Hardware Verification Engineer, Entry Level

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 just completed your degree and you want your first real engineering role to involve actual hardware problems, not just theory. You have spent time in labs or projects where things did not work the first time, and you learned that debugging is half curiosity and half persistence. You understand that prototyping is messy, that emulation platforms have real constraints, and that the work is figuring out how to make things run when the setup is never quite what the textbook described.

You are comfortable with code. Maybe you wrote Python scripts to automate data collection for a class project, or you dug into C++ to understand how a simulation was actually running under the hood. You do not need to be an expert yet, but you need to be someone who opens the file and starts reading when something breaks.

You are detail-oriented in a way that matters. Not just checking boxes, but actually noticing when a memory model behaves differently than expected or when a compile flow produces an output that does not make sense. You ask questions when things do not add up, and you follow through until they do.

This is a two-month, hourly, in-person role in Sunnyvale. It is short, but it is real R&D work on hardware-assisted verification platforms that customers depend on.

What You'll Be Doing

• Support development of emulation and prototyping capabilities, including memory models and compile flows used in hardware-assisted verification
• Contribute to integration work across front-end, compile, and debug workflows to help converge platform solutions into a unified flow
• Assist in debugging and resolving issues that come up during customer use cases, working with the team to identify root causes and test fixes
• Write and run scripts in Python or C/C++ to automate testing, data collection, or workflow validation
• Document your work clearly so the team can build on what you learn during this contract period
• Collaborate with engineers across the HAV team to understand how different pieces of the platform interact and where bottlenecks show up

The Impact You Will Have

• Accelerate platform development by contributing hands-on work that moves memory models and compile flows forward during a critical development phase
• Help converge fragmented workflows into a more streamlined solution that makes the platform easier to use and maintain
• Support customer success by helping resolve real-world issues that affect how prototyping and emulation platforms perform in production environments
• Improve automation and testing coverage through scripts and tools that make future debugging faster and more reliable
• Provide fresh perspective and detailed observations that help the team catch issues earlier in the development cycle
• Build documentation and learnings that outlast this contract and help onboard future team members

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
• Hands-on experience with programming or scripting in C/C++, Python, or similar languages, whether from coursework, projects, or internships
• Basic understanding of digital design, hardware verification, or prototyping concepts from academic or project work
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to debug issues methodically without needing perfect documentation
• Availability to work in person in Sunnyvale, California for the full 2-month contract period
• Experience with FPGA-based prototyping, emulation platforms, or hardware/software co-design is a plus

Who You Are

• You notice details that others miss, like when a log file shows an unexpected pattern or a memory model produces results that do not align with the spec
• You are comfortable working on short timelines and understand that a 2-month contract means you need to ramp quickly and contribute from the start
• You can explain a technical problem clearly, whether you are writing it up in a bug report or talking through it with a senior engineer who needs context fast
• You do not wait for perfect instructions, you take what you have, ask clarifying questions, and start making progress
• You are genuinely curious about how prototyping and emulation systems work, and you want to understand not just what broke but why

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Hardware-Assisted Verification (HAV) team, which builds prototyping and emulation technologies that help customers verify complex semiconductor designs before silicon. The team works on platform development, flow integration, and customer execution, and this role will give you exposure to all three areas during the contract period.