Senior Industrial Designer

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

Intuitive's Single Port platform is redefining the future of minimally invasive surgery by bringing together advanced robotics, instruments & accessories, and intelligent workflow solutions into a unified surgical ecosystem.

As a Senior Industrial Designer at Intuitive, you will help shape the next generation of robotic surgery systems while evolving and refining existing product lines. You are hands-on in every phase of the design process, transforming real user insights into meaningful design opportunities and exceptional user experiences.
As a natural collaborator and leader, you will partner closely with engineering, clinical development, human factors, user research, product management, and fellow designers to frame, define, and execute future product opportunities. Leveraging a deep understanding of user needs, ergonomics, form, proportion, color, materials, and manufacturing processes, you will translate complex technical challenges into elegant, intuitive, and manufacturable solutions.
You thrive in exploring, prototyping, and testing a wide range of ideas, using evidence and insight to identify opportunities, build alignment, and drive teams toward the right path forward. As a skilled storyteller, you create compelling narratives and presentations that clearly communicate user needs, design vision, and the value of new opportunities, helping inspire confidence and enthusiasm across stakeholders and leadership.

Essential Job Duties

• Employs a user-centered design process to help teams frame problems and define opportunities
• Individually leads projects, or partners with other industrial design team members on projects
• Works with design leads and design managers on project planning
• Distills technical and ergonomic requirements and develops a range of solutions that synthesize usability, utility, manufacturability, and desirability
• Works with product development and engineering groups early in the product development lifecycle to provide user-centered thought leadership and generate conceptual product designs and opportunities
• Collaborates with other UX Team members to create compelling integrated user experiences
• Participates in user research, usability testing, and clinical research labs
• Actively participates in cross-functional team meetings and other forums and proactively drives efforts forward
• Utilizes a range of 2D and 3D tools and techniques to develop and communicate design opportunities
• Combines Industrial Design objectives with the objectives of our process partners
• Translates and captures brand attributes in compelling physical forms
• Generates functional and appearance prototypes to conceptually explore and validate design choices
• Delivers manufacturable design proposals to engineering for production

Required Skills and Experience 

• 8+ years of experience in professional industrial design roles
• An exceptional portfolio that demonstrates a methodical human-centered design process and delivering successful products from concept to production
• A proven track record of collaborating successfully with engineering and product marketing teams to develop designs and bring successful products to market
• A comprehensive set of prototyping skills from quick low-fi foam models to fabricating more complex functional learning prototypes
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills and an ability to effectively communicate a user-centered point of view
• Strong 2D visualization skills, including sketching, storyboarding, and digital rendering
• Strong 3D CAD and visualization skills to develop technically viable and compelling design solutions
• Extensive experience with SolidWorks is required. Specific experience with complex surfacing is a plus.
• A thorough understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and designing for DFM & DFA considerations
• Experience with medical device design and/or designing regulated products is a plus
• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time for case observation.

Required Education and Training 

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Industrial Design

Preferred Skills and Experience 

• Has a passion for designing meaningful, revolutionary products that make an impact on people's lives
• Has experience leading and driving design efforts from concept to production
• Is curious about user behaviors and has an eagerness to learn in the field and a lab environment
• Is excited to work on complex problems with a dedicated team of high-energy, high-caliber people
• Approaches work with a strategic, systems-thinking mindset
• Has a natural aptitude for teamwork, thriving on brainstorming, facilitating, and presenting
• Has a high capacity for technical problem solving and execution work
• Is reliable and dedicated to achieving the highest quality design output
• Is a highly creative problem solver
• Learns from, mentors, and inspires other designers
• Can independently work and solve problems, and seek out information as needed
• Takes a bias toward action and an eagerness to support the team and the project
• Employs healthy organization and communication habits, making you a responsive and exemplary team player
• Has a refined aesthetic sensibility and artistic skill
• Has an incurable curiosity relating to all things design

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.

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.