Manager, Mechanical Engineering, NPD Systems

Company Description

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 Description

Primary Function of Position
The Ion™ endoluminal system is Intuitive's robotic platform for minimally invasive biopsy
in the peripheral lung, with an initial goal of improving the early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Our New Product Development (NPD) team is seeking a candidate with an analytical mind
and exceptional design skills to be a technical leader and guide their team through
technical challenges while committing to the highest product quality for our robotic
platform. The ideal candidate will thrive in a high-energy, focused, small-team environment
and be comfortable handling multiple priorities.
This role is an exciting opportunity to join a rapidly growing new business within Intuitive
and contribute meaningfully to its future growth.
Essential Job Duties
This role works closely with clinical, electrical, industrial design, supplier engineering,
quality and manufacturing teams to ensure designs of medical capital equipment meet
clinical and user needs and perform reliably and effectively in the field. In this position, you
will play a critical leadership role within the NPD team. You will be accountable for the

performance, direction, and development of a team of
mechanical engineers working on complex, high-impact
product development programs. This role requires the ability to
set clear technical direction, ensure engineering excellence
through oversight and review, and build a team culture of accountability, innovation, and
continuous improvement. The duties below represent the core responsibilities of this
position:
• Design Best Practices
o Understand and exemplify Intuitive’s culture of first principles thinking and
that patients come first, always.
o Establish and enforce design standards, drawing conventions, and
engineering review processes within the team. Guide them through FEA,
tolerance analysis, and implementing design-for-manufacturing (DFM)
methodologies.
o Review and approve engineering documentation including specifications,
BOMs, test plans, and validation reports.
• Performance management
o Coach, evaluate and give feedback to the team members throughout the
year and through annual Performance Review.
o Work with team members to create long-term development plans.
o Manage the team’s assignments, priorities and budget annually.
o Provide guidance through complex situations or conflicting goals.
• Project management
o Oversee and approve mechanical design activities across all phases of
NPD, from concept through production release and stabilization, ensuring
designs meet the highest level of performance, safety, and
manufacturability requirements.
o Lead or facilitate design reviews and ensure corrective actions are
tracked and resolved.
• Risk management
o Ensure team compliance with applicable regulatory and industry
standards (e.g., ISO, ASTM, FDA if applicable).

o Identify and proactively mitigate technical risks
within the mechanical design domain
throughout the product development lifecycle.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience
• Experience
o Excellent technical judgment in the presence of competing priorities and
incomplete data to drive schedule decisions; proven ability to make difficult
trade-offs.
o Ability to lead, collaborate, and motivate across functional boundaries with
multi-disciplinary teams like clinical, quality, regulatory, manufacturing, etc.
o Experience in designing with a focus on robotics and/or medical products.
o Hands-on technical leadership of a team of mechanical engineer
responsible for product development in a relevant domain.
o Experience defining ambiguous requirements with user-facing teams.
• Skills
o Strong analytical skills as proven by a track record for analyzing and fixing
complex problems in products and processes.
o Passion for solving tough technical problems and creating elegant and
reliable products.
o Determination to execute the vital thing, efficiently and well; attention to the
right details.
o Self-driven desire to excel in a high-energy, small, focused team
environment, to maintain a strong sense of shared responsibility and
shared reward, making work interesting, meaningful, and enjoyable.
o Expertise in communicating effectively and accurately (written and oral)
across all levels and functions, including interacting with suppliers, and
presenting to a technical audience.
Required Education and Training
• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering or related field, or equivalent work
experience, 4+ years’ experience (or Bachelor’s with 6+ years’ experience)

Working Conditions
• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.
Preferred Skills and Experience
• Training or commensurate experience in Root Cause
Analysis.
• Experience in a regulated environment (FDA, Military, FAA or equivalent).
Comfortable with execution of design verification/validation test protocols,
assessing risk (FMEA), providing inputs to regulatory agency approval including
UL, CE and FDA is a plus.
• Proven ability to lead teams and manage stakeholders.

Additional Information

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.