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 DescriptionPrimary Function of Position:
Intuitive’s Digital organization aims to improve patient care and empower care teams with unique data and insights from our integrated digital ecosystem. Program Managers in Digital are responsible for delivering new products and sustaining existing capabilities to our customers and partners.
Program Managers in Digital are responsible for delivering new products. We’re looking for people with proven track records of delivering complex, integrated, cross-functional products with high standards of quality. Digital program managers are engaged in all aspects of the product lifecycle from requirements analysis and architectural design to software engineering development, QA, deployment, and market rollout. Our program managers align hardware and software engineering, clinical and regulatory schedules, and ensure that the right products are created at the right time, with low drama.
At Intuitive, Program Management is not a task-based job. We are responsible for successful outcomes and delivery. This means that while strong program management fundamentals are a must, the role requires an understanding of product development and manufacturing, and, most importantly, managing through influence.
We look for candidates who know what success looks like and feel a personal stake in the services they support and the people they manage. People who understand how medical technology products are developed. People with a deep well of positive energy and unbounded enthusiasm. We look for people who hold themselves and their program teams to (almost, but not quite) impossibly high standards. People with unshakeable integrity and deep wisdom & judgment. People who need to know why. People who are comfortable in ambiguity and excel at bringing order to it. People who strive to simplify and to clarify. People who are as comfortable presenting to execs as they are with their nose buried in a burndown chart.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Effectively manage cross-functional development programs across Intuitive’s different Business units and shared services, overseeing critical projects, and delivering against commitments.
- Help teams prioritize tasks to focus on the critical activities that drive progress and avoid being sidetracked by less important issues.
- Collaborate with the cross-functional teams to ensure the right people are updated with the right information at the right time on status and ensure that cross-product dependencies are understood, planned for, and crisply executed
- Perform risk analysis, develop contingency plans, and gather data from functions to proactively raise prioritization and scheduling tradeoff decisions
- Drive required discipline and rigor in requirements analysis, design, development, and testing through good development practices and effective use of phase gates.
- Work across the organization and external partners as needed to align functional support and input for the project
- Contribute to and help lead improvement Intuitive project management processes and ongoing improvements to the way we ship new products and capabilities.
- Function as a primary point-of-contact for stakeholders across the org.
Required Skills and Experience
- 8+ years of program & project management experience.
- Must have a bachelor’s degree. 6+ years with a Master’s degree.
- Must include hands-on experience with development and commercialization of highly technical medical devices from a software/digital side.
- Understanding of Design Controls under US and International Regulations preferred.
- Demonstrated history of leadership in project, program, and portfolio management of software delivery programs, at scale.
- Demonstrated excellence in program management capabilities across product lifecycle, from ideation through commercialization.
- Strong grasp of software product development engineering principles, manufacturing, servicing, and quality control.
- Understanding of Design Controls under US and International Regulations
Required Education and Training
- Proven ability to think strategically, plan and align product development with business goals and market needs.
- Naturally accountable and responsible; self-starter, self-motivated, self-directed, self-sufficient.
- Outstanding communication and presentation skills, written and verbal, to all levels of an organization.
- Experience with development and commercialization of medical technology.
- Ability to recognize project challenges and drive creative and simple solutions with a customer-focused approach
- Proven ability to influence at various levels and drive conflict resolution with low drama
- Certification in project management (PMP, CSM) desired
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.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of program & project management experience
- Bachelor's degree (required) or Master's with 6+ years experience
- Hands-on experience with development and commercialization of highly technical medical devices from software/digital side
- Demonstrated leadership in project, program, and portfolio management of software delivery programs at scale
- Demonstrated excellence across product lifecycle from ideation through commercialization
- Strong grasp of software product development engineering principles, manufacturing, servicing, and quality control
- Outstanding communication and presentation skills, written and verbal, to all levels
- Experience with development and commercialization of medical technology
- Understanding of Design Controls under US and International Regulations
- Certification in project management (PMP, CSM)
Intuitive Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Intuitive and has not been reviewed or approved by Intuitive.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage appears broad and modern, including medical/dental/vision, telehealth, second-opinion services, fertility support, and condition-specific programs. Mental health support is positioned as strong, including access to free counseling sessions and a dedicated counseling service.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing and lifestyle offerings extend beyond core insurance, with initiatives such as vaccination clinics, fitness memberships, stress-reduction programs, and employee assistance programs. Additional lifestyle perks include curated discounts, pet insurance, identity theft prevention, and paid volunteer time.
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Flexible Benefits — Flexibility is supported through flexible work schedules and telecommuting options that can help with work-life integration. Benefit availability is described as variable by country, campus, and role, implying a menu that changes by eligibility and location.
Intuitive Insights
What We Do
Intuitive (Nasdaq: ISRG), headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery. At Intuitive, we believe that minimally invasive care is life-enhancing care. Through ingenuity and intelligent technology, we expand the potential of physicians to heal without constraints. Intuitive brings more than two decades of leadership in robotic-assisted surgical technology and solutions to its offerings, and develops, manufactures, and markets the da Vinci surgical system and the Ion endoluminal system.
Why Work With Us
We bring together the thinkers and doers; those who pursue excellence and are energized by discovering ways to do what can’t yet be done. We question, we test, we challenge each other and the status quo until we see the impact we’ve made, until we’ve set a new standard for minimally invasive care. We revel momentarily in our achievements before sta
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