Staff Software Engineer

Intuitive Surgical, Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 224,000 - 322,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design and evolution of a modern Data-as-a-Service platform powering Intuitive Digital products and thousands of engineers across the organization.

This role focuses on owning real-time and micro-batch data pipelines, defining architecture, and improving data accessibility at scale. You will drive high-throughput, low-latency data delivery through streaming pipelines, dynamic transformations, and APIs, enabling application

Qualifications

• Fluent coding with two or more of Python, Go, Scala, Java, or C++.
• Experience building data pipelines and distributed systems.
• Experience with Spark, Kafka, Elasticsearch, Snowflake, Airflow.
• AWS and/or GCP experience.
• SQL and relational databases experience.

Responsibilities

• Build highly scalable distributed systems that leverage event-based and streaming data pipelines to handle ingestion and processing of robot, manufacturing, and clinical data.
• Enable users by providing self-service APIs and applications to access and interact with data.
• Work closely with core engineering teams to evolve data models based on growing business needs.
• Apply and evangelize software development best practices such as CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure-as-code, and microservice architectures.
• Participate in planning, code reviews, KPI reviews, and design discussions for continuous improvement.
• Mentor teammates and drive best practices in data production, sharing, and consumption.

Skills

Python

Go

Scala

Java

C++

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Apache Spark

Kafka

Elasticsearch

Snowflake

Airflow

Kubernetes

Postgres

DBT

AWS

GCP

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:

The Staff Software Engineer will lead the design and evolution of a modern, scalable Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform that supports Intuitive Digital products and enables more than 2,000 engineers across the organization. This role is responsible for owning and advancing critical components of our real-time and micro-batch data pipelines that power product development, internal tools, and analytics. The engineer will provide architectural direction, influence cross-team data standards, ensure reliability and performance at scale, and drive strategic initiatives that improve developer productivity and data accessibility across the organization.

Major work will focus on enabling high-throughput, low-latency data delivery through streaming pipelines, dynamic transformations, and APIs, driving application development, AI/ML, and actionable insights. You will help define the architecture and engineering practices that support self-service analytics and operational decision-making on scale.

Essential Job Duties

• Build highly scalable distributed systems that leverage event-based and streaming data pipelines to handle ingestion and processing of robot, manufacturing, and clinical data
• Enable users by providing self-service APIs and applications to access and interact with data
• Work closely with core engineering teams to consistently evolve data models based on growing business needs
• Apply and evangelize software development best practices such as CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure-as-code, and microservice architectures
• Effectively participate in the team's planning, code reviews, KPI reviews, and design discussions leading to continuous improvement in these areas.
• Act as a technical leader within the data domain driving best practices, mentoring teammates, and continuously improving how data is produced, shared, and consumed across the organization

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• Fluent coding with at least two of the following: Python, Go, Scala, Java, C++
• Proven experience building data pipelines and working with distributed systems using technologies like Apache Spark, Kafka, Elasticsearch, Snowflake, and Airflow
• Deep technical knowledge & experience with Data Platform components/design patterns:Event-Driven Pipelines (e.g. AWS Lambda)Message Queues (e.g. Kafka)Container Orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes) Stream Processing (e.g. Flink, Spark) Relational Databases (e.g. Postgres)Data Warehouses (e.g. Snowflake)Analytics Engineering (e.g. DBT)Workflow Orchestration (e.g. Airflow)Search Engines (e.g. Elasticsearch)
• Strong understanding of CI/CD workflows, unit testing and integration testing, and deployment patterns.
• Experience with AWS and/or GCP
• Experience with SQL and relational databases

Ability and enthusiasm to work collaboratively and cross-functionally, and take end-to-end ownership to deliver results for customers

Required Education and Training

Solid quantitative background in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, or 8-10+ years of hands-on experience in a technically demanding role. Minimum a bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience on a Platform team
• Experience with Gitlab CI/CD or other CI tooling
• Experience with Terraform, Ansible, Packer + general IaC best practices
• You're familiar with CNCF projects and have successfully used them in the past
• Ph.D. in computer science, mathematics, or a related field

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.

Mandatory Notices

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 (i) 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 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.

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) .

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.

Base Compensation Range Region 1

$223,900 USD - $322,100 USD

Base Compensation Range Region 2

$190,300 USD - $273,800 USD

Shift

Day

Workplace Type

Set Schedule - This job will be onsite weekly, the percentage of onsite work will be defined by the leader.