Senior Project Manager - Clinical

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 Senior Project Manager, Clinical Workstream, plays a pivotal role in supporting the clinical development and clinical affairs components of Future Forward BU. This position is central to guiding the planning and execution of pre-clinical studies, early feasibility human studies, and pivotal studies within a medical device development framework. The Senior Project Manager is accountable for providing both strategic leadership and tactical execution across all phases of clinical research, ensuring the successful delivery of clinical objectives that directly influence the advancement of innovative medical devices.

An ideal candidate would provide strategic direction by translating the Future Forward initiative’s vision into actionable clinical development roadmaps, setting priorities, and aligning resources. Tactically, the role involves hands-on management of daily project operations, troubleshooting study execution challenges, coordinating site activities, and ensuring milestones are achieved on time and within scope. Examples include developing bottom’s up schedules, identifying critical path, risk registers and conducting detailed project reviews to drive continuous improvement.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Lead the planning, initiation, and management of clinical workstream activities across pre-clinical, early feasibility, and pivotal study phases, ensuring alignment with program milestones and regulatory expectations.
• Develop and execute comprehensive project plans that reflect the Future Forward initiative’s strategic objectives, integrating timelines, resource allocation, and deliverable tracking for all clinical and pre-clinical activities.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams including R&D, regulatory, clinical affairs, clinical development engineering, quality, and operations to ensure seamless integration of clinical deliverables within the product lifecycle.
• Partner with clinical development engineers to define experimental designs, establish study requirements, and provide technical support for pre-clinical studies, ensuring robust data generation and protocol compliance in both GLP and non-GLP settings.
• Oversee the preparation, submission, and maintenance of regulatory documents and study protocols in compliance with applicable standards and regulations (e.g., EC, IDE submissions) and ensure that pre-clinical documentation meets both internal and external audit requirements.
• Manage logistics for product availability in pre-clinical and clinical studies, including coordinating shipments, tracking inventory, and ensuring that devices and ancillary materials are delivered on time to appropriate sites.
• Implement and monitor procedures for product return following study completion, ensuring proper reconciliation, documentation, and disposition in accordance with quality and regulatory guidelines.
• Support the clinical affairs team by creating and maintaining tools to monitor study progress, proactively identify risks, and implement mitigation strategies to ensure project timelines and budgets are met.
• Facilitate regular clinical domain meetings, providing clear status updates to the program core team, capturing action items, and communicating decisions to relevant stakeholders.
• Coordinate with the clinical development team to manage interactions with internal and external laboratories, including scheduling, documentation transfer, and issue resolution, while fostering engagement with key opinion leaders (KOLs) to inform study design, execution, and data interpretation.
• Ensure high-quality documentation, reporting, and data integrity across all clinical and pre-clinical activities, supporting audit readiness and inspection activities for clinical trials as needed.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of clinical project management processes and best practices, with a focus on enhancing cross-functional collaboration and operational efficiency within the clinical development framework.

Qualifications

Skills, Experience, Education, & Training:

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent) preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in clinical project management, with at least 3 years focused on medical device development.
• Demonstrated experience managing pre-clinical, early feasibility, and pivotal clinical studies.
• In-depth knowledge of regulatory requirements governing medical device clinical trials (FDA, ISO 14155 (GCP), etc.).
• Project Management: Advanced organizational, planning, and prioritization skills; proficiency with project management tools and methodologies.
• Regulatory Acumen: Strong understanding of clinical research regulations and standards applicable to medical devices.

Nice to Have

• Proven track record of successful cross-functional project leadership in a regulated environment.
• Leadership: Ability to inspire, influence, and drive teams toward common goals.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; adept at presenting complex information to diverse audiences.
• Problem Solving: Proactive in identifying issues and developing effective solutions.
• Collaboration: Experience working with multidisciplinary teams and external partners.
• Attention to Detail: Commitment to accuracy and quality in all deliverables.

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: ddff33ee-75f8-4798-862e-300736807d59

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-12-11T16:58:10