Principal Electrical Engineer

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:

We are seeking a Staff Electrical Engineer to join the Advanced Product Development (APD) research and development team at Intuitive Surgical. In this role you will be responsible for both embedded architecture definition, motor control systems and the design and implementation of high-speed compute platform PCAs. As a Staff Electrical Engineer, you will work with a small multidisciplinary start-up-like team chartered with inventing the future of computer-augmented robotic surgery. You will be involved in delivering features by integrating complex functionality into complete surgical robot solutions, and seeing these through verification, validation and product release.

The successful candidate must excel in a high-energy focused small-team environment, be able to drive to solutions from rough requirements, and have a commitment to high product quality. Quick learning and a desire to deeply understand requirements, develop high-fidelity prototypes, and rapidly iterate are essential. A strong sense of shared responsibility and shared reward is required, as is the desire to make work fun, collaborative, and interesting. Supporting you will be a development and management team that knows and cares about what you are doing and is a partner in your continued career development and success.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Design, bring-up, and integration of custom printed circuit assemblies (PCAs).
• Architect communication, processing, and distribution of electronic subsystems across the product. Challenge the status quo architecture to propose alternate, efficient and latest tech stacks,
• Collaborate on system design and architecture with other Advanced Development engineering team members, including FPGA logic design, mechanical, software and controls.
• Identify and implement key components in actuation of robotic systems (e.g. position and motion sensing, vision, embedded display and UI, and the driving of brushed and brushless DC motors).
• Implement PCB designs that balance performance, cost, and manufacturability.
• Perform board level bring-up and troubleshooting.
• Perform formal risk analysis and develop mitigations.
• Discover and develop new vendors and their technologies – develop the design and performance understanding to transform these into robust building blocks for future platforms.
• Write detailed design documentation, including specifications and verification plans per Intuitive’s guidelines.
• Write V&V (Verification and Validation) protocols and associated scripts, as well as protocol execution.
• Follow rigorous design control methodology from design specification through design transfer to manufacturing.

Skill/Job Requirements:

• Minimum BS degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering
• Minimum 12 years industry experience in embedded system design
• Demonstrated expertise in dense Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design
• Strong understanding of digital logic design and transmission line theory
• Strong understanding of BLDC motor control systems, GAN FETs, Current sensing mechanisms
• Design experience with products that have real-world physical interaction (sensing and actuation)
• Experience in design, testing, and troubleshooting to meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements
• Familiarity with a broad range of electronic components and hardware, including FPGAs (Xilinx preferred), memories, logic, signal conditioning, and communication interfaces
• Expertise with schematic capture tools (OrCAD preferred)
• PCB layout experience desired (Allegro preferred)
• Exposure to FPGA logic design, tools, and verification process (Verilog and ModelSim preferred)
• Excellent ability to debug and characterize electronic systems using standard bench test equipment such as oscilloscopes, function generators, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, etc.
• Proficiency in using scripting languages for development and test (Python preferred)
• Experience with all phases of the product development lifecycle, including design, implementation, debug, verification, validation, and transfer to manufacturing
• Comfort with concepts of design input, design output, traceability, and risk analysis
• Hands-on engineering experience with proven ability to work well in a team environment
• Excellent communication and documentation skills
• A passion to get to the root cause of tough technical problems!

A desire to deliver a quality and innovative product that will improve millions of people’s lives!

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.