Sr Software Engineer Navigation

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 Sr Software Engineer Navigation on the Future Forward team, you will bridge digital interfaces and machine learning to extend Intuitive’s robotic product lines. Working at the intersection of embedded UI, computer vision, and robotic kinematics, you will design and optimize the C++ runtime systems that connect live sensor and robot data to CV/ML inference. This role spans the entire development cycle—from prototyping approximate requirements to delivering high-quality production code on resource-constrained hardware. The ideal candidate combines strong systems-level C++ skills with a working knowledge of geometric computer vision and robotics, learns quickly, and thrives in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary environment.

Essential Job Duties

• Design and implement high-performance C++ data pipelines (shared-memory ring buffers, lock-free queues, time-synchronized capture) that feed live video, kinematics, and sensor streams into CV/ML algorithms on embedded platforms

• Develop and optimize registration and calibration algorithms, including point-cloud alignment, hand-eye calibration, and forward kinematics-based coordinate frame transformations to enable accurate surgical navigation

• Collaborate with ML engineers to integrate inference models (depth estimation, 3D reconstruction) into the real-time navigation stack, ensuring accuracy and latency budgets are met

• Partner with UI/graphics engineers to create navigation overlays, 3D visualizations, and augmented guidance within the embedded Qt/QML interface

• Build and maintain effective working relationships across software engineering, clinical engineering, design, human factors, and regulatory teams

• Own the medical device software lifecycle end-to-end for navigation components, including requirement definition, risk assessment, prototyping, development, verification, and release

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field

• Minimum of 8 years of industry experience; or Master’s degree and 6 years of experience; or a PhD and 3 years of experience, with a proven track record of shipping production-quality C++ software to products

• Strong working knowledge of C++ (11/14/17+) including system-level programming, memory management, multi-threading, and performance optimization for real-time applications

• Experience designing or optimizing low-latency data pipelines (circular buffers, shared memory IPC, producer/consumer synchronization) on Linux

• Working knowledge of geometric computer vision fundamentals (camera calibration, registration, multi-view geometry, coordinate-frame transformations)

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Familiarity with ML inference frameworks (TensorRT, ONNX Runtime) and GPU-accelerated computing (CUDA)

• Experience with robotic kinematics, forward/inverse kinematics solvers, or SLAM

• Experience with 3D graphics frameworks (Qt3D, OpenGL, Vulkan, etc.)

• Exposure to medical imaging modalities (endoscopic video, ultrasound, CT) or similar sensor data

• Experience working in a regulated software environment (medical device, aerospace, automotive, etc.)

• Experience working with software development methodologies (Agile, IEC 62304, etc.)

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.