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.
The Future Forward organization is Intuitive's advanced concepts group. We explore emerging technologies, prototype next-generation solutions, and build software experiences that shape the future of robotic-assisted surgery. Our research team is building advanced augmented dexterity capabilities for next-generation robotic platforms.
Our researchers should spend their time on ideas, not on the manual work required to turn those ideas into results on real robots.
As a Senior AI & Automation Engineer, you will build the AI tools, automation systems, integrations, and evaluation capabilities that help researchers and engineers train, test, and evaluate models faster and make better decisions. You'll leverage existing AI technologies while developing new solutions, from agent-driven workflows and AI tooling to the APIs, services, and automation frameworks that support engineering and research activities.
That could mean agents that set up and run experiments, automation workflows that accelerate testing and evaluation, or tools that sort through logs and video to help teams understand failures and improve outcomes. It's a hands-on engineering role that uses AI to improve how physical AI systems are trained and tested. You'll automate that work; you won't design the models themselves. You'll work closely with ML researchers, simulation engineers, and robotics engineers.
We care more about real depth in a few of these areas than shallow coverage of all of them.
You write production-quality Python, can read C++, and are comfortable with Linux, CI/CD, Docker, containerized services, APIs, and distributed systems.
Strong candidates often come from robotics, autonomous systems, physical AI, or robot- learning research, and have applied AI tooling to real hardware. You're comfortable working across disciplines in a fast-moving research environment and can explain trade-offs clearly to researchers and engineers alike.
If you don't check every box, we still want to hear from you.
Engineering, or a related technical field.
Bonus Points
None of these are required. They're signals, not gates, and any one of them is a nice plus.
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.
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.
This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on
business need and/or on the selected candidate’s experience, knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidate’s qualifications, consistent with applicable law.
Accommodation & Accessibility Notice:
Intuitive is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance or an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please contact People Services at HRHelpNow@intusurg.com.
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.
Intuitive (Nasdaq: ISRG), headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery. At Intuitive, 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.
