Applications Engineer, Aerospace & Defense

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 spent time in the aerospace and defense world where the problems are real and the stakes are high, and you have learned that the best software in the world means nothing if it does not fit into how engineers actually work. You think in workflows, not features. You know the difference between a demo that impresses and a solution that gets adopted on Monday morning, and you care deeply about that difference.

You are comfortable walking into a customer site, sitting with mission analysts or systems engineers, and figuring out what they actually need, not what they think they need. You can write Python or C# to automate a workflow, explain a complex integration to a program manager without losing them, and then turn around and help a sales team understand what just unlocked in that account.

You do not wait for perfect documentation. You dig in, ask the right questions, and build something that works. You have a point of view on how mission simulation or systems engineering tools should be deployed, and you are not afraid to push back when a customer is headed down the wrong path. At Synopsys, you will work with defense and aerospace customers solving real mission-critical problems, and what you build will directly affect how they engineer what comes next.

What You'll Be Doing

• Develop deep product expertise in Digital Mission Engineering tools including STK, ODTK, and related Ansys systems and platform products
• Work onsite with aerospace and defense customers in Huntsville and surrounding areas to implement software best practices, troubleshoot real-world mission scenarios, and integrate tools into their engineering workflows
• Design and develop custom automation scripts, user interfaces, and integration code in Python, C#, Java, or MATLAB to support specific customer use cases and mission requirements
• Lead technical discovery sessions, product demonstrations, and evaluation projects throughout the sales cycle, translating customer engineering requirements into clear Ansys value propositions
• Collaborate with Ansys product development teams to translate field feedback and customer requirements into product enhancements, and test new releases against real industrial problems
• Deliver consulting services, technical training classes, and workshops to help customers maximize their use of DME software
• Partner with Account Managers to strategize on growth opportunities within key government and defense accounts, supporting both renewal business and new adoption initiatives

The Impact You Will Have

• Enable aerospace and defense customers to solve mission-critical engineering problems faster and with higher confidence using Digital Mission Engineering workflows
• Drive adoption and expansion of Ansys DME software within strategic government accounts, directly contributing to regional sales growth and customer success metrics
• Build reusable automation frameworks and integration solutions that become reference implementations for other customers and internal teams
• Influence product roadmap decisions by bringing real customer requirements and use cases directly to Ansys engineering teams
• Reduce time-to-value for customers by designing deployment strategies that fit their existing processes rather than forcing them to change everything at once
• Strengthen customer relationships and retention by becoming a trusted technical advisor who understands their mission and constraints
• Contribute to the broader aerospace and defense engineering community through conference presentations, technical papers, and thought leadership

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or related technical field
• 1+ years of professional experience in an engineering software environment, customer-facing technical role, or aerospace/defense engineering position
• Hands-on programming experience in one or more of the following: Python, C, C++, C#, Java, or MATLAB
• Demonstrated ability to learn complex technical software and explain it clearly to engineers, managers, and executives
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically up to 30% of the time, primarily within the Huntsville region and surrounding defense installations
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, you can write a clear technical summary and present to a room without reading slides
• Experience with mission simulation, systems engineering tools, MBSE, or process integration software is a strong plus, familiarity with STK, AFSIM, ModelCenter, or Cameo is even better

Who You Are

• You can walk into a room of engineers talking about orbital mechanics or mission timelines and walk out with a clear plan for what needs to be built or configured next
• You are organized enough to manage multiple customer projects and sales opportunities at once without dropping threads or missing commitments
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguity, you do not need a perfect spec to start building, and you know when to ask for clarification versus when to just make a call and move forward
• You push back when a customer request does not make sense or when a sales approach is missing the technical reality, but you do it in a way that builds trust rather than burning it
• You treat customer problems like puzzles worth solving, not tickets to close, and you get satisfaction from seeing your work actually deployed and used
• You can explain a complex technical tradeoff to a program manager in two sentences without losing the nuance, and you can also sit down and debug integration code with a customer engineer for three hours

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will be part of the Ansys Government Initiatives (AGI) team, working closely with Application Engineers, Account Managers, software developers, and business professionals who support aerospace and defense customers. Your home base will be Huntsville, Alabama, where you will support ongoing high-value projects with existing customers while also working on new growth opportunities. You will collaborate across Ansys Customer Excellence teams and product development groups to deliver integrated solutions that span multiple product lines and engineering disciplines.

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.

In addition to the base salary, this role may be eligible for an annual bonus, equity, and other discretionary bonuses. Synopsys offers comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package. The actual compensation offered will be based on a number of job-related factors, including location, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details on the total rewards package upon request. The base salary range for this role is across the U.S.