Staff AI Engineer – Applied Research

The Staff AI Engineer Applied Research will report to the VP Research in the Future Forward organization. This is a high-impact individual contributor role at the forefront of AI-enabled surgical robotics.

The primary purpose of this role is to help shape the product vision for advanced AI capabilities and facilitate the end-to-end program development lifecycle from early research through transition to product. Working as part of a collaborative flat team structure the Staff AI Engineer will partner cross-functionally with engineering product regulatory and clinical colleagues to explore what AI-enabled features should exist contribute to technical feasibility assessments and help build alignment across stakeholders to bring those capabilities from concept to production readiness.

Success in this role requires deep technical fluency in AI/ML strong product-thinking skills and the ability to build consensus and foster collaboration across teams. This is a role for a technically excellent contributor who thrives at the intersection of vision strategy and hands-on execution within a partnership-driven environment.

Key Responsibilities

- Help shape the AI product vision: Contribute to and help maintain a multi-year AI capability roadmap identifying key milestones for feature releases in partnership with Intuitive platform product teams. Inform the broader AI strategy and collaborate with peers to align resources pragmatically to demonstrate feasibility and value.

- Facilitate early-stage AI product development: Support prototyping pilot testing and the transition of research-grade models into production-ready capabilities serving as a key technical contributor and thought partner throughout.

- Facilitate cross-functional program coordination: Act as a connective thread across product engineering data regulatory and clinical stakeholders helping ensure AI initiatives advance through collaborative planning and milestone-driven delivery.

- Bridge clinical practice to development: Ability to communicate effectively with surgeons and clinical staff to translate operative needs into technical requirements.

- Contribute to data strategy: Partner with data engineering and privacy teams to develop approaches for the collection curation and de-identification of high-fidelity surgical datasets ensuring compliance with global privacy standards and minimizing algorithmic bias.

- Collaborate on regulatory and safety strategy: Work alongside regulatory and product partners to inform strategy and technical implementation ensuring safe and effective advanced capabilities.

- Serve as a trusted technical resource: Help bridge the gap between hardware engineering clinical affairs and commercial strategy providing thoughtful technical guidance on AI to colleagues and senior leadership.

- Advance the state of the art: Stay current with leading-edge capabilities in surgical AI. Evaluate emerging techniques and technologies. Contribute to internal technical reviews publications and patent activity.

- Support and elevate the team: Share knowledge and elevate the collective technical capabilities of AI engineers and researchers through collaborative technical reviews architecture discussions and peer mentorship within the teams flat structure.

Qualifications :

Qualifications

- PhD or Masters degree in Computer Science Robotics Biomedical Engineering or a related field with a focus on Deep Learning Computer Vision or Embodied AI.

- 10 years of hands-on experience in AI/ML development with at least 4 years focused on contributing to the journey of AI capabilities from research through productization.

- Demonstrated experience contributing to product vision and technical roadmaps for AI capabilities in a product-driven organization.

- Experience working across multi-disciplinary programs spanning engineering product and regulatory functions.

- Deep expertise with modern ML frameworks (PyTorch TensorFlow) edge computing for low-latency inference and integration of AI with physical robotic systems or actuators.

- Ability to communicate effectively with surgeons and clinical staff to translate operative needs into technical requirements.

- Proven ability to build trust foster collaboration and help align cross-functional teams through influence and partnership.

- Strong track record of thriving in fast-paced environments navigating the inherent uncertainty of early-stage AI research while helping maintain a disciplined path to commercialization.

- Experience contributing to technical direction helping define success metrics and communicating outcomes to peers and leadership.

Preferred

- Experience with medical device product development and familiarity with regulatory frameworks (FDA MDR) for AI/ML-based software.

- Familiarity with ethical AI practices and responsible AI deployment.

- Proven skills in quantitative analysis and data-driven decision making.

- Experience with intellectual property fundamentals (patents trade secrets).

- Track record of publications or conference presentations in relevant AI/ML domains.

- Experience with reinforcement learning planning algorithms or multi-modal AI (vision language robotics).

Additional Information :

Additional Information

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.

Shift: Day

Workplace Type: Onsite This job is fully onsite in the Sunnyvale campus.

Travel: 15% some international

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 employeeswho 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 governments 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 employeesstart 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 candidates experience knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidates qualifications consistent with applicable law.

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.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time