Senior Robotic Software Engineer

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and Med Tech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity.

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Job Function: R&D Product Development

Job Sub Function: Robotics

Job Category: Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations: Santa Clara, California, United States of America

Job Description: Robotics & Digital Solutions, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, is recruiting for a Senior Robotic Software Engineer
. This position is located in Santa Clara, CA.

At J&J Robotics we're changing the trajectory of health for humanity, using robotics to enhance healthcare providers' abilities and improve patients' diagnoses, treatments, and recovery times. J&J Robotics was established in 2020 with the integration of Auris Health, Verb Surgical, C-SATS, and Ethicon. It comprises three key med-tech platforms:
Flexible Robotics (MONARCH®), Surgical Robotics (OTTAVA™), and Digital Solutions. Join our collaborative, rapidly growing teams in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cincinnati, and Seattle. You'll collaborate on breakthrough medical technologies that unite multiple subject areas to build a connected digital ecosystem that advances medical professionals' skills and improves patient outcomes.

The Senior Robotic Software Engineer will work with the rest of the Robotics and Control team as well as the Clinical, SW, Hardware and Systems Engineering teams to bring to life the control of the surgical robot and instruments.

We’re looking for a Senior Robotics Software Engineer to develop high-performance software for next-generation robotic surgical systems. You’ll work on real-time control, system and software architecture, and safety-critical applications that directly impact patient outcomes. This role blends deep software engineering expertise with robotics fundamentals in a regulated, multidisciplinary environment. The successful candidate will have the capacity to work closely with engineers from software, hardware, systems, quality, regulatory, and other subject areas.

The candidate should be self-motivated, curious, and have the desire to bring the latest software technologies into the medical world. This is an individual contributor role that requires strong collaboration, leadership, and influence skills to be successful. We value software craftsmanship, architectural thinking, and proactive problem-solving above all. This role offers the opportunity to contribute directly to the software infrastructure and algorithms that power next-generation robotic-assisted surgery.

• Develop production-grade C++ software for robotic control and surgical workflows.
• Design and implement efficient algorithms (kinematics, dynamics, motion planning).
• Contribute to software architecture, infrastructure, and reusable frameworks.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (systems, software, hardware, clinical, quality, etc.).
• Support regulatory documentation and validation (e.g., FDA 510(k), risk analysis).
• Lead code reviews, testing strategies, and continuous integration efforts.
• Prototype and validate novel robotic features and surgical instrument behaviors.

One of the following combinations of years of experience and education are required:

A.) a B.S. degree in a technical discipline (e.g. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, EE, ME, or equivalent) combined with 6 years of relevant post-academic experience OR

B.) a M.S. degree in a technical discipline combined with 4 years of relevant post-academic experience OR

C.) a PhD in a technical discipline combined with 2 years of relevant post-academic experience

Additional Qualifications:

• Strong proficiency in modern C++ (C++14/17/20), Python, and scripting tools (e.g., Bash). Experience must be on combination…