Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering

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 Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering is responsible for leading the technical development of a portfolio of advanced energy products at Intuitive. This leader owns the operational objectives, work plans, and resourcing for multiple concurrent energy development efforts, delegating across a cross-functional team and, where applicable, through shared service leads to take technology from benchtop to bedside. They will establish and assure adherence to budgets, schedules, staffing plans, and performance requirements across several parallel programs, each built on distinct energy-delivery architectures and at differing stages of maturity. They will lead resource planning and prioritization operating on a critical path timeline.

The Senior Manager, Advanced Systems Engineering sets the architecture strategy for the portfolio, implements the methods and evaluation criteria used to select solutions, and is relied upon as the go-to technical advisor for the team on complex device and system-level issues. This role demands genuine technical depth, enough to serve as a hands-on sounding board across multiple energy-delivery architectures, to challenge and pressure-test design decisions, and to independently root-cause the hardest cross-disciplinary problems alongside the team. They pair that depth with the leadership judgment to define stretch goals, hold teams accountable to high standards, and develop the next generation of engineering talent. Using their subject-matter expertise, executive-level communication skills, and cross-functional influence, they will advance a family of advanced energy systems for novel clinical applications across our robotic surgical platforms.

The successful candidate must have substantial people-management experience across multiple teams or programs, strong technical depth in relevant areas, and a proven track record leading complex product development efforts to successful outcomes. They must excel in a high-energy, focused, small-team environment, and have a commitment to high quality prototypes and concepts. A strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward is required, as well as a commitment to high product quality and to developing the capabilities of the team.

Essential Job Duties

• Own the operational objectives, work plans, staffing, and budgets for multiple concurrent advanced-energy development efforts (capital equipment), delegating execution across cross-functional teams and shared service leads

• Establish and assure adherence to budgets, schedules, resource plans, and top-level deliverables across a portfolio of parallel programs at differing stages of maturity, each built on a distinct energy-delivery architecture; continuously balance and re-prioritize resources across the group as a whole

• Direct HW/SW requirements generation and modelling across programs (requirement writing, translation, decomposition, management systems, tracing, HOQ/QFD); set the methods and standards the broader team follows

• Oversee system-level technical risk registers across programs, including burn-down strategy and risk tracing, and drive cross-program mitigation decisions

• Govern system architecture, boundary diagrams, and use conditions across the portfolio, and oversee test-method development, execution, and master/top-level verification plans

• Set direction for hardware and software engineering teams on the best methods to satisfy and verify design requirements, ensuring design outputs are successfully integrated into effective system designs across programs

• Support the quality and regulatory processes as required

• Represent the portfolio to senior and executive leadership including technical progress, development health, program risks and mitigations, resourcing trade-offs, and key milestones in order to influence senior stakeholders on decisions of significance to the organization

• Generate technical reports for submission to regulatory agencies

• Select, develop, evaluate, and retain talent; define goals, hold teams accountable, and build the next layer of technical leaders and shared service leads

• Contribute to clinical scientific discussions with internal and external stakeholders

• Landscape and generate valuable intellectual property

• Understands business environment and relates extensive knowledge of internal and external technological activities to trends in medicine and surgery

OTHER

• Keeps the organization’s vision and values at the forefront of decision making and action

• Performs other duties as required to support the company's overall strategy and goals

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum BS required in a relevant engineering discipline; advanced degree strongly preferred (EE preferred), MS/PhD or MBA a plus

• Minimum 10 years of development experience in a regulated environment, minimum 3 years of people management; experience leading multiple teams or programs concurrently strongly preferred (advanced degree may offset requisite years)

• Comfortable with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debug, verification, qualification, and transfer to manufacturing

• Experience with FDA QSR 21 CFR Part 820, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 60601, IEC 62304 and other related external standards Experience with analog and digital embedded system and switching power supply design

• Strong understanding of component selection, and design for reliability and manufacturability

• Strong understanding of the software/firmware development process

• Demonstrated knowledge of electrical component manufacturing processes, PCB design, and rapid prototyping a strong plus

• Hardware development experience on energy-based surgical or therapeutic products preferred

• Proven experience using electronic bench equipment such as oscilloscopes and function generators for the bring up and troubleshooting of hardware

• Working knowledge of peripherals commonly used on embedded systems such as ADCs, DACs, PWM and waveform generation and serial communications (UART, I2C, SPI, RS232)

• Contribute to design documentation for test protocols, results and reports and complete tracing for requirements.

• Deep hands-on engineering experience with the technical breadth to act as a credible sounding board and reviewer for the team across multiple energy-delivery architectures, and the proven ability to work well in a cross-disciplinary team environment

• Demonstrated program/portfolio management experience including planning and controlling scope, resources, schedule, budget, and deliverables

• Strong business acumen and organizational awareness; able to implement strategic policies and connect technical decisions to business objectives. Entrepreneurial experience a plus

• Excellent communication skills and interpersonal/team effectiveness

• Strong influence-management skills; able to change the thinking of and gain acceptance from senior stakeholders in sensitive situations without damaging the relationship, and to build relationships at all levels of the business

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Must be available to work full-time and commute/relocate to Sunnyvale, CA

• Up to 10% travel. Some international travel may be required.

• The position is located at Intuitive Headquarters in Sunnyvale, California

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.