- Robot type
- Surgical and Medical
- Location
- SunnyvaleCaliforniaUSA
- Job type
- Hardware
- Posted
- Aug 7, 2026
Full-time
Staff Mechanical Design Engineer
Job description
Intuitive Surgical designs and manufactures highly complex mechanical systems (including instruments and accessories) for use in surgery. The successful Staff Mechanical Design Engineer will lead the design, sourcing, development, and integration of novel mechanical and mechatronic concepts for instrument and accessory related products. The candidate must be able to identify and evaluate new candidate technologies, establish design requirements and create novel designs to meet customer needs, work with suppliers and other outside companies to realize viable technical solutions, and refine designs for transfer to the new product development organization.
Job responsibilities
- Work with subject matter experts to understand the clinical, usability, and other needs of users of da Vinci systems as they relate to surgical instruments and accessories.
- Develop technical requirements for designs based on an understanding of user needs.
- Perform conceptual design, detailed design, analytical modeling, prototyping, and troubleshooting of novel instruments and accessories for the da Vinci robotic surgical system.
- Create new product architectures to solve complex and highly constrained design problems.
- Develop and perform early design verification and validation testing, with assistance from other functions as needed.
- Assist with clinical evaluation of prototypes by supporting ex-vivo and in-vivo laboratory testing.
- Assist with mechanical engineering problem-solving in any part of the organization as needed to solve challenges on urgent or critical programs.
- Identify, test, and report on new materials, manufacturing process, and technologies that could benefit existing products or enable new product designs.
Job requirements
- Minimum BS (Mechanical Engineering or related engineering field) required
- Minimum twelve (12) years of experience taking products from concept to production (medical product experience preferred). 8 years with MS or 5 years with PhD
- Familiarity with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debug, verification, qualification, and transfer.
- Understanding of mechatronics, robotics, and servo-controlled systems strongly preferred.
- Experience developing software control algorithms a plus.
- 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.