silicon chips and software content. Join us to transform the future through continuous technological innovation.

Synopsys accelerates technology innovation from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly deliver AI-powered products. Synopsys technology helps power the era of pervasive intelligence across industries, and our teams build the silicon IP and firmware that make these systems possible.

You Are:

You are an experienced firmware leader who thrives in complex, high-stakes environments. Your expertise shines in debugging, preventing defects, and scaling best practices across diverse teams. You possess deep ownership of embedded systems, consistently driving architecture-level decisions and mentoring others through challenging root-cause analyses. Your intuition around signal integrity and mixed-signal systems enables you to translate ambiguous lab behaviors into reproducible fixes, ensuring the highest standards of quality and reliability.
 You are passionate about leveraging AI to enhance development workflows, making processes faster, repeatable, and auditable while maintaining rigorous correctness. Your disciplined software engineering habits, including thorough code reviews, unit testing, and defect prevention, are matched by your commitment to process maturity and documentation quality. You communicate effectively across functional boundaries, bridging hardware, design, validation, and applications teams.
 As a technical leader, you proactively raise team capability through mentorship, coaching, and hands-on problem solving. You are not only a strong individual contributor, but also a catalyst for technical excellence and best-practice adoption. Your approach is collaborative, inclusive, and adaptable, ensuring that everyone on the team feels empowered to innovate and succeed. You thrive in environments where learning is rapid, challenges are complex, and the impact is far-reaching. If you are ready to drive firmware innovation at the intersection of silicon, software, and AI, Synopsys is the place for you.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Architect, implement, and validate firmware for embedded microprocessors in advanced SerDes and PHY IP.
• Lead silicon bring-up and debug cycles, supporting lab triage, instrumented root-cause analysis, and cross-functional closure with design, DV, validation, and applications teams.
• Apply mixed-signal debugging expertise to isolate HW/FW boundary issues, leveraging knowledge of analog behavior, clocks/resets, power states, and link training.
• Develop high-quality embedded code in C/C++, ensuring robust design reviews, code reviews, unit testing, and disciplined defect prevention practices.
• Scale automation through CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and test frameworks to improve coverage, reliability, and release confidence.
• Define validation strategies, create automated test cases, and drive coverage analysis across multiple firmware projects.
• Build and maintain AI-assisted firmware workflows using tools such as Cursor, focusing on prompt/trace hygiene, guardrails, and verification practices.
• Operationalize agentic AI patterns for firmware development, including planning, code generation, refactoring, test creation, log triage, and regression analysis with explicit human review points.
• Author and curate reusable rules, skills, and commands to standardize AI usage (coding standards, spec templates, “definition of done,” test expectations, and safety checks).
• Lead process maturity initiatives, driving adoption of coding standards, branching/release hygiene, documentation quality, and review discipline, making adherence measurable.
• Operationalize status and quality tracking via JIRA dashboards and Confluence, providing clear, repeatable reporting on best-practice and AI-workflow adoption.
• Mentor and provide technical leadership, elevating team capability through coaching, review guidance, and hands-on problem solving in critical debug cycles.

The Impact You Will Have:

• Enhance firmware quality and predictability through stronger engineering rigor, automation, and measurable best-practice adoption.
• Shorten silicon debug cycles with disciplined instrumentation, improved HW/FW collaboration, and rapid root-cause isolation.
• Scale AI leverage across the team via shared rules, skills, commands, consistent verification steps, and comprehensive workflow documentation.
• Enable cross-site execution with clearer interfaces, thorough documentation, and repeatable validation approaches.
• Make technical excellence contagious through mentorship, standards, and practical coaching during pivotal moments.
• Drive innovation by integrating AI-driven workflows and agentic patterns, increasing team productivity and maintaining high-quality standards.
• Operationalize best practices and quality signals, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.
• Empower the team to deliver high-performance silicon IP products that accelerate industry-wide adoption of AI-powered solutions.

What You’ll Need:

• Embedded firmware experience: 5+ years building and debugging embedded firmware for silicon products (bring-up, lab debug, sustained maintenance).
• Programming: Expert in C/C++; strong scripting proficiency in Python (plus Bash and/or Tcl).
• Debug: Demonstrated strength in silicon bring-up, lab instrumentation, and HW/FW boundary root-cause analysis.
• Mixed-signal systems: Practical experience debugging systems involving analog and digital behavior (SerDes/PHY, clocking, resets, power, signal integrity impacts).
• Validation and automation: Proven ability to build automation, test frameworks, and coverage strategy; experience with Jenkins CI/CD.
• AI tooling: Hands-on experience using Cursor (or equivalent) in production engineering workflows, including building reusable prompts/workflows and enforcing verification/quality gates.
• Agentic workflows: Experience defining agentic workflows with clear boundaries, review points, and safety rails (including when not to use AI).
• Process leadership: Track record of scaling best practices across a team (reviews, test discipline, release hygiene, documentation standards).
• Collaboration: Strong cross-functional communication across firmware, hardware/design, DV/validation, and multi-site teams.
• Education: BSEE/MSEE (or equivalent practical experience).

Who You Are:

• Innovative thinker with a passion for technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Collaborative and effective communicator, capable of bridging diverse teams and perspectives.
• Disciplined and detail-oriented, ensuring rigorous adherence to best practices and quality standards.
• Adaptable and resilient, thriving in fast-paced, complex environments.
• Mentor and leader, dedicated to elevating team capability through coaching and practical guidance.
• Inclusive, fostering a culture where diverse ideas and backgrounds contribute to team success.

The Team You’ll Be A Part Of:

You’ll join a cross-functional SerDes/PHY IP firmware team where technical rigor, fast learning, and strong collaboration are foundational to success. The team is responsible for both deep technical problem-solving and leadership, ensuring best practices are embedded in daily execution. You’ll be part of an environment that values ownership, innovation, and the continuous pursuit of excellence, working alongside top talent in the industry to deliver high-impact solutions.

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.

#LI-DP1

Synopsys Canada ULC values the diversity of our workforce. We are committed to provide access & opportunity to individuals with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodation to individuals throughout the recruitment and employment process. Should you require an accommodation, please contact hr-help-canada@synopsys.com.