# Layout Design, Staff Engineer

**Company**: Synopsys
**Location**: Seongnam-si
**Experience**: staff
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Technology
**Ticker**: SNPS
**Wikidata**: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2303478

**Apply**: https://careers.synopsys.com/job/seongnam-si/layout-design-staff-engineer/44408/102448659760?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_4f4c8771-697

## Description

Our Hardware Engineers at Synopsys are responsible for designing and developing cutting-edge semiconductor solutions. They work on intricate tasks such as chip architecture, circuit design, and verification to ensure the efficiency and reliability of semiconductor products. These engineers play a crucial role in advancing technology and enabling innovations in various industries.

We are looking for a Staff Engineer to join our SerDes PHY IP firmware team and work alongside fellow engineers on PCS/PMA firmware for our next-generation SerDes PHY IP, supporting multiple protocols such as PCIe, Ethernet, and MIPI M-PHY. This is a senior individual-contributor role focused on hands-on firmware design and development, silicon bring-up, and customer issue resolution as a core member of the team.

**Responsibilities**

- Develop firmware for next-generation SerDes PHY IP supporting multiple protocols, including PCIe, Ethernet, and MIPI M-PHY.

- Design and maintain firmware for PHY startup, offset calibration, and adaptation flows.

- Analyze and debug interactions between firmware, analog/mixed-signal front-end circuits, and digital PCS/PMA blocks.

- Collaborate closely with systems, analog design, digital design, verification, and lab teams during firmware development and debugging.

- Support and enhance existing firmware applications and features.

- Develop and maintain firmware development infrastructure and tools.

- Develop and improve firmware documentation to enhance customer usability and support.

- Investigate and resolve customer-reported firmware issues and failures.

- Lead firmware integration, debugging, and silicon bring-up activities on assigned areas.

- Contribute to improvements in firmware design methodologies and system-level architecture through collaboration with cross-functional teams.

**The Impact You Will Have**

- Advance the development of high-performance firmware for next-generation technologies.

- Enhance the functionality and reliability of Synopsys' SerDes PHY IP products.

- Optimize system performance through post-silicon bring-up, characterization, and debugging activities.

- Improve customer satisfaction through robust firmware solutions and comprehensive documentation.

- Drive innovation in firmware design methodologies and system-level architecture.

- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver integrated solutions that push the boundaries of technology.

**Requirements**

- Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience.

- 8+ years of experience in a related field.

- Understanding of both digital logic and firmware/software development, with in-depth specialization in either.

- Hands-on experience with assembly-level firmware development for embedded controllers or custom PHY sequencer ISAs.

- Working knowledge of high-speed SerDes fundamentals and familiarity with at least one high-speed SerDes standard (e.g., PCIe, Ethernet, MIPI M-PHY, USB, or DisplayPort).

- Experience with structured firmware development, verification, and documentation processes.

- Familiarity with embedded software toolchains, including cross-compilers, assemblers, and on-target debuggers.

- Ability to read and debug Verilog RTL (e.g., PHY FSM/sequencer RTL) to reason about firmware-hardware interactions.

- Business-level English communication skills, both written and verbal, to work effectively with global cross-functional teams and customers.

**Preferred Qualifications**

- Deep expertise in PCIe, Ethernet, or MIPI M-PHY protocol layers.

- Experience with multi-protocol SerDes PHY architectures.

- RTL design or verification experience.

- Scripting experience with Perl, Python, Bash, or Csh.

- Silicon bring-up and lab debugging experience, including waveform tools (e.g., Verdi/FSDB), scopes, or BER testers.

- Experience developing DSP microcode or firmware for other custom-ISA processors beyond PHY sequencers.

- Experience with Perforce or Git-based version control workflows.

- Experience using AI-assisted development tools for code review, documentation, or test generation.

**Benefits**

- Comprehensive medical and healthcare plans that work for you and your family.

- In addition to company holidays, we have ETO and FTO Programs.

- Maternity and paternity leave, parenting resources, adoption and surrogacy assistance, and more.

- Purchase Synopsys common stock at a 15% discount, with a 24-month look-back.

- Save for your future with our retirement plans that vary by region and country.

- Competitive salaries.

## Skills

### Required
- Computer Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- firmware development
- SerDes PHY IP
- PCIe
- Ethernet
- MIPI M-PHY
- Verilog RTL
- embedded software toolchains

### Nice to have
- PCIe protocol layers
- multi-protocol SerDes PHY architectures
- RTL design
- verification experience
- Perl
- Python
- Bash
- Csh
- waveform tools
- Git-based version control workflows
- AI-assisted development tools

---

Source: [Apply at careers.synopsys.com](https://careers.synopsys.com/job/seongnam-si/layout-design-staff-engineer/44408/102448659760?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)