Senior FPGA Design Engineer

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.

Primary Function of Position

The Ion™ endoluminal system is Intuitive's robotic platform for minimally invasive biopsy in the peripheral lung, with an initial goal of improving the early diagnosis of lung cancer. We are seeking a candidate with an analytical mind and exceptional logic design skills to develop and commercialize new designs for our robotic platform. This position will have broad responsibility for developing complex FPGA solutions for communications, video, control processing and other advanced capabilities. This role works closely with clinical, design, engineering, and manufacturing teams to ensure designs meet clinical and user needs and perform reliably and effectively in the field. In this position, you will be part of a team of talented engineers in a focused, high energy, collaborative work environment, challenged to make sound decisions when faced with the time pressures and ambiguous or incomplete information typical of research and development.

Essential Job Duties

• Develop systems architecture and implementation in collaboration with cross-functional partners in Electrical Engineering, Software Development and Systems Analysis
• Produce efficient FPGA implementations of one or more of the following: video signal processing, DMA, high-speed communications, sensor integration, motor control, and integration of modern embedded computing modules
• Develop all FPGA RTL in System Verilog
• Work with other FPGA contributors to harmonize the RTL and verification implementation with established best practices
• Use modern verification techniques and contribute to our library of verification solutions
• Integrate, debug and support the product after launch
• Follow rigorous design control methodology from design specification through design verification
• Write detailed design documentation, including specifications and verification protocols
• Represent design tradeoffs within multi-disciplinary teams to define requirements for new and current designs

Required Skills and Experience

• Proficiency with System Verilog HDL
• Self-driven with the ability to excel in a high-energy, small, focused team environment, to maintain a strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward, and to make work fun and interesting

• Passion for details in creating robust and reliable logic designed for mission-critical applications
• Familiarity with the full product development lifecycle including concept development, design, implementation, debug, verification, qualification, and transfer to manufacturing

• Excellent communication, documentation, and interpersonal skills
• Experience with scripting languages like JavaScript and Python

Required Education and Training

• BSEE, or similar, 6+ years’ experience

Working Conditions

• None

Preferred Skills and Experience

• MSEE (Post-graduate study) or equivalent work experience, 4+ years’ experience
• Familiarity with additional HDL programming languages (e.g. Verilog, VHDL)
• Experience with FPGA/ASIC simulation tools (e.g. ModelSim) and revision control (e.g. SVN, Git)
• Experience with Xilinx/AMD FPGAs and development tools.

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 (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.