Director, Clinical Corporate Development

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.

The Team

 

The Future Forward team at Intuitive is a cross-functional team dedicated to the creation of innovative medical technologies and robotic systems. We develop transformational technologies to address the major pain points and unmet needs in healthcare. Our goal is to revolutionize the future of healthcare by developing platforms and technologies that empower providers and teams to deliver life-enhancing care. 

 

Primary Function of the Position 

 

The Director of Clinical Corporate Development applies deep clinical, scientific, and industry expertise to identify, evaluate, and shape high-impact growth opportunities across new and adjacent domains. This role leads clinical need landscape analyses, assessing unmet patient needs, emerging technologies, and external companies to inform acquisition, investment, and strategic partnership decisions that advance Future Forward’s mission of reaching 10 million new patients through transformative innovation.

 

The Director plays a central role in defining breakthrough clinical applications and long-horizon platform opportunities, partnering closely with Business Development, Finance, Technical Research, and incubated programs to align clinical value, strategic fit, and enterprise impact. Ideal candidates are intellectually curious and analytically rigorous, with the judgment to challenge assumptions, synthesize incomplete evidence, and drive conviction-based decisions—while remaining highly collaborative, grounded in data, and focused on real-world clinical utility.

 

Essential Job Duties

• Lead clinical and scientific diligence across emerging technologies, technology platforms, early- and late-stage companies, and external collaborators, assessing clinical relevance, feasibility, differentiation, risk, and strategic fit.

• Partner cross-functionally with Business Development, Strategy, and Finance to evaluate unmet clinical needs, patient segmentation, competitive dynamics, and adoption barriers, translating clinical insight into clear value propositions and actionable investment theses.

• Serve as a senior clinical thought partner during early-stage opportunity evaluation, informing decisions related to investments, acquisitions, partnerships, and strategic collaborations under conditions of uncertainty and incomplete data.

• Engage externally with startups, academic investigators, clinicians, and strategic partners to assess technology maturity, clinical readiness, translational pathways, and potential routes to scale.

• Produce high-quality, structured clinical assessments including opportunity briefs, diligence summaries, and executive-level presentations, that synthesize complex clinical and scientific information to support leadership and Board-level decision-making.

• Identify, prioritize, and frame high-value unmet clinical needs through a combination of clinical observation, literature review, data analysis, and direct stakeholder engagement, with a focus on scalable patient and system-level impact.

• Act as an internal clinical subject-matter leader for new and emerging technology domains, enabling cross-functional teams to understand clinical workflows, patient impact, procedural implications, and evidence requirements.

• Monitor external clinical, scientific, and industry ecosystems, including conferences and key publications, to identify emerging trends, inflection points, and potential acquisition or partnership opportunities.

• Provide ongoing clinical guidance and judgment to internal teams as new questions, technologies, and strategic initiatives arise, ensuring decisions remain grounded in real-world clinical practice and patient outcomes.

 

Required Skills and Experience

• Medical degree (MD, DO, or equivalent) required

• 4+ years of surgical specialty training and/or hands-on procedural clinical experience strongly preferred; ability to anchor strategic decisions in real-world clinical practice is essential.

• Demonstrated experience evaluating emerging medical technologies across a range of maturity levels (concept through commercialization), including assessment of clinical feasibility, translational readiness, workflow integration, and scalability.

• Prior experience in clinical and scientific diligence, including critical evaluation of preclinical and clinical evidence, understanding of regulatory pathways, reimbursement dynamics, and the linkage between clinical outcomes and economic value.

• Strong ability to assess unmet clinical need, differentiation, and value creation potential across novel technologies, platforms, and therapeutic areas, particularly in environments where evidence is incomplete and assumptions must be tested.

• Proven track record of synthesizing complex clinical, technical, and scientific information into clear, structured, and actionable insights that inform investment, acquisition, partnership, and platform strategy decisions.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate nuanced clinical and technical concepts to diverse audiences, including engineers, commercial leaders, executives, and Board-level stakeholders.

• Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills, with a demonstrated bias toward structured thinking, clarity, and pragmatic recommendations rather than purely academic analysis.

• Solid understanding of healthcare market and system dynamics, including competitive landscapes, adoption barriers, site-of-care considerations, commercialization pathways, reimbursement incentives, and stakeholder alignment across patients, providers, payers, and health systems.

• Comfort operating in ambiguity, with the ability to exercise sound judgment, prioritize effectively, and move opportunities forward in fast-paced, evolving environments with limited data.

• Experience engaging with intellectual property considerations, including high-level review of patent landscapes, freedom-to-operate issues, and defensibility of technology platforms; ability to collaborate effectively with legal and technical experts.

• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and influence without authority, partnering effectively with Business Development, Strategy, Finance, Technical Research, and Product teams to drive alignment and decisions.

• Experience in venture investing, corporate venture capital, or corporate executive leadership strongly preferred.

• Formal training in Biodesign or equivalent needs-based innovation methodologies strongly preferred, with a demonstrated commitment to unmet-need–first thinking and evidence-driven opportunity framing.

Working Conditions: 

• Must be available to work full-time onsite in Sunnyvale, CA

• Will require travel to clinical sites, company locations, and/or conferences (up to 30%)

• May involve standing or walking for extended periods during clinical observations or procedures

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer

• Must comply with all applicable hospital or clinical site safety and credentialing requirements (e.g., vaccination, PPE)

• We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer.

• We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

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.

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 base compensation ranges are listed.