Senior Systems GPU Engineer – AI & Robotics

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

As a Senior Systems GPU Engineer – AI & Robotics, you will be responsible for iteratively improving and integrating high performance robotic AI with MLE product teams.

You will work alongside research, SW/ HW/ ML engineering, regulatory, controls and clinical teams to translated early pre-product ML algorithms into performance optimized, robust, validated and scalable medical device products and infrastructures, including edge and cloud.

Responsibilities

• GPU & Model Performance & Optimization: Advanced skills using performance profiling, tracing, and debugging tools (e.g. NVIDIA Nsight Systems, Nsight Compute, to identify code or hardware bottlenecks and implement improvements

• System Architecture & Integration: Design and optimize software interfaces between robotic subsystems, ensuring seamless integration between edge AI, firmware, OS, hardware, and cloud services. You will oversee the deployment and continuous improvement of these systems to ensure high reliability and performance.

• Linux Systems & Virtualization: Development of Linux kernel internals, device drivers, memory management, and containerized GPU runtime environments (e.g., Docker, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, Kubernetes)

• Project Ownership & Strategy: Lead complex, end-to-end embodied intelligence projects, making critical architectural decisions and technical trade-offs. You will define the strategic roadmap for the robotics platform—from foundational models to real-time onboard inference—while serving as a core contributor to team planning and design reviews.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with motion controls, perception, and hardware teams during early-stage exploration to address clinical, functional, and safety requirements. You will work closely with the research and product development teams to integrate perception, planning, navigation, and multimodal ML models onto edge platforms.

• Iterative Development: Refine designs by balancing technical feasibility with schedules and resource constraints. You will drive the transition from broad technical exploration to deep-dive implementation as the product matures.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field; advanced degrees preferred.

• 6+ years of embedded systems software development (or equivalent experience), including supporting real-time, high-performance embodied AI, perception systems

• Expert in GPU Compute API – CUDA, OpenCL

• Proficiency in multiple programming languages (e.g., C, C++, Python, Bash) and building real-time, multi-threaded applications.

• Experience with industrial embedded operating systems (e.g., QNX, Yocto), interprocess communication, hardware interfaces

• Experience with machine learning models, and frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc

• Experience in robotics, including motion control, perception, sensor fusion, path planning, and optimizing models for platforms with limited resources.

• Strong problem-solving, adaptability to new technologies, and excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• End-to-end GPU performance engineering from the profiler to systems analysis, including experience in distillation, parameter-efficient fine-tuning and quantization and hardware acceleration techniques. • Linux systems programming and optimization experience.

• Exposure to virtualization techniques and cloud platform solutions.

Additional Information

Travel: 5–15%

Ways of Working: Onsite, Sunnyvale, CA

This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on business need and/or the selected candidate’s experience, knowledge, and skills

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.