Director, Design Engineering, Cardiac Product Development

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.

The Director of Cardiac Product Development leads cross functional product development teams to develop a portfolio of instrument and accessory products that enable cardiac surgery with the da Vinci system. They also directly manage an organization of instrument and accessory design engineers. This role reports to the VP of Design Engineering for Instruments & Accessories and has "dotted line" reporting to the corporate VP for cardiac surgery (cardiac business unit lead).

The Director is responsible for ensuring new instrument and accessory product development efforts support Intuitive's strategy for cardiac surgery, and that product development teams execute to deliver the needed portfolio of cardiac products. The scope of responsibility includes new product development (NPD) programs as well as early-stage feasibility efforts and sustaining engineering for products on the market. Responsibilities of the role include growing, developing, and operating a team capable of executing multiple cross-functional product development efforts running concurrently.

The Director has technical depth and leadership skills to ensure product development teams deliver high quality products that meet both customer needs and business objectives.

• Setting long-term strategic vision, aligning team goals with business objectives
• Growing, developing, and managing an organization of design engineers supporting a portfolio of cardiac instrument and accessory products
• Managing a team of people managers with responsibility for product development activities through the entire product lifecycle, including early exploration and feasibility, new product development, and sustaining engineering.
• Creating teams to address product quality, cost, and supply chain issues as needed
• Translating customer needs and business strategies into detailed organizational and product development plans in collaboration with senior management and cross-functional stakeholders
• Setting goals for their organization, aligned with business and corporate strategy. Informing and shaping cardiac business unit strategy and goals.
• Collaborating with other key functions such as regulatory affairs, product management, and PMO to create product roadmaps and project plans that address customer and business needs
• Working cross-functionally and anticipating and mitigating challenges to ensure on-time delivery of innovative, high-quality products that meet the needs of customers
• Communicating directly with senior executives at the company on product development plans and status
• Championing design innovation and creation of intellectual property
• Ensuring Intuitive's product development processes are effectively applied to cardiac instrument and accessory programs and advancing those processes to support Intuitive's business needs

• B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or related engineering field
• At least 12 years of experience developing medical products or other relevant R&D experience
• At least 5 years of experience as a people manager and experience managing managers
• Skilled in all phases of medical device product development processes, including design control (ISO 13485) and risk management (ISO 14971)
• Experience developing surgical or interventional medical devices for treatment of cardiovascular disease
• Skilled and experienced in mechanical design of small, precision medical devices. Able to apply engineering fundamentals to ensure high quality output by their team.
• Effective hiring and personnel performance management
• Experienced in organizational design of product development teams
• Ability to manage through managers
• Ability to lead cross-functionally, including building alignment, resolving conflicts, and removing roadblocks

• Able to develop highly capable leaders and product development teams
• Selfless leader who inspires trust and commitment within the team and with key…