Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering to lead multiple concurrent energy development programs, owning budgets, schedules and staffing. The role requires strong technical depth and executive‑level communication to drive complex device and system‑level decisions.

You will guide HW/SW requirements, risk management, and verification strategies while mentoring teams and aligning with regulatory considerations to deliver high‑quality prototypes and products.

Qualifications

• Leadership and people-management experience leading multi-team projects.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and executive communication skills.
• Deep technical depth in complex device and system engineering.

Responsibilities

• Own operational objectives, budgets, and staffing for concurrent energy programs.
• Lead resource planning and prioritization across multiple programs and teams.
• Set architecture direction and oversee HW/SW requirements and verification plans.
• Represent portfolio to senior leadership with progress, risks, and milestones.
• Develop and retain technical talent and nurture next-generation leaders.

Skills

Leadership

People-management

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

System architecture understanding

Regulatory knowledge

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

The Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering is responsible for leading the technical development of a portfolio of advanced energy products at Intuitive. This leader owns the operational objectives, work plans, and resourcing for multiple concurrent energy development efforts, delegating across a cross-functional team and, where applicable, through shared service leads to take technology from benchtop to bedside. They will establish and assure adherence to budgets, schedules, staffing plans, and performance requirements across several parallel programs, each built on distinct energy-delivery architectures and at differing stages of maturity. They will lead resource planning and prioritization operating on a critical path timeline.

The Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering sets the architecture strategy for the portfolio, implements the methods and evaluation criteria used to select solutions, and is relied upon as the go‑to technical advisor for the team on complex device and system‑level issues. This role demands genuine technical depth, enough to serve as a hands‑on sounding board across multiple energy‑delivery architectures, to challenge and pressure‑test design decisions, and to independently root‑cause the hardest cross‑disciplinary problems alongside the team. They pair that depth with the leadership judgment to define stretch goals, hold teams accountable to high standards, and develop the next generation of engineering talent. Using their subject‑matter expertise, executive‑level communication skills, and cross‑functional influence, they will advance a family of advanced energy systems for novel clinical applications across our robotic surgical platforms.

The successful candidate must have substantial people‑management experience across multiple teams or programs, strong technical depth in relevant areas, and a proven track record leading complex product development efforts to successful outcomes. They must excel in a high‑energy, focused, small‑team environment, and have a commitment to high quality prototypes and concepts. A strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward is required, as well as a commitment to high product quality and to developing the capabilities of the team.

Essential Job Duties

• Own the operational objectives, work plans, staffing, and budgets for multiple concurrent advanced‑energy development efforts (capital equipment), delegating execution across cross‑functional teams and shared service leads

• Establish and assure adherence to budgets, schedules, resource plans, and top‑level deliverables across a portfolio of parallel programs at differing stages of maturity, each built on a distinct energy‑delivery architecture; continuously balance and re‑prioritize resources across the group as a whole

• Direct HW/SW requirements generation and modelling across programs (requirement writing, translation, decomposition, management systems, tracing, HOQ/QFD); set the methods and standards the broader team follows

• Oversee system‑level technical risk registers across programs, including burn‑down strategy and risk tracing, and drive cross‑program mitigation decisions

• Govern system architecture, boundary diagrams, and use conditions across the portfolio, and oversee test‑method development, execution, and master/top‑level verification plans

• Set direction for hardware and software engineering teams on the best methods to satisfy and verify design requirements, ensuring design outputs are successfully integrated into effective system designs across programs

• Support the quality and regulatory processes as required

• Represent the portfolio to senior and executive leadership including technical progress, development health, program risks and mitigations, resourcing trade‑offs, and key milestones in order to influence senior stakeholders on decisions of significance to the organization

• Generate technical reports for submission to regulatory agencies

• Select, develop, evaluate, and retain talent; define goals, hold teams accountable, and build the next layer of technical leaders and shared service leads

• Contribute to clinical scientific discussions with internal and external stakeholders

• Landscape and generate valuable intellectual property

• Understands business environment and relates extensive knowledge of internal and external technological activities to trends in medicine and surgery

OTHER

• Keeps the organization’s vision and values at the forefront of decision making and action

• Performs other duties as required to support the company’s overall strategy and goals