Manager, Mechanical Engineering, NPD Systems

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 176,000 - 254,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive's Ion endoluminal system is a robotic platform for minimally invasive biopsy in the peripheral lung. Our New Product Development team seeks a technical leader to guide a mechanical engineering group through complex challenges while delivering high-quality products.

The role requires 4+ years in ME with robotics/medical product design, strong leadership, and collaboration across clinical, quality, regulatory, and manufacturing teams. Travel up to 10% is possible.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering or related field; 4+ years experience (or Bachelor's with 6+ years)
• Experience leading a mechanical engineering team in product development
• Experience designing with robotics/medical products
• Ability to set technical direction and review engineering documentation
• Strong communication across clinical, quality, regulatory, and manufacturing teams

Responsibilities

• Set clear technical direction for NPD mechanical design from concept to production release
• Lead and facilitate design reviews; ensure corrective actions are tracked
• Oversee design activities to meet performance, safety, and manufacturability requirements
• Coach and develop team members; manage assignments, priorities and budget
• Identify and mitigate technical risks; ensure regulatory and industry standards compliance

Skills

Technical leadership

Robotics experience

Medical products

Team coaching

DFM knowledge

FEA analysis

Regulatory awareness

Cross-functional collab

Education

Master’s degree in ME or related field

Job description

Manager, Mechanical Engineering, NPD Systems

• Full-time
• Shift: Day
• Max. Salary Region 2: 215600 USD
• Max. Salary Region 1: 253700 USD
• Ways of Working: Set Schedule - This job will be onsite weekly, the percentage of onsite work will be defined by the leader.
• Employee Type: Employee
• Min. Salary Region 1: 176300 USD
• Global Job Level (HCM): Management 3, Mgr (12)
• Min. Salary Region 2: 149900 USD

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.

Primary Function of Position

The Ion™ endoluminal system is Intuitive's robotic platform for minimally invasive biopsy in the peripheral lung, with an initial goal of improving the early diagnosis of lung cancer. Our New Product Development (NPD) team is seeking a candidate with an analytical mind and exceptional design skills to be a technical leader and guide their team through technical challenges while committing to the highest product quality for our robotic platform. The ideal candidate will thrive in a high-energy, focused, small-team environment and be comfortable handling multiple priorities. This role is an exciting opportunity to join a rapidly growing new business within Intuitive and contribute meaningfully to its future growth.

Essential Job Duties

This role works closely with clinical, electrical, industrial design, supplier engineering, quality and manufacturing teams to ensure designs of medical capital equipment meet clinical and user needs and perform reliably and effectively in the field. In this position, you will play a critical leadership role within the NPD team. You will be accountable for the performance, direction, and development of a team of mechanical engineers working on complex, high-impact product development programs. This role requires the ability to set clear technical direction, ensure engineering excellence through oversight and review, and build a team culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement. The duties below represent the core responsibilities of this position:

• Design Best Practices
  • Understand and exemplify Intuitive’s culture of first principles thinking and that patients come first, always.
  • Establish and enforce design standards, drawing conventions, and engineering review processes within the team. Guide them through FEA, tolerance analysis, and implementing design-for-manufacturing (DFM) methodologies.
  • Review and approve engineering documentation including specifications, BOMs, test plans, and validation reports.
• Performance management
  • Coach, evaluate and give feedback to the team members throughout the year and through annual Performance Review.
  • Work with team members to create long-term development plans.
  • Manage the team’s assignments, priorities and budget annually.
  • Provide guidance through complex situations or conflicting goals.
• Project management
  • Oversee and approve mechanical design activities across all phases of NPD, from concept through production release and stabilization, ensuring designs meet the highest level of performance, safety, and manufacturability requirements.
  • Lead or facilitate design reviews and ensure corrective actions are tracked and resolved.
• Risk management
  • Ensure team compliance with applicable regulatory and industry standards (e.g., ISO, ASTM, FDA if applicable).
  • Identify and proactively mitigate technical risks within the mechanical design domain throughout the product development lifecycle.

Required Skills and Experience

• Experience
  • Excellent technical judgment in the presence of competing priorities and incomplete data to drive schedule decisions; proven ability to make difficult trade‑offs.
  • Ability to lead, collaborate, and motivate across functional boundaries with multi-disciplinary teams like clinical, quality, regulatory, manufacturing, etc.
  • Experience in designing with a focus on robotics and/or medical products.
  • Hands‑on technical leadership of a team of mechanical engineer responsible for product development in a relevant domain.
  • Experience defining ambiguous requirements with user‑facing teams.
• Skills
  • Strong analytical skills as proven by a track record for analyzing and fixing complex problems in products and processes.
  • Passion for solving tough technical problems and creating elegant and reliable products.
  • Determination to execute the vital thing, efficiently and well; attention to the right details.
  • Self‑driven desire to excel in a high‑energy, small, focused team environment, to maintain a strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward, making work interesting, meaningful, and enjoyable.
  • Expertise in communicating effectively and accurately (written and oral) across all levels and functions, including interacting with suppliers, and presenting to a technical audience.

Required Education and Training

• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering or related field, or equivalent work experience, 4+ years’ experience (or Bachelor’s with 6+ years’ experience)

Working Conditions

• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Training or commensurate experience in Root Cause Analysis.
• Experience in a regulated environment (FDA, Military, FAA or equivalent). Comfortable with execution of design verification/validation test protocols, assessing risk (FMEA), providing inputs to regulatory agency approval including UL, CE and FDA is a plus.
• Proven ability to lead teams and manage stakeholders.

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 employeeswho 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.

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.

By clicking the link above or any third‑party link within this posting, you are leaving this site and going to a third‑party website where the third‑party website's terms and privacy policy apply