Senior Design Engineer

Intuitive Surgical, Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 163,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Sr. Mechanical Engineer to lead the design and development of accessories for the da Vinci system. You will work in a fast-paced team, own mechanical design from concept through validation, and collaborate with manufacturing to enable high-volume production.

The role requires 8+ years in medical products, CAD (SolidWorks), and strong GD&T and root-cause analysis skills, with a focus on quality, risk management, and cross-functional teamwork.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years in medical product development or sustaining engineering.
• Proficiency with CAD and design for high-volume manufacturing.
• Experience with GD&T and risk management in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Provide mechanical sustaining support for manufacturing and field issues.
• Design, develop and document components and assemblies for accessories.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, purchasing and test engineering for transfer to production.
• Develop drawings and design history files per FDA requirements.

Skills

CAD Design

SolidWorks

GD&T

Root Cause Analysis

Cross-functional

Manufacturing Knowledge

Communication Skills

Education

B.S. Mechanical or Biomedical Engineer

Tools

PDM System

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 of Position

Accessories serve as the interface with the da Vinci system and enable safe and effective robotic-assisted surgery. They may be reusable or single-use medical devices (consumables), with yearly volumes in the millions. Our customers interact directly with accessories in every surgical procedure, and they serve a critical role in customer satisfaction and patient outcomes.

The Sr. Mechanical Engineer will work on product development of a variety of Accessories. The successful candidate must excel in a fast-paced team environment and be capable of creative problem solving when faced with the time pressures and design constraints typical of product development. They must have a strong sense of ownership, shared responsibility, commitment to high product quality and be comfortable collaborating across organizational boundaries. Projects will include a mix of product improvements, component enhancements, cost savings and manufacturing improvements to enable significant volume growth.

Essential Job Duties

• Provide mechanical engineering sustaining support for resolution of manufacturing and field issues:
  
  • Characterize sources of variations in product performance and implement mitigations accordingly.
  • Investigate and determine root cause of design, manufacturing, or material issues.
  • Resolve complex engineering challenges through hands-on product testing and collaborate with subject matter experts both internal and external to organization.
  • Perform complex tolerance stack analyses to evaluate potential failures or performance concerns
• Design, develop and document components and assemblies for surgical system accessories:
  
  • Review and understand product functional and design specifications.
  • Create, analyze, and test product designs and their components.
  • Research, understand and design to relevant product specific standards.
  • Develop, implement, test, and document solutions that meet clinical, functional and product requirements.
  • Designing for manufacturing and automation, sterilization processes and biocompatibility.
• Provide mechanical engineering expertise to support continuous production of high-quality surgical accessories to our customers:
  
  • Collaborate with manufacturing, purchasing, test engineering, and supplier engineering to facilitate transfer of designs into production.
  • Develop components and product mechanical drawings in a regulated environment for high volume manufacturing processes, including plastic injection molding, thermoset compression molding, machining.
  • Develop Design History Files per FDA requirements.
  • Adept in risk management and design control documentation.

• Support design for automation such that our product designs can enable technologies that allow volumes to continue to grow year over year.
• Help establish individual and team goals aligned with overall project and company goals.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum 8 years of medical product experience (Prior sustaining experience in high volume product preferred)
• Proficiency using CAD to design parts and assemblies and to create specification drawings in a PDM environment; Solidworks strongly preferred.
• Experience with complex interface compatibility and tolerance analysis
• Strong working knowledge of GD&T
• Ability to communicate effectively and accurately (written and oral) across all levels and functions, including presenting to a technical audience.
• Demonstrated ability to think at a systems level, interface between multiple design groups, and negotiate conflicting requirements.
• A passion for solving tough technical problems - Strong mechanical intuition and persistence to drill down to pinpoint root cause of problems, solving problems using fundamental principles.

Required Education and Training

B.S. Mechanical or Biomedical Engineer (or equivalent) required, MS preferred.

Working Conditions

Ability to Travel up to 10%

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Proven experience with design for assembly, manufacturing, and automation. Experience working on products with volumes in the 10's of millions is preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of materials (preferably plastics, silicones, polyurethanes, isoprenes) and material properties. Ability to apply knowledge of engineering materials and component selection criteria to product designs through strong concept development, design analysis, hands‑on prototyping, and reliability testing skills.
• Comfortable with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debug, verification, qualification, and transfer.
• Comfortable with concepts of design input, design output, traceability, and risk analysis

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.

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.

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) .

Base Compensation Range Region 1: $162,800 USD - $234,200 USD

Base Compensation Range Region 2: $138,400 USD - $199,100 USD

Shift: Day

Workplace Type: Onsite - This job is fully onsite.