Staff Engineer (R&D Engineering)

Job Description and Requirements

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 deep experience with computational physics, computational chemistry, materials science, or atomic-scale simulations, whether that comes from industry, a research-focused PhD, or postdoctoral work. You have spent significant time using, developing, or extending simulation tools and understand the challenges researchers face when setting up calculations, analysing results, and turning scientific ideas into reliable workflows.

You may have worked with molecular dynamics, electronic structure methods, machine-learned potentials, or related techniques. You understand these methods well enough to speak the language of researchers and evaluate whether workflows and results make scientific sense, even if your primary focus today is software development rather than method development.

Writing software in Python is something you do confidently. You enjoy building tools that others use and appreciate the difference between a prototype created for a single project and a software platform that needs to support thousands of users. You are interested in modern AI technologies and excited by the opportunity to apply large language models, agents, and workflow automation to scientific computing.

You communicate technical concepts clearly and enjoy working across disciplines. Whether you are discussing requirements with simulation experts, designing user interfaces, writing documentation, or collaborating with software engineers, you focus on creating products that make advanced technology accessible and productive.

At Synopsys, you will help shape the future of QuantumATK by developing platform capabilities, user experiences, and AI-driven workflows that enable researchers and engineers to solve increasingly complex materials and semiconductor challenges.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design and develop platform capabilities that improve how users interact with QuantumATK

• Build and maintain production-quality software in Python with a focus on reliability, usability, maintainability, and performance

• Develop graphical user interface components and workflows that make advanced simulation capabilities easier to discover and use

• Create AI-powered and agent-based workflows that help automate simulation setup, execution, analysis, and interpretation

• Integrate modern AI technologies, including large language models and intelligent assistants, into scientific software products

• Collaborate with domain experts to translate scientific requirements into scalable software solutions

• Improve workflow orchestration, automation, and interoperability across simulation tools and data sources

• Contribute to architecture discussions and technical roadmaps for the QuantumATK platform

The Impact You Will Have

• Help researchers and engineers become more productive by simplifying complex simulation workflows

• Enable broader adoption of advanced simulation technologies through intuitive tools and user experiences

• Shape how AI and intelligent agents are used within scientific and engineering workflows

• Improve the usability, reliability, and scalability of QuantumATK as a platform

• Bridge scientific expertise and software engineering, ensuring that advanced capabilities remain both powerful and accessible

• Influence the future direction of scientific computing workflows within Synopsys products

• Help transform expert-level simulation software into tools that can be effectively used by a wider engineering audience

What You'll Need

• PhD in theoretical physics, computational chemistry, materials science, computer science, engineering, or equivalent experience

• Strong practical experience with atomic-scale simulation methods such as molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo, electronic structure methods, machine-learned potentials, or related approaches

• Strong software development skills in Python including experience developing software that is used by others.

• Experience designing, maintaining, or contributing to larger software systems rather than only standalone research code

• Excellent communication skills and experience writing technical documentation, tutorials, scientific reports, or publications

• Interest in AI, automation, agentic systems, or intelligent user experiences

• Experience developing graphical user interfaces for scientific or engineering applications and familiarity with QuantumATK is a plus.

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the QuantumATK development team in Copenhagen, a group of world-leading experts in atomic-scale simulations who build and maintain the QuantumATK platform. The team combines deep scientific expertise with serious software engineering, and your work will contribute directly to a product used by researchers and engineers across the semiconductor and materials industries.

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.

At Synopsys, we want talented people of every background to feel valued and supported to do their best work. Synopsys considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, military veteran status, or disability.