Senior Metals & Materials Engineer – Surgical Instruments

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. seeks a Principal Engineer in metals & materials technology to advance safe, high-quality devices for minimally invasive robotic surgery.

You will evaluate metallic materials, guide wear and corrosion studies, and lead failure analysis on instrument components, collaborating across Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, and Quality teams to ensure robust product performance and patient safety.

Qualifications

• Strong technical depth in metals and materials science.
• Experience in reliability engineering for medical devices.
• Ability to support development and improvement of surgical instruments.
• Regulatory awareness and risk assessment for FDA oversight.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate materials for instrument designs to improve reliability and performance.
• Lead studies on wear, friction, and surface interactions under simulated use.
• Perform failure analysis on field returns and rejects using fractography and metallography.
• Develop surface treatments and coatings to enhance corrosion resistance.
• Design and execute material characterization tests (hardness, tensile, fatigue, corrosion).
• Collaborate with design, manufacturing, and QA teams to implement material solutions.
• Develop models to predict material behavior and component life.
• Provide mentorship on metallurgy and material science challenges.

Skills

Metals & materials science

Reliability engineering

Failure analysis

Material characterization

Cross-functional collaboration

Design principles

Tools

MIM

Machining

Forging

Laser processing

Job description

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. seeks a Principal Engineer in metals & materials technology to advance safe, high-quality devices for minimally invasive robotic surgery.

You will evaluate metallic materials, guide wear and corrosion studies, and lead failure analysis on instrument components, collaborating across Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, and Quality teams to ensure robust product performance and patient safety.