Senior Industrial Designer

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

Position Description

Industrial Designers at Intuitive help design next-generation products and solutions for robotic surgery systems as well as refine and evolve existing product lines. Industrial designers are very hands-on, helping to translate real user insight into actionable design opportunities and empowering user experiences.

As a natural collaborator and pioneer, the Senior Industrial Designer will work with their process partners (engineering, clinical development, human factors, user research, product management) and partner with other design team members on the framing, definition, and execution of future product opportunities. Focusing on the physical aspects of the product, she/he employs an understanding of user needs, ergonomics, form, proportion, color, materials, and manufacturing processes that transform complex technical designs into elegant forms that are highly usable, beautiful, and manufacturable. With an ability to explore, prototype, and test a wide range of new ideas, the senior industrial designer generates and proves opportunities to builds consensus on the right path forward. The Senior Industrial Designer is a natural storyteller and creates compelling presentations that illustrate new user benefits and opportunities for Intuitive.

Job Responsibilities

The Senior Industrial Designer is responsible for defining and driving the design of new products at Intuitive. Working with their partners, the Senior Industrial Designer creates innovative human-centered design solutions that will improve user experience and drive company growth.

• Employs a user-centered design process to help teams frame problems and define opportunities
• Independently manages projects, or partners with other industrial design team members on projects
• Works with design leads and design managers on project planning
• Distills technical and ergonomic requirements and develops a range of solutions that synthesize usability, utility, manufacturability, and desirability
• Works with product development and engineering groups early in the product development lifecycle to provide user-centered thought leadership and generate conceptual product designs and opportunities
• Collaborates with other UX Team members to create compelling integrated user experiences
• Participates in user research, usability testing, and clinical research labs
• Effectively participates in cross-functional team meetings and other forums and proactively drives efforts forward
• Utilizes a range of 2D and 3D tools and techniques to develop and communicate design opportunities
• Combines Industrial Design goals with the objectives of our process partners
• Translates and captures brand attributes in compelling physical forms
• Generates functional and appearance prototypes to conceptually explore and validate design choices
• Delivers manufacturable design proposals to engineering for production

The Ideal Candidate

• Has a passion for designing meaningful, revolutionary products that make an impact on people's lives
• Has experience leading and driving design efforts from concept to production
• Has experience working in fast paced startup environments
• Is curious about user behaviors and has an eagerness to learn in the field and a lab environment
• Is excited to work on complex problems with a dedicated team of high-energy, high-caliber people
• Approaches work with a strategic, systems-thinking mindset
• Has a natural aptitude for teamwork, thriving on brainstorming, facilitating, and presenting
• Has a high capacity for technical problem solving and execution work
• Is reliable and dedicated to achieving the highest quality design output
• Is a highly creative problem solver
• Learns from, mentors, and inspires other designers
• Can autonomously work and solve problems, and seek out information as needed
• Takes a bias toward action and an eagerness to support the team and the project
• Employs healthy organization and communication habits, making you a responsive and exemplary team player
• Has a refined aesthetic sensibility and artistic skill
• Has an incurable curiosity relating to all things design

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Industrial Design
• 8+ years of experience in professional industrial design roles
• An exceptional portfolio that demonstrates a methodical human-centered design process and delivering successful products from concept to production
• A proven track record of collaborating successfully with engineering and product marketing teams to develop designs and ship successful products
• A comprehensive set of prototyping skills from quick low-fi foam models to fabricating more complex functional learning prototypes
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills and an ability to effectively communicate a user-centered point of view
• Exceptional 2D visualization skills, including sketching, storyboarding, and digital rendering
• Exceptional 3D CAD and visualization skills to develop technically viable and compelling design solutions
• Extensive experience with SolidWorks is required. Specific experience with complex surfacing is a plus.
• A thorough understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and designing for DFM & DFA considerations
• Experience with medical device design and/or designing regulated products is a plus
• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time for case observation.

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.