Staff Electrical Engineer

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:

The Staff Electrical Engineer will develop and support innovative surgical devices and accessories for the da Vinci Surgical System, from concept to launch and beyond, with shared responsibility and shared reward. The successful candidate will understand user needs and requirements, balance individual product-level requirements with system-level requirements, resolve complex electronic design issues, and commit to the highest product quality.

Roles And Responsibilities
 

• Designs, develops, modifies and evaluates electronic parts, components or integrated circuitry for electronic equipment, or other hardware systems and/or electrical engineering applications.
• Determines design approaches and parameters. Analyzes equipment to establish operating data, conducts experimental tests and evaluates results. Selects components and equipment based on analysis of specifications and reliability.
• Serve as lead technical design engineer on cross-functional project teams to develop new world-class surgical devices and accessories:
• Translate clinical requirements and user needs to functional and technical specifications.
• Lead technical design reviews and present technical details to cross-departmental group.
• Perform risk analyses; develop design requirements; reduce to practice, document, and test designs according to international medical standards as well as corporate standard and departmental operating procedures, including stringent Design Control activities.
• Collaboration and support the quality and regulatory processes.
• Collaborate on the determination of future product release content with all relevant departments.
• Collaborate with international partners (external and internal).
• Lead technical engineering support for resolution of manufacturing and field issues.
• Investigate and determine root cause of both latent and emerging design, manufacturing, or material defects.
• Develop, implement, test, and document solutions that meet clinical requirements.
• Give guidance / instructions and technical advice to other Electrical engineers.
• Independent and efficient work style, versatility, and flexibility.

Qualifications

Required Skills

• Minimum MS in Electrical Engineering or a similar field with at least 6 years or BS in Electrical Engineering or a similar field with at least 8 years of industry experience in designing electronic devices, preferred in the medical field.
• Experience with troubleshooting and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, function generators, custom test platforms, spectrum analyzer, etc.
• Experience with electronic design tools (such as Orcad, Allegro, SPICE, etc.)
• Demonstrated knowledge of manufacturing processes, such as PCB manufacturing and assembling, including miniaturization and flex board designs.
• Hands-on engineer with proven ability to characterize the behavior of complex electronic systems and troubleshoot problems or improve performance
• Experience designing digital circuitry operating in the GHz range, e.g. communications links
• Understanding of component selection criteria and design for safety, reliability and manufacturability
• Experience designing for reliability and manufacturability, especially for high-volume products.
• Systems level experience interfacing between multiple design groups and negotiating conflicting requirements.
• Experience working at all phases of the product lifecycle, from concept to continuous improvement (sustaining).
• Experience with concepts of design input, design output, traceability, and FMEA risk analysis.
• Ability to communicate effectively and accurately (written and oral) across all levels and functions, including presenting to a technical audience.
   

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with UL, CE, and/or FDA requirements.
• Experience managing vendors to manufacture and assemble components.
• Experience with motion control or feedback control systems
• Experience with signal integrity in a mixed signal/power environment
• Experience with high-speed communication circuitry
• Exposure to FPGA logic design, tools, and verification process 
• Experience in medical devices or other regulated business highly desired
• Experience with relevant business tools: Agile, SAP, Polarion, JIRA, Confluence, etc.
• Knowledge of C, Python, Matlab or other high level programming languages

Ability to travel up to 5% time (intermittent)

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: a4a6341d-a971-40d6-bcf7-ca890b6a8be6

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2026-02-24T18:49:46