Staff Power Electronics Design Engineer

Company Description

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.

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

We are seeking a Staff Power Electronics Design Engineer for Intuitive’s advanced R&D group (Future Forward). This role is focused on developing high voltage, high frequency switch mode power electronics systems for medical applications. This role is focused on defining high voltage power supply architecture and strategy, and complex problem solving.

As a Staff Engineer, you will operate with broad autonomy and influence, guiding device architecture based on system requirements, and solving the challenging power electronics problems in the organization. Success in this role is defined by system robustness, patient and operator safety, long-term technology impact, and ability to deliver on an aggressive timeline.

Essential Job Duties

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Define system-level architectures for high-voltage (> 5kV), high-power, digitally controlled power supplies.
• Lead design trade-offs across topology, control strategy, output waveform flexibility, magnetics, insulation, and thermal design.
• Establish best design practices for power electronics and high-voltage systems that meet medical device safety standards.

Advanced Design & Development

• Develop and validate advanced simulation models for complex power systems, including those sourcing into highly dynamic and reactive loads.
• Validate performance of developed solutions through simulations, prototyping, and testing.
• Guide digital power control strategies, working with firmware, software, and test engineers on stability, performance, robustness, and medical device safety.
• Provide deep technical expertise in root-cause analysis of complex electrical, control, and reliability issues.

Product & System Ownership

• Own the design and board layout from concept through testing, production and field deployment.
• Own the technical documentation that is vital for medical device compliance (Design History Files, Test Reports, and BOM management).
• Partner with system architecture, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain to ensure safe, compliant, scalable, and manufacturable designs.
• Lead technical risk assessments and ensure compliance with safety, EMC, and regulatory standards.

Mentorship & Influence

• Mentor junior engineers, raising the technical bar across the organization.
• Lead design and architecture reviews for high-voltage power electronics designs.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS:

Technical Expertise

• Expert-level experience in high-voltage, high frequency switch-mode power supply (SMPS) design.
• Strong background in digitally controlled power systems using DSPs, microcontrollers, and FPGAs.
• Deep understanding of power conversion topologies, magnetics, insulation systems, thermal management, and high-voltage safety.
• Deep understanding of power semiconductors devices, their control, packaging, and thermal management.
• Experience applying safety, EMC, and regulatory requirements in the medical device industry or related (automotive, semiconductor).

Professional Capabilities

• Proven ability to operate autonomously and make architecture-level technical decisions.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex systems across multiple product generations.
• Exceptional analytical and troubleshooting skills for ambiguous, cross-disciplinary problems.

EXPERIENCE:

• 12+ years of progressive experience in power electronics or electrical engineering product development (10+ years with a Master’s degree, 5+ years with Ph.D.).
• Experience in medical device capital equipment, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, plasma systems, indu