Mechanical Design Engineering Manager

Company Description

At Intuitive, we are united behind our mission: 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.

As a pioneer and market leader in robotic-assisted surgery, we strive to foster an inclusive and diverse team, committed to making a difference. For more than 25 years, we have worked with hospitals and care teams around the world to help solve some of healthcare's hardest challenges and advance what is possible.

Intuitive has been built by the efforts of great people from diverse backgrounds. We believe great ideas can come from anywhere. We strive to foster an inclusive culture built around diversity of thought and mutual respect. We lead with inclusion and empower our team members to do their best work as their most authentic selves.

Passionate people who want to make a difference drive our culture. Our team members are grounded in integrity, have a strong capacity to learn, the energy to get things done, and bring diverse, real world experiences to help us think in new ways. We actively invest in our team members to support their long-term growth so they can continue to advance our mission and achieve their highest potential.

Join a team committed to taking big leaps forward for a global community of healthcare professionals and their patients. Together, let's advance the world of minimally invasive care.

Job Description

Primary Function of Position:

Intuitive Surgical designs and manufactures highly complex mechanical systems for use in surgery. These systems include both capital equipment and “consumables” in the form of surgical instruments and accessories. The Mechanical Engineering Manager – Instruments Product Engineering is responsible for leading a team of engineers that support instruments in the field. The successful candidate will be a “working manager” who leads a small team while also contributing his or her own design work.

The candidate will lead a team to identify and evaluate new improvement opportunities that address field concerns and work with suppliers to support product volume scaling and cost reduction projects. He or she must excel in a high-energy team environment and be capable of creative problem solving when faced with the time pressures and design constraints typical of sustaining product development. The successful candidate must have technical depth in relevant areas and be as comfortable collaborating and leading across organizational boundaries as they are working independently.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Lead and/or be the design subject matter expert working on a cross-functional project team. These projects may include CAPAs, minor-, moderate-, to major-design changes, or supplier change requests.
• Maintain visibility of field RMAs and determine design projects that could address field reliability concerns.
• Establish group objectives and individual work goals consistent with continuous improvement and overall product enhancement activities.
  • Assign tasks, set priorities, establish metrics, and track progress.
  • Schedule, organize, and direct the work of engineering staff to support design improvement projects effectively and efficiently
  • Support mechanical engineers in the review, assessment, and maintenance of design requirements, functional specifications and related risk documents.
  • Review mechanical engineering designs in both a formal and informal capacity.
• Coordinate activities of his or her team with those of other groups in the organization.

• Maintain cross-functional relationship with manufacturing, supplier engineering, product quality, regulatory, etc. to ensure and sustain product viability in the market.

Manage, coach, and mentor mechanical engineers.

• Assess employee performance and provide coaching to improve performance.
• Grow and maintain a team of mechanical engineers by recruiting and retaining highly talented and motivated individuals.

Develop working knowledge of external customer needs/requirements to ensure product designs provide value to patients, surgeons, and hospitals.

• Interface with functions such as product marketing, clinical engineering, customer service, etc. to ensure product performance needs are met.
• Communicate effectively with surgeons and customers about the technical design details of the product.

Support updates to technical requirements for designs based on an understanding of user needs.

Develop and manage relationships with key suppliers.

Support scaling product quantities in the field with DFM, DFA, and or cost reduction projects.

Create high-level technical presentations to communicate effectively with leadership on project goals, status, and risks. 

Provide administrative leadership / control for planning, staffing, budgeting, and project/program cost tracking.

Qualifications

Skills, Experience, Education, & Training:

• Must be a selfless leader who inspires trust and commitment within their team and in the broader organization through integrity, passion, and professional excellence
• Ability to effectively direct the activities of an engineering team supporting multiple simultaneous development projects
• Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills. Ability to present the work of his or her team to executive management.
• Ability to interface with customers and potential business partners in a highly professional manner
• Minimum BS (Mechanical Engineering or related engineering field) required, MS or PhD preferred.
• Minimum five (5) years of experience taking products from concept to production (medical product experience preferred)
• At least eight (8) years of experience with mechanical design
• Experience leading engineering teams
• Familiarity with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debug, verification, qualification, and transfer
• Familiarity with the design control process
• Proven ability to apply the basic laws of physics to understand and achieve quick and reliable solutions to engineering problems
• Exceptional mechanical aptitude and visual thinking skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills such as finite element analysis, statistics, and experimental designs
• Breadth of knowledge in various manufacturing techniques
• Strong understanding of design for reliability and manufacturability
• Proven ability to work well in a team environment and drive individual projects.
• Experience managing suppliers and small projects
• Proficiency using CAD to design and document mechanical designs. SolidWorks preferred
• Comfortable with hands-on development work.
• Comfortable operating standard machine shop equipment for prototyping (mill, lathe, etc.).
• Proficient with techniques for rapidly fabricating proof-of-concept and functional prototypes.
• Comfortable with standard mechanical and electrical measurement and test equipment.

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 Employment Opportunity / Affirmative Action 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.

EEO and AA Policy

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.

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 salary ranges are listed.

Client-provided location(s): Sunnyvale, CA

Job ID: 844cd200-fac0-4729-b178-d8913d288c2f

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-01-27T14:06:08