Manager, Systems HW Test Engineering

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.

Primary Function of Position
The Systems HW Test Engineering team at Intuitive is devoted to assuring safe, reliable, and effective products that meet or exceed patient, surgeon, and hospital expectations. The team plays a vital role in new product development, product engineering, and the verification of da Vinci Systems. Manager, Systems HW Test Engineering will manage a team of test engineers and work shoulder to shoulder with the team and partner teams to develop and execute verification testing to meet product development timelines and continuously improve the team’s verification processes.

Essential Job Duties

Team Leadership

• Manage a team of test engineers with mechanical, mechatronic or similar backgrounds

• Hire, train, and develop team members’ technical and soft skills

• Ensure team members are motivated, engaged and enthusiastic

• Establish group objectives, metrics and individual work goals consistent with overall product development schedules and/or process improvement milestones for the team

• Assign tasks, set priorities, and track progress

• Execute resource management and control for planning, staffing, budgeting, and tracking

• Provide vision for the test engineering team and foster an environment that encourages creativity and crisp execution

• Champion best practices for verification

Cross-functional Leadership

• Influence cross-functional project teams in the design, development, verification, and validation of new products with complex functionality

• Prioritize and negotiate project and resourcing tradeoffs with project managers, engineering leaders, and lab resources

• Form and maintain strong partnerships with cross functional partners in parallel organizations

• Ensure successful, on-time completion of activities; communicates constraints and recommends preferred mitigation to direct management when successful activity completion is at risk.

• Effectively communicates across various levels of the organization at core team meetings, product review board and design reviews

Technical Work Execution and Leadership

• Generate test plans and protocols, execute tests, and write reports for verification tests and can guide the team in the same.

• Strong ability to write good requirements and translate them into harmonized testable methods that employ appropriate test method validation strategies and guide the team in the same

• Perform root cause investigation into test failures and guide the team in the same

• Identify, create and improve processes, test methods, and test fixtures to drive operational efficiencies and guide the team in the same

Required Skills and Experience

Technical Skills: 

• Experience using tools and measuring equipment (Force Gauge, Calipers, Instron, etc.)

• Ability to perform mechanical engineering calculations needed to support equipment design, including dimensional analysis

• Experience with SolidWorks or similar CAD software.

• Experience with MATLAB, Python, Arduino is preferred.

• Experience working with electro-mechanical systems is preferred

Other skills and abilities:

• Excellent attention to detail

• Excellent written and verbal communication

• Strong people management skills with the ability to deliver results while supporting the career development goals of team members.

• Enjoys problem solving; an excitement to get to the bottom of challenging technical problems and root cause analyses.

• Excellent organization skills, ability to prioritize multiple fast-paced activities simultaneously.

Integrity:

·        Accepting and adhering to high ethical, moral, and personal values in decisions, communications, actions, and when dealing with others

Commitment:

·        Must be available to work full-time and commute/relocate to Sunnyvale, CA to work onsite 5 days/week

·        Ability to travel (<10%) as needed to support programs at other facilities.

Required Education and Training

Education and/or Experience: 

·        At least 8 years experience working in a HW engineering or test engineering role

·        At least 2 years experience working in a regulated industry (Medical device, Aerospace, etc.)

·        At least 1-3 years as a people manager, or equivalent project/team leadership, with proven ability to work well in a team environment

·        Extensive experience defining HW test methods, writing protocols, executing tests and writing reports in a regulated industry. Medical device experience preferred.

·        BS in Mechanical Engineering or similar degree. MS preferred.

·        Familiarity with IEC 60601 safety testing is preferred

·        Experience working through various phases of product development process is preferred

·        Test Method Validation experience is preferred

Working Conditions

• The employee will spend time at their desk in front of the computer as well as working in a lab environment.

• Hands on testing including, but not limited to, using the robotic systems, mechanical test fixtures, performing IEC 60601 safety testing, etc.

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.

This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on
business need and/or on the selected candidate’s experience, knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidate’s qualifications, consistent with applicable law.

Accommodation & Accessibility Notice:

Intuitive is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance or an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please contact People Services at [email protected].

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.