Senior Manager, Software Engineering

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
In this role, you will lead a small software engineering team in a fast-paced environment. Your team will design and implement a variety of software components. You will take on projects with broad technical scope, covering medical imaging, computer graphics, and user interface design. You will work independently as a technical leader and team builder, delivering key user-facing product features.

Essential Job Duties

• Drive software development work across a variety of technical areas, including computer graphics, graphical user interfaces, simulation, and robotics algorithms
• Recognize, attract, and train top talent through one-on-one coaching and team-wide initiatives
• Own the complete medical device software lifecycle, covering requirement definition, systematic risk assessment, prototyping, development, testing, and release
• Champion best practices in software development, including code reviews, bug scrub meetings, coding conventions, continuous integration, defensive programming, static analysis, and design patterns
• Develop and manage effective interfaces across the organization, with other software engineering teams, clinical engineering, design, human factors, and regulatory affairs
• Create, maintain, and track bottom-up schedules to consistently achieve team deliverables

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

To qualify for this position, you must have:

• A graduate degree in computer science, or equivalent experience
• Six years of experience developing software
• Two years of software leadership experience
• Strong working knowledge of C++ and object-oriented programming
• Great communication skills
• High levels of independence, technical ownership, and organization
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams and drive projects to completion
• Experience recruiting, mentoring, and functionally managing teams of highly skilled engineers
• Experience creating high-quality technical documentation

Preferred Skills and Experience

Ideally, a candidate would also have:

• Familiarity with development in a Linux environment
• Experience with GUI development (Qt/QML)
• Experience with OpenGL and 3D rendering
• Experience with parallel programming and CUDA
• Experience with game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine
• Knowledge of medical device development

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.

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.

Client-provided location(s): Sunnyvale, CA

Job ID: 64393e70-f089-417c-9c46-50a90084ab6d

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2026-02-19T17:10:36