Clinical Research 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

The Clinical Research Engineer, Future Forward, will lead the design and development of new product concepts prior to commercial launch by leveraging in-depth clinical, scientific, and technical expertise. This individual will collaborate closely with engineers, physicians, interaction designers, human factors, training and technical publication specialists, and various internal and external stakeholders to guide product and procedure development. The Clinical Research Engineer will play a key role in proctoring early-stage feasibility clinical studies, gathering case insights to support technology advancement, identifying and documenting user needs, managing product requirements, assessing clinical risks, and providing design guidance for clinical and commercial design and development. This individual will develop and execute pre-clinical experimental strategies to evaluate device performance, safety, and usability through the Product Development Process (PDP) ensuring readiness for commerical launch. The Clinical Research Engineer will also work with cross-functional teams—including regulatory, quality, clinical affairs, and finance—to shape clinical indications and commercialization strategies, driving the technology from concept to a commercial-ready product.

Essential Job Duties

The Clinical Research Engineer will:

Pre-clinical research and commercial concept development:

• Contribute to design and development of new product concepts prior to commercial launch by leveraging in-depth clinical, scientific, and technical expertise.
• Research disease states and medical technologies associated with new business opportunities to become an expert on new products and their clinical applications.
• ​Collaborate with marketing partners and clinicians to identify and understand marketing needs.
• Work with key opinion leaders, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders to identify clinical goals and translate those needs into user-centric designs for new platforms, procedures, instruments, and accessories.
• Collaborate closely with engineers and physicians to define and evaluate clinical performance goals, potential safety and usability risks for new products in early-phase development.
• Contribute to development and execution of clinical derisking pathways, including pre-clinical and clinical feasibility studies, to ensure technology advancement and readiness for commercial launch.
• Conduct design iteration assessments of products both internally and with external key opinion leaders.
• Contribute to development and execution of preclinical evaluation strategy in advance of human trials and for regulatory submissions.
• Provide subject matter expertise to user manual and training documentation development.
• Help support regulatory documentation and submissions.
• Demonstrate an analytical approach to identify potential product enhancements and new product ideas.

Clinical research and innovation:

• Contribute to the development and execution of early-stage feasibility clinical studies, pilot and pivotal clinical trials to support technology development for regulatory and reimbursement strategies.
• Identify and drive product enhancements and new product ideas by applying an analytical approach to understanding the clinical needs of physicians and users.
• Collect and analyze clinical study insights to inform new product requirements, training needs, manage clinical risks adhering to quality management systems.
• Design, develop, and execute clinical evaluations of prototypes with the ability to translate feedback to the engineering team for technolog