Principal Electrical/System Engineer

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. in; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer to set technical direction and strategy for the surgical energy equipment portfolio across da Vinci System programs.

You will lead architecture, drive multi-year roadmaps, mentor engineers, and collaborate with Marketing, Software, Clinical Engineering, and manufacturing to deliver compliant, market-ready solutions.

Responsibilities

• Technical Ownership: Collaborate with Marketing, Software, and Clinical Engineering to define and refine product requirements across multiple programs.
• Technical Strategy & Roadmap: Define multi-year technology and architecture roadmap for energy-based surgical platforms across multiple products.
• System Integration: Identify and implement methods to satisfy product specs, ensuring seamless integration into effective system designs.
• Development & Testing: Develop, validate, and document hardware solutions that meet clinical and environmental requirements.
• Problem Solving: Provide technical expertise to resolve complex design, manufacturing, or field challenges.
• Prototyping: Guide prototyping and feasibility studies for future product concepts, directing engineers through build, test, and down-select decisions.
• Stakeholder Support: Offer expert guidance on energy-based surgical products to internal company stakeholders, including senior leadership and executive technical reviews.
• Organizational Influence: Represent Advanced Energy engineering in cross-divisional and executive-level technical reviews; influence platform, architecture, and make/buy decisions at a business-unit level.
• Quality & Regulatory: Define risk management strategy and process (DFMEA, hazard analysis, risk-benefit assessment per ISO 14971) and design verification/validation planning to ensure compliance with IEC 60601 series standards, and applicable FDA/international regulatory requirements.
• Clinical Collaboration & Validation: Partner with Clinical Engineering, surgeons, and human factors teams to validate device performance against real-world surgical use cases, including support for cadaver labs, animal studies, or clinical evaluations as needed.
• Risk Management Leadership: Drive cross-functional risk analysis activities throughout the product lifecycle, identifying and mitigating electrical, mechanical, and use-related hazards for patient and user safety across the product portfolio.
• Mentorship & Technical Leadership: Formally mentor Staff and Senior engineers, lead cross-team design reviews, and drive technical communities of practice to raise engineering capability across the organization.

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

As a Principal Electrical Engineer, you will set technical direction and strategy for the innovative surgical energy equipment and accessories portfolio for Intuitive's da Vinci Surgical System, shaping architecture and technology roadmaps across multiple products and programs. You'll thrive in a dynamic, high-energy environment, making sound decisions with incomplete information-typical of cutting-edge product development. The ideal candidate has deep technical expertise, a track record of successful medical product development across multiple product generations, and a collaborative, mentorship-driven approach that elevates engineering capability across the organization.

Essential Job Duties

• Technical Ownership: Collaborate with Marketing, Software, and Clinical Engineering to define and refine product requirements across multiple programs within the Advanced Energy portfolio.
• Technical Strategy & Roadmap: Define the multi-year technology and architecture roadmap for energy-based surgical platforms, setting technical direction that spans multiple products and programs.
• System Integration: Identify and implement methods to satisfy product specs, ensuring seamless integration into effective system designs.
• Development & Testing: Develop, validate, and document hardware solutions that meet clinical and environmental requirements.
• Problem Solving: Provide technical expertise to resolve complex design, manufacturing, or field challenges.
• Prototyping: Guide prototyping and feasibility studies for future product concepts, directing engineers through build, test, and down-select decisions.
• Stakeholder Support: Offer expert guidance on energy-based surgical products to internal company stakeholders, including senior leadership and executive technical reviews.
• Organizational Influence: Represent Advanced Energy engineering in cross-divisional and executive-level technical reviews; influence platform, architecture, and make/buy decisions at a business-unit level.
• Quality & Regulatory: Define risk management strategy and process (DFMEA, hazard analysis, risk-benefit assessment per ISO 14971) and design verification/validation planning to ensure compliance with IEC 60601 series standards, and applicable FDA/international regulatory requirements. Author or review technical documentation supporting regulatory submissions (e.g., 510(k), CE/MDR technical files).
• Clinical Collaboration & Validation: Partner with Clinical Engineering, surgeons, and human factors teams to validate device performance against real-world surgical use cases, including support for cadaver labs, animal studies, or clinical evaluations as needed.
• Risk Management Leadership: Drive cross-functional risk analysis activities throughout the product lifecycle, identifying and mitigating electrical, mechanical, and use-related hazards for patient and user safety across the product portfolio.
• Mentorship & Technical Leadership: Formally mentor Staff and Senior engineers, lead cross-team design reviews, and drive technical communities of practice to raise engineering capability across the organization.