Sr. Mechanical 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

Intuitive Surgical designs and manufactures highly complex mechanical systems for use in surgery. The Mechanical Engineer is responsible for developing, documenting, and validating new product designs, as well as improving existing designs to meet the needs of our customers

Essential Job Duties

• Design, develop and document components and assemblies for novel robotic laparoscopic energy instruments.
• Utilize engineering fundamentals to analyze a problem, brainstorm potential solutions and conduct empirical confirmation of designs.
• Create new product architectures for next generation of reusable and disposable instruments.
• Conceptualize and analyze complex electro mechanical assemblies, create theoretical models, conducts empirical confirmation & performs computer assisted simulations
• Design and Develop mechanical parts and assemblies, with careful consideration for mechanical design, kinematics, materials (plastics & metals) and stress analysis.
• Develop testing fixtures to perform verification and validation testing of a production-level components and products.
• Collaborate with supplier engineers and vendors to optimize component DFM (injection molded and machined) required for high volume manufacturing.
• Create product functional and design specifications. Performs DFMEA on parts that are designed.
• Working collaboratively within multi-disciplinary teams to define requirements for new and current designs.
• Develop automated scripts to test new designs, fluent in use of tools such as Matlab, Anysys and Analyze and test product designs.
• Develop Design History Files per FDA requirements, understands FDA product design DOP.
• Shepherd projects through the design control process (design specification, design review, risk analysis, etc.), and support New Product Introduction personnel in initial builds (procurement, assembly, troubleshooting).
• Investigate and establish root cause of both latent and emerging design, manufacturing or material defects.
• Assess field reliability data to evaluate and improve existing product designs.
• Provide mechanical engineering sustaining support for resolution of manufacturing and field issues.
• Perform technical design reviews to solicit feedback on design progress.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• Very Strong analytical aptitude with an emphasis on theoretical fundamentals
• High Proficiency using software like 3D CAD to design mechanisms; SolidWorks preferred (3D design & surfacing), Matlab, Finite Element Analysis (such as Ansys/ Pro Mechanica)
• Exceptional prototyping skills, quick turn around concepts into prototypes
• Programming in Matlab to interface with electro-mechanical assemblies and perform data analysis
• Experience with all phases of the product development lifecycle, including design, debugging, verification, qualification, implementation, and transfer.
• Machining & high-volume injection molding experience a plus
• Comfortable in analyzing electrical assemblies and sensors
• Comfortable with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debugging, verification, qualification, and transfer
• Excellent communication and documentation skills
• Comfortable operating machine shop equipment
• Strong understanding of component selection criteria, and design for reliability and manufacturability
• Process development and assembly instructions as needed for new products
• Prefer medical device experience

Required Education and Training

• BSME with 8 years’ experience, MSME with 6 years’ experience or PHD with 3 years’ experi