Staff Interaction 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.

Interaction Design is a key role at Intuitive, spanning multiple technical disciplines to craft user-friendly experiences for complex medical devices. We bring human-centered design to healthcare innovation and to the development of safe, effective, and confidence-inspiring robotic interfaces.

As a Staff Interaction Designer (IxD) for da Vinci Multiport Systems, your role will be pivotal in designing seamless and intuitive experiences that unify physical interactions with connected digital platforms. This role is central to ensuring every interaction across all da Vinci Multiport Systems and digital touchpoints enhances users’ lives, offering consumer-grade simplicity, speed, and clarity.

You will lead workshops and collaborate closely with product managers, clinical development engineers, front-end and back-end developers, and the broader UX design team to not only assemble existing elements into cohesive experiences but also innovate entirely new interaction paradigms. This role demands high emotional intelligence (EQ) and analytical intelligence (IQ), requiring both meticulous pixel-level attention and strategic business design thinking. You must clearly articulate the user experience vision through detailed roadmaps and compelling conceptual NorthStar's, rallying cross-functional teams around shared goals and executing the design vision effectively.

This full-time on-site position is based in our Sunnyvale, CA office.

What You'll Bring

• You are a human-centered designer motivated by the opportunity to improve the life of patients and tackle novel challenges in healthcare.
• You thrive in highly technical domains, enjoying abstract and often unfamiliar design problems.
• You are comfortable with translating highly complex user challenges into clear, frictionless interaction models that make complex tasks feel effortless.
• You are methodical and drive design decisions through insights and iteration.
• You value design craftsmanship, recognize quality, and expect high standards.
• You believe in collaboration, knowing that success hinges on working closely with other designers and cross-functional partners.
• You are emotionally intelligent and have excellent listening, communication and analytical skills that help you to adapt in a dynamic, cross-functional environment.

What You’ll Do

• Design for complex workflows of core interactions across the platform, including voice/conversational interfaces, authentication flows, and user profile systems, translating nuanced user needs into intuitive, scalable experiences.
• Drive a cohesive design vision for da Vinci Systems, aligning cross-functional teams around a unified, end-to-end user experience that delivers the simplicity and fluidity of consumer products in a high-stakes surgical environment.
• Conduct user research & Insights to deeply understand the needs, behaviors, and pain points of target users. Develop detailed user personas and scenarios to inform interaction design strategies and solutions.
• Contribute to design documentation and testing, writing clear, comprehensive and detailed user interface specifications for others to build and test against. Consider potential safety and usability risks together with our Human Factors Engineers and design necessary mitigations.

• Minimum of 8 years in design or UX-focused roles, with substantial experience leading interaction design strategies for complex products.
• Bachelor’s degree in Product Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Expertise in physical or embedded interaction design (beyond web or mobile app interfaces)
• Experience designing for voice/conversational interface, authentication systems, and/or user profile management.
• Demonstrated expertise across the full design lifecycle, from concept generation and experience definition to detailed interaction design, prototyping, and final implementation.
• Proven experience conducting impactful workshops and driving cross-functional alignment on UX strategies, priorities and designs.
• Demonstrated ability to deeply engage with technical teams, driving clear planning, communication and collaboration across front-end, back-end, and hardware engineering disciplines.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively present to senior management.
• Demonstrated success bringing products with complex user interactions to market.

Portfolio required for application.

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.