Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Company Description

At Intuitive, we are united behind our mission: we believe that minimally invasive care is life-enhancing care. Through ingenuity and intelligent technology, we expand the potential of physicians to heal without constraints.
As a pioneer and market leader in robotic-assisted surgery, we strive to foster an inclusive and diverse team, committed to making a difference. For more than 25 years, we have worked with hospitals and care teams around the world to help solve some of healthcare's hardest challenges and advance what is possible.
Intuitive has been built by the efforts of great people from diverse backgrounds. We believe great ideas can come from anywhere. We strive to foster an inclusive culture built around diversity of thought and mutual respect. We lead with inclusion and empower our team members to do their best work as their most authentic selves.
Passionate people who want to make a difference drive our culture. Our team members are grounded in integrity, have a strong capacity to learn, the energy to get things done, and bring diverse, real world experiences to help us think in new ways. We actively invest in our team members to support their long-term growth so they can continue to advance our mission and achieve their highest potential.
Join a team committed to taking big leaps forward for a global community of healthcare professionals and their patients. Together, let's advance the world of minimally invasive care.

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

Our Accessories interface between all aspects of the da Vinci system and enable safe and effective robot-assisted surgery. They may be reusable or single-use medical devices (consumables). Our customers interact directly with Accessories in every surgical procedure, and they serve a critical role in customer satisfaction and patient outcomes.

The Staff Mechanical Design Engineer for Single-Port Accessories will support development and production of existing and new products. This position requires a hands-on, technically excellent engineer to dive deep into solving engineering challenges, and to provide high-level assessment of risks and opportunities. Projects will include a mix of new product development and sustaining existing products, including improvements for cost savings and manufacturability to enable significant volume growth, enhancements to increase customer satisfaction, and improving reliability.

Essential Job Duties

• Navigate complex and ambiguous technical situations with timely decision-making and appropriate priorities
• Work within and guide multi-disciplinary teams to design, develop, and document mechanical components and assemblies for surgical system accessories, including parts made by plastic injection molding, thermoset compression molding, and machining
• Define functional requirements based on user and product-level requirements and international standards, and maintain Design History Files per regulatory and corporate requirements
• Examine risk of component failure (FMEA) and implement effective mitigations
• Create and maintain product specifications with careful consideration for critical functions and safety while designing for manufacturability and cost, including engineering drawings, in accordance with corporate standard and departmental operating procedures
• Iterate rapidly by prototyping, testing, and examining product designs using engineering rules and techniques, including computer simulation and physical models
• Support and participate in clinical and human-factor evaluations to ensure positive user experience
• Collaborate with manufacturing, purchasing, test engineering, and supplier engineering to facilitate transfer of designs into production
• Mentor other engineers
• Help establish team member and team goals aligned with overall project and company goals
• Promote best practices for mechanical design

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated excitement and capacity to learn and quickly analyze tough technical problems using fundamental values, exceptional mechanical intuition, and persistence to pinpoint root cause of problems
• Passion for continuous improvement
• Demonstrated commitment and ability to create reliable, high quality products
• Demonstrated ability to think at a systems level, interface between multiple design groups, and negotiate conflicting requirements
• Understanding concepts of design input, design output, requirement traceability, and FMEA risk analysis
• Mechanical design and analysis skills, including statics, dynamics, and strength of materials, including stress analysis, fatigue, and thermal
• Exposure to full product development lifecycle including ideation, design, debug, verification, qualification, transfer to manufacturing, and sustaining
• Demonstrated knowledge of materials (preferably plastics, silicones, isoprenes) and material properties. Ability to apply knowledge of engineering materials and component selection criteria to product designs through exceptional concept development, design analysis, hands-on prototyping, and reliability testing skills.
• Experience designing plastic components and assemblies
• Knowledge of component manufacturing processes (including injection molding, thermoset molding, machining, vacuum thermoforming, pad printing, laser marking, etc.)
• Proficiency with CAD (SolidWorks highly preferred): designing parts with complex geometry, creating assemblies, creating detailed manufacturing drawings, and examining designs with Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
• Proficiency at failure analysis, including root cause analysis techniques (e.g., fishbone, 5 Whys, etc.)
• Fluency in ASME Y14.5 GD&T and tolerance stack analysis
• Comfortable operating machine shop, measurement, and test equipment
• Demonstrated ability to create and execute an engineering test plan, and proficiency at writing engineering test reports
• Ability to communicate effectively (written, oral) across functions, including presenting to a technical audience
• Minimum 8 years of hardware product design experience with undergraduate degree; minimum 4 years with graduate degree
• Prior experience working in medical device or other regulated industry
• Ability to travel up to 10%

Required Education and Training

• Minimum BS in Mechanical Engineering required, MSME preferred.  Biomedical or other engineering discipline may be acceptable with appropriate mechanical experience.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Ability to handle ambiguity effectively and oversee multiple projects at once
• Demonstrated ability to design for high-volume manufacturing
• Knowledge of ISO requirements and GMP guidelines.  Experience with FDA regulations and medical device design control a plus
• Experience leading departmental or cross-functional projects/initiatives from concept through completion
• Knowledge of sterilization methods, biocompatibility, and packaging of medical devices
• Knowledge in additional manufacturing processes such as extrusion, blow molding, ultrasonic welding, RF welding, heat staking, and laser welding

Additional Information

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 Employment 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.

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 salary ranges are listed.

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 Employment 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.

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 salary ranges are listed.