Director SP Manufacturing 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

Lead a team of manufacturing engineering managers  pushing the frontiers of minimally invasive robotically assisted surgery by advancing new surgical instruments, accessories, endoscopes from concept to production. This key technical management role will guide and mentor a talented engineering organization responsible for developing the manufacturing strategy,  manufacturing processes, building semi automated manufacturing lines, creating all associated manufacturing documentation, refine product architecture for optimal reliability, quality, and costs.  This position also provides technical cross functional leadership for product operations.

Essential Job Duties

• Management of efficient “mid-volume” manufacturing assembly lines, specifying and/or refining BOMs, work flow processes, and detailed work instructions.
• Lead initiatives focused on yield improvement, material cost reduction, capacity enhancement, and outsourcing of assemblies.
• Manage and allocate team resources over multiple projects.  Provide and solicit resources to and from other teams as necessary.
• Provide component engineering services to proactively identify and resolve/mitigate material obsolescence or availability issues
• Identify, design, qualify, document and introduce production assembly/test fixtures.
• Provide product and process Design for Manufacturability, Design for Assembly and Design for Service input to enhance manufacturability and servicing.
• Analyze, trend, and report on RMA investigations to guide the team to meaningful projects that help improve customer experience in the field.
• Provide technical support for Material Review Board (MRB) to ensure discrepant material is processed efficiently and projects are identified to fix the root cause to reduce the
• Project Manage product transfers from Sunnyvale to Mexico.
• Must possess strong communication skills to interface with cross functional engineering teams, technicians, planning, purchasing, quality and regulatory teams

Provide engineering leadership during audits to respond to production, process control sections of the audit.

Required Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated Mechanical and Process Engineering ability
• Demonstrated ability in failure analysis and continuous improvement
• Demonstrated ability to represent the company to its partners, suppliers, and vendors
• Experience in Medical Device Manufacturing (including GMP, MDD, ISO) – a plus
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing and/or 6-Sigma techniques – a plus

Required Education and Training

• BS Degree in Engineering Discipline, MS preferred
• 10+ years experience in manufacturing or mechanical engineering role
• 4+ years experience in managing Technical Engineering team in a fast paced medical device development environment

Preferred Skills and Experience

• BS Degree in Engineering Discipline, MS preferred
• Experience in Medical Device Manufacturing (including GMP, MDD, ISO)
• Prior Experience demonstrating ability to manage a Technical Engineering team in the Manufacturing Engineering space
• Prior experience with automated equipment, complex mechanism manufacturing, or robotics

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.