Manager, Mechanical Design – Equipment

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 Equipment Engineering Manager will be responsible for leading a team of equipment and manufacturing engineers in developing advanced solutions for the production of precision Stapler instruments and accessories used in minimally invasive robotic surgery. This is a key technical leadership role responsible for driving innovation and technology in manufacturing and test equipment design, ensuring compliance with quality systems, and mentoring a highly skilled engineering team.

This individual will lead and develop a team of equipment and manufacturing engineers focused on designing, building, and validating custom equipment for precision medical device manufacturing. This role will provide oversight into the entire equipment lifecycle—from specification, concept development and design through implementation and sustained production—while ensuring compliance with quality system requirements and regulatory standards. This position requires close collaboration with cross-functional teams to deliver complex projects on time and within scope.

This person will work in collaboration with Product Design Engineering, Supplier Engineering, Systems Analysts, Manufacturing Engineering, Software and Controls Engineering, and Quality Engineering teams to create integrated, scalable production test and processes equipment.

What You’ll Do

• Build and manage a team of mechanical equipment engineers who develop equipment for manufacturing and testing Intuitive’s Multiport Instrument & Accessories products and components.
• Responsible for the professional development of individual team members.
• Mentor and train new employees
• Establish group and individual objectives, priorities, and metrics to ensure long term success.
• Establish standards and organize best practices of work for mechanical equipment design engineers.
• Manage and allocate team resources over multiple projects
• Provide technical leadership for the development of production equipment, test fixtures, and process tools.
• Oversee the validation and qualification of manufacturing equipment and processes leveraging standard qualification approaches (IQ/OQ/DQ/PQ)
• Maintain compliance with medical device quality system including corrective action closure, discrepant material disposition and Engineering Change Order (ECO) implementation through Agile
• Manage requirements to ensure equipment meets expectations.
• Establish standards, metrics, and measurement techniques to assess the quality of equipment delivered by the team.
• Collaborate with design engineers, system analysts, manufacturing engineers, and software/controls engineers to ensure that equipment meets requirements.
• Identify and implement continuous improvement projects with respect to equipment design, reliability, capacity enhancement and efficiency.
• Lead projects within group and/or with cross-functional teams focused on process and equipment improvements for high-volume manufacturing.

What You’ll Bring

• BS or graduate degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, or Control Systems Engineering, or similar field. MS Preferred.
• Successful experience leading teams developing test & process equipment
• Minimum of five years’ engineering experience with complex electro-mechanical equipment.
• Proven leadership experience motivating, mentoring, and inspiring a high-capacity technical team.
• Prior responsibility for validation of processes, equipment and products.
• Strong quantitative process development skills including (p)FMEA, tolerance analysis, DoE, SPC, GR&R, and CpK.
• Excellent organizational and project management skills; Able to manage multiple fast-paced projects simultaneously.
• Ability to communicate effectively and professionally across a range of technical disciplines with a broad slate of stakeholders, including management, peers, customers, and suppliers.
• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills with the ability to relate to different people in cross-functional teams.

Working Conditions

• Able to lift 50 lbs
• Ability to travel periodically (5-10%). Ensuring technology transfer to production sites.

You'll Knock Our Socks Off If You:

• Have medical device manufacturing experience (GMP, MDD, ISO 13485, ISO 9001, etc.).
• Have experience in control systems development for robotics or electro-mechanical systems.
• Are familiar with mechanical CAD (Solidworks) and PLM (Agile) software
• Have experience with high volume and high complexity manufacturing processes
• Have experience with SAP, Windchill and Polarian

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.