Staff Biostatistician

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive seeks a Lead Biostatistician to define the statistical vision for clinical studies from early feasibility to post-market evidence generation. You will lead design decisions, set standards, and represent statistics with regulatory bodies and external partners.

You will mentor staff, develop SOPs, and drive a data-driven culture across Clinical Affairs, delivering high-impact analyses and insights.

Qualifications

• Experience leading statistical design for complex clinical protocols.
• Ability to influence design decisions across programs and platforms.
• Strong collaboration with regulatory agencies and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Independently strategize statistical approaches for complex protocols, including Bayesian and frequentist designs.
• Set SAPs and mock TLFs, and approve others' works against standards.
• Lead data analysis of trial data ensuring reproducibility and regulatory readiness.
• Manage a portfolio of 10+ projects and allocate statistical effort.
• Shape evidence-generation strategy across surgical specialties and platforms.

Skills

Bayesian design

Frequentist design

SAPs & TLFs

Data analysis

Regulatory engagement

Portfolio management

Mentorship

SOP development

GCP compliance

ISO 14155

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

As a senior technical leader within the Clinical Affairs department, the Lead Biostatistician (Biostatistician 5) sets the statistical vision and direction for the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical studies spanning early feasibility through pivotal pre-market trials and post-market evidence generation. The Biostatistician 5 operates as a fully independent statistical leader and the recognized go-to statistical authority across Clinical Affairs and beyond, staying abreast of the latest developments in the field and translating them into impactful improvements for the team. This role owns multiple business or functional areas and a portfolio of ten or more concurrent projects, sets the programming and analysis standards the department works to, develops the training curricula, SOPs, and work instructions that build capability across all levels of the function, and represents Intuitive Biostatistics directly with regulatory agencies, principal investigators, key opinion leaders, and the broader scientific community. This is an individual contributor role carrying substantial technical and strategic leadership expectations without direct people-management responsibility.

Roles & Responsibilities

Study Design & Protocol Development: Independently strategize and develop the statistical approach for complex clinical protocols, including Bayesian and frequentist design selection, endpoint and estimand framing, hypothesis tests, power analyses, sample size justification, randomization design & review, and adaptive and/or interim analysis strategy. Serve as the final internal statistical authority for design decisions across owned studies and advise on design trade-offs at the program and platform level. Serves Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs, DSMBs) as the unblinded sponsor statistician.

Statistical Analysis Plans & Mock TLFs: Set the vision and direction for Statistical Analysis Plans (SAPs) and mock Tables, Listings, and Figures (TLFs) across the portfolio, defining the standards, templates, and degree of pre-specification for the department. Review and approve SAPs and mock TLFs authored by others against those standards, balancing flexibility and consistency across studies.

Data Analysis: Set the vision and direction for the analysis of clinical trial data, selecting and championing the methodology applied across studies and ensuring analyses are reproducible, defensible, and of a quality that withstands regulatory and peer review. Personally own the most complex or novel analytical problems in the portfolio, and direct interim analyses, database lock, and unblinding activities per study requirements.

Portfolio Management: Manage a portfolio of 10 or more projects simultaneously and take ownership of multiple business or functional areas, setting priorities, sequencing work, and allocating statistical effort across them.

Clinical Operations Roadmap: Serve as the Biostatistics representative and strategic partner in core team and program-level forums, shaping evidence generation strategy across surgical specialties and product platforms, setting execution roadmaps, managing timelines and stakeholder expectations.

Team Communication: Act as an influential voice across Clinical Operations and beyond, with a reputation as the go-to statistician. Influence senior leadership as a key strategic thought partner, distilling statistical complexity into clear, actionable direction with explicit clinical and business implications. Lead meetings and set agendas for the biostatistics team.

Scientific Literature & Evidence Generation: Write or edit the methods, results, and interpretation sections for a portfolio of studies with strategic guidance to support regulatory submissions, compliance documents, scientific journals, and medical conferences. Lead additional research as needed to generate clinical evidence, such as analyses of large clinical or administrative databases, systematic literature reviews, and meta-analyses. Stay abreast of the latest developments in biostatistical methodology and translate them into impactful improvements to how the team designs, analyzes, and reports. Independently contribute to the scientific community through peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation, and methodological contribution.

External Engagement: Conduct independent, direct interactions representing Intuitive Biostatistics with regulatory agencies, Principal Investigators (PIs), Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and external statisticians, including addressing regulatory authority questions on statistical design and analysis for pre-approval, post-approval, and post-market clinical follow-up studies. Sustain multiple external relationships and be regarded as a thought leader in the field.

Data Management Support: Co-strategize with Data Management to develop the direction for data quality, consistency, scalability, and traceability. Specify CDISC-aligned data structures (SDTM, ADaM) and establish analysis-ready dataset specifications.

Process Improvement & Departmental Standards: Set the vision for programming and analysis standards across the department, lead by example in own code and deliverables, and implement across the department. Develop and own SOPs and Work Instructions to drive standardization, validation, and quality control of analysis pipelines such that results meet rigorous standards for regulatory submission and scientific publication.

Mentorship & Capability Building: Set the training curriculum for the biostatistics team and deliver training on both biostatistics methodology and programming practice. Provide technical leadership and career-development guidance to statisticians at all junior levels, raising the technical ceiling of the department. Oversee and direct external statistical vendors and CROs.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all activities strictly adhere to Good Clinical Practice (GCP), ISO 14155, ICH E9, ICH E6, and 21 CFR Part 812 regulations. Apply situationally relevant FDA guidances including adaptive designs and Bayesian methods for medical device trials.