Clinical Data Specialist

Intuitive Surgical, Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 88,000 - 141,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Job summary

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is seeking a Clinical Data Specialist to support the development and validation of AI and ML technologies for robotic-assisted surgery.

You will create, review, and maintain high-quality clinical ground truth datasets from surgical videos, images, and related clinical information, ensuring accuracy, traceability, and documentation. The role involves collaborating with ML engineers, surgeons, clinical experts, and data operations teams to translate clinical requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in biology or related field.
• Strong understanding of human anatomy.
• Experience interpreting medical images or surgical data.
• Ability to learn annotation platforms and data-management tools.
• Attention to detail and documentation discipline.

Responsibilities

• Review annotations for accuracy and consistency.
• Document ambiguity and data-quality risks.
• Participate in annotation training and calibration.
• Maintain guidelines, decisions, and dataset changes.
• Collaborate with engineers and clinicians to translate data needs.
• Support ML research and product-development datasets.
• Conduct literature review and procedural analysis.

Skills

Anatomy knowledge

Documentation skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Independent worker

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in life sciences

Tools

Annotation platforms

Data-management systems

Project-tracking tools

Job description

Company Description

It started with a simple idea: what if surgery could be less invasive and recovery less painful? Nearly 30 years later, that question still fuels everything we do at Intuitive. As a global leader in robotic-assisted surgery and minimally invasive care, our technologies-like the da Vinci surgical system and Ion-have transformed how care is delivered for millions of patients worldwide.

We're a team of engineers, clinicians, and innovators united by one purpose: to make surgery smarter, safer, and more human. Every day, our work helps care teams perform with greater precision and patients recover faster, improving outcomes around the world.

The problems we solve demand creativity, rigor, and collaboration. The work is challenging, but deeply meaningful-because every improvement we make has the potential to change a life.

If you're ready to contribute to something bigger than yourself and help transform the future of healthcare, you'll find your purpose here.

Job Description

Primary Function

We are seeking a highly motivated Clinical Data Specialist to support the development and validation of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for robotic-assisted surgery.

The Clinical Data Specialist will create, review, and maintain high-quality clinical ground truth datasets derived from surgical videos, images, and associated clinical information. This role operates at the intersection of clinical knowledge, data operations, and product development, helping translate clinical and technical requirements into accurate, consistent, and traceable datasets.

The successful candidate will perform clinical annotation and quality review, investigate annotation discrepancies, maintain dataset and methodology documentation, and support the preparation of datasets used for machine learning research, product development, and verification and validation activities.

This individual will collaborate closely with machine learning engineers, researchers, surgeons, clinical experts, quality and regulatory partners, data operations teams, and external annotation providers. The ideal candidate combines strong knowledge of anatomy and surgical workflows with exceptional attention to detail, documentation discipline, and sound judgment when working with complex or ambiguous clinical data.

Responsibilities

• Review annotations produced by human annotators, clinical experts, external providers, and AI/ML models to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Identify, document, and elevate ambiguous cases, annotation discrepancies, and data-quality risks for clinical review or adjudication.
• Participate in annotation training, calibration, qualification, and inter-annotator agreement activities.
• Maintain annotation guidelines, quality criteria, review decisions, dataset changes, and other supporting documentation.
• Support traceability between source data, annotation versions, quality reviews, adjudication decisions, and approved dataset outputs.
• Collaborate with engineers, researchers, surgeons, clinical experts, and external providers to translate clinical data requirements into annotation and review activities.
• Contribute to clinical data collection, tool and model evaluation, and workflow improvements that increase efficiency while maintaining clinical accuracy and data quality.
• Conduct clinical research through literature review, procedural analysis, and consultation with clinical experts to support AI/ML research and product-development needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in biology, physiology, biomedical engineering, nursing, clinical sciences, health sciences, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of human anatomy and an interest in learning surgical procedures across multiple specialties.
• Experience interpreting medical images, surgical videos, clinical workflows, or other complex visual data.
• Experience with data annotation, clinical data review, medical research, clinical operations, or a related field.
• Ability to learn and use specialized annotation platforms, data-management systems, and project-tracking tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to recognize patterns, inconsistencies, and potential data-quality risks.
• Demonstrated ability to follow detailed clinical definitions and apply them consistently.
• Excellent documentation skills and the ability to clearly explain annotation decisions and clinical reasoning.
• Ability to handle confidential, proprietary, and sensitive clinical information professionally.

Soft Skills and Leadership Requirements

• Excellent attention to detail and commitment to clinical accuracy and data quality.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including clear documentation of decisions and concerns.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with clinical, technical, operational, and quality-focused stakeholders.
• Sound judgment regarding when to make an independent decision and when to elevate a clinical or quality concern.
• Ability to translate clinical and AI/ML research objectives into practical data collection, annotation, and quality-review guidelines.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Proactive and transparent in communicating mistakes, uncertainty, risks, and process challenges.
• Ability to work independently while remaining closely coordinated with a cross-functional team.
• Open to giving and receiving constructive feedback and contributing to continuous improvement.

Additional Information

Due to the nature of our business and the role, please note that Intuitive and/or your customer(s) may require that you show current proof of vaccination against certain diseases including COVID-19. Details can vary by role.

Intuitive is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.

U.S. Export Controls Disclaimer: In accordance with the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR §743.13(b)), some roles at Intuitive Surgical may be subject to U.S. export controls for prospective employees who are nationals from countries currently on embargo or sanctions status.

Certain information you provide as part of the application will be used for purposes of determining whether Intuitive Surgical will need to (i) obtain an export license from the U.S. Government on your behalf (note: the government's licensing process can take 3 to 6+ months) or (ii) implement a Technology Control Plan (\"TCP\") (note: typically adds 2 weeks to the hiring process).

For any Intuitive role subject to export controls, final offers are contingent upon obtaining an approved export license and/or an executed TCP prior to the prospective employee's start date, which may or may not be flexible, and within a timeframe that does not unreasonably impede the hiring need. If applicable, candidates will be notified and instructed on any requirements for these purposes.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

Preference will be given to qualified candidates who do not reside, or plan to reside, in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, or Tennessee.

This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on business need and/or on the selected candidate's experience, knowledge and skills. Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the candidate's qualifications, consistent with applicable law.

Accommodation & Accessibility Notice:

Intuitive is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance or an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please contact People Services at (email protected) .

We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity. It would not be typical for someone to be hired at the top end of range for the role, as actual pay will be determined based on several factors, including experience, skills, and qualifications. The target compensation ranges are listed.

Base Compensation Range Region 1: $104,500 USD - $141,300 USD

Base Compensation Range Region 2: $88,800 USD - $120,100 USD

Shift: Day

Workplace Type: Onsite - This job is fully onsite.