Senior R&D Engineer in Portsmouth

We are Synopsys, 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 someone who sees code as a means to an end, not the end itself. The real work is getting the physics right so that an engineer designing an offshore wind platform can trust what your simulation tells them. When someone runs Aqwa to model a mooring system in a storm, they are making decisions that affect whether a structure survives or fails, and that weight sits with you when you write code. You do not need someone to hand you a perfectly scoped ticket. When a customer support request comes in describing unexpected behaviour, you dig into the Fortran, trace through the logic, reproduce the issue, and figure out what is actually happening. Legacy code does not intimidate you. You have worked in codebases where the original authors left a decade ago, and you have learned to read the code like a historical document. You care about the whole picture. Writing the feature is one thing. Writing the tests, the documentation, the validation study that proves it works against real-world data, that is what makes the feature real. You thrive in environments where you get to move between different kinds of work. One day you are implementing a new integration with another Ansys solver. The next day you are on a call with a customer walking them through a mooring analysis. That variety keeps you sharp.

At Synopsys, you will work on software that powers offshore industries, and the team you join is in the middle of integrating with other physics solvers and exploring how AI can accelerate what you build.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design and implement new features for Ansys Aqwa in C++, C#, or Fortran, including conducting independent research when the physics or integration requirements are not fully defined.
• Write technical documentation that explains your implementation approach, design rationale, and usage instructions for both internal engineering teams and external customers.
• Build and execute unit and integration tests to validate that marine hydrodynamics simulations produce correct, reliable results across different offshore structure scenarios.
• Investigate defects reported by customers, support engineers, or DevOps teams, trace root causes through legacy and modern codebases, and deliver fixes that hold up under real-world use.
• Run validation and verification studies comparing simulation outputs against experimental data or industry benchmarks to ensure accuracy for offshore mooring systems and renewable energy platforms.
• Respond to customer support requests and deliver training sessions, online or in person, helping users solve specific modelling challenges and adopt new Aqwa capabilities.
• Collaborate with testing engineers, documentation specialists, and developers from other Ansys product teams within 9-month Agile development cycles to deliver integrated multi-physics solutions.

The Impact You Will Have

• Enable offshore renewable energy companies to design wind and wave platforms that can withstand extreme ocean conditions, directly contributing to the global transition to clean energy.
• Expand the simulation capabilities available to marine engineers by integrating Aqwa with other Ansys physics solvers, allowing customers to model coupled problems they could not solve before.
• Keep critical customer projects on schedule by resolving defects that would otherwise block design decisions for multi-million dollar offshore installations.
• Build confidence in simulation-driven design by delivering validation studies that prove Aqwa results match real-world experimental data and industry benchmarks.
• Reduce the learning curve for new Aqwa users through clear documentation and direct training, turning weeks of trial and error into days of productive work.
• Shape the future technical direction of Aqwa as the team integrates AI capabilities and explores next-generation approaches to marine hydrodynamics simulation.
• Strengthen the reputation of Aqwa in industries ranging from aquaculture to offshore oil and gas by delivering software that engineers trust with high-stakes decisions.

What You'll Need

• You hold a Master's degree or PhD in an engineering or scientific discipline with coursework or research in computational physics, numerical methods, or a related technical area.
• You have hands-on experience writing production code in C++, C#, or Fortran, whether in a professional software engineering role or through substantial academic research projects.
• You bring familiarity with the full software development lifecycle, from design specification and implementation through testing, documentation, and quality assurance.
• You are comfortable working with IDEs, debuggers, and development tools commonly used for C++, C#, or Fortran engineering applications.
• You have knowledge of marine hydrodynamics, fluid dynamics, or structural mechanics, or you demonstrate a strong ability to quickly learn complex physics domains through independent study and collaboration.
• Experience in the offshore industry, renewable energy sector, or marine structures is a strong plus.
• Prior work with Agile development methodologies, version control systems, or automated testing frameworks will set you apart.

Who You Are

• You can take a complex physics bug that surfaces in a customer simulation, reproduce it in a test case, trace it through thousands of lines of Fortran, and explain what went wrong to both a support engineer and a domain expert without losing either of them.
• You approach legacy code with curiosity rather than frustration, reading through decades-old implementations to understand the original intent before deciding how to extend or refactor.
• You write tests and documentation as part of building the feature, not as an afterthought, because you have seen projects derailed by skipping those steps.
• You know when to ask for clarification and when to make a decision with incomplete information, and you are comfortable doing both depending on what the situation requires.
• You move easily between deep technical work and customer-facing conversations, switching from debugging a numerical solver to explaining a mooring analysis setup on a training call without missing a beat.
• You take ownership of your work from design through deployment, following through on validation studies and customer feedback to make sure what you built actually solves the problem it was meant to solve.

The Team You'll Be Part Of

The Ansys Aqwa Development Team has a rich history of marine hydrodynamics development in the UK and is now in a transformative phase, broadening Aqwa's functionality by integrating with other Ansys physics solvers and exploring AI applications to accelerate development and enhance simulations. This Staff Engineer will work closely with testing engineers, documentation specialists, software developers from other Ansys product areas, and DevOps practitioners within 9-month Agile development cycles that typically target several product features per cycle. The role is based in Horsham, West Sussex, UK or Lyon, France, with the possibility to work remotely, and includes opportunities to engage directly with customers through support requests and training delivery.

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.