Sr Principal Product Engineer

Job description

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

The STA Product Engineer plays a critical role in driving best‑in‑class timing analysis solutions by combining deep technical expertise in STA tools and methodologies with strong customer engagement. The role focuses on understanding customer requirements, translating them into precise product specifications, and working closely with R&D to continuously improve tool quality, usability, and deployment success—especially for Tempus Timing Signoff Solution.

Key Responsibilities

• Possess strong hands-on expertise in Static Timing Analysis (STA), including advanced signoff methodologies for timing, SI, OCV/POCV, AOCV, MPW, derates, CDC/clocking, Hierarchical design closure, and constraint modeling.
• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of STA tools, with a strong focus on Tempus, and good familiarity with industry-standard signoff flows.
• Act as a technical bridge between customers and R&D, capturing customer pain points, use cases, and requirements with clarity and precision.
• Own the creation of detailed and efficient product specifications, ensuring accurate translation of customer needs into implementable engineering requirements.
• Collaborate closely with R&D teams to drive feature development, enhancements, and bug fixes—ensuring timely, high-quality delivery.
• Support tool deployment and customer enablement, including evaluations, benchmarking, flow recommendations, and best-practice guidance.
• Engage with new and existing customers to expand adoption, enable successful signoff deployments
• Actively participate in technical discussions, reviews, and escalations, providing clear, data-backed guidance and resolution.
• Contribute to continuous tool improvement by proactively identifying gaps, proposing enhancements, and validating solutions across real customer designs.

Required Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of STA fundamentals and advanced signoff concepts
• Hands-on experience with Tempus and/or PrimeTime exposure
• Expertise in timing constraints (SDC), clocking architectures, and path-based analysis
• Working knowledge of VLSI design flows (front-end to signoff)
• Ability to analyze complex timing issues and propose scalable, customer-ready solutions
• Scripting skills (Tcl, Python preferred) for automation, analysis, and flow optimization

Customer & Product Engineering Skills

• Excellent customer interaction and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts clearly and confidently
• Strong capability to understand customer requirements deeply, beyond surface-level issues
• Proven experience in requirement gathering, specification writing, and cross-team execution
• Ability to influence both customers and internal teams through technical credibility and clarity
• Experience supporting tool adoption, deployment, and expansion across customer environments

Personal Traits & Work Ethic

• Passionate about VLSI and STA, with a strong drive to learn and go deep into technical details
• Hard-working, inquisitive, and self-driven, with a problem-solving mindset
• A great team player who collaborates effectively across Product, R&D, and Field teams
• Actively engages in knowledge sharing and mentoring
• Enthusiastic, proactive, and committed to product and customer success
• Demonstrates ownership, accountability, and a strong sense of execution

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