Industrial Design Engineer/ Human Factor Engineer

Intuitive Surgical•Sunnyvale, CA

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Industrial Design Engineer/Human Factor Engineer will audit an existing VR application and user feedback, then recommend a holistic strategy to improve usability, cohesiveness, and learning outcomes while preserving the application’s core direction. The role proposes XR interaction designs informed by best practices, usability risks, customer feedback, hardware constraints, timelines, and development effort. The engineer rapidly develops concepts—including user flows, sketches, and prototypes—and translates them into functional requirements that developers can implement in Unity. The role facilitates design reviews, communicates design rationale and trade-offs, incorporates input from product management, human factors engineering, and development, and helps drive decisions toward implementation. It also works with Human Factors to turn usability findings into practical design requirements, refines interactions for novice XR users, and maintains a repository of XR best practices, human-factors heuristics, and product-specific visual and interaction designs. The position is hybrid in Sunnyvale, California, or Peachtree Corners, Georgia, for a duration of 10+ months.

Requirements

At least 4 years of hands-on experience designing, prototyping, and shipping XR/VR products.
A portfolio demonstrating strong XR design judgment, shipped products, and measurable usability improvements.
A track record of delivering incremental improvements within an established product direction while maintaining a cohesive long-term design strategy.
Demonstrated ability to work closely with developers during design sprints to implement functional requirements.
Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing XR training or simulation content.
Proficiency with Unity or similar real-time 3D engines.
Experience in medical devices, healthcare, or learning and development.
Familiarity with surgical robotics or Intuitive products.
Experience applying human-factors engineering principles to product design.
Background in user research or usability testing methodologies.

Responsibilities

Audit the current VR application and accumulated user feedback, and recommend a strategy to improve usability, cohesiveness, and learning outcomes while retaining the application’s core direction.
Propose XR interaction designs based on best practices, usability risks, customer feedback, hardware constraints, timelines, and development effort.
Rapidly develop user flows, sketches, and prototypes from product requirements and mature them into functional requirements developers can implement in Unity.
Facilitate design reviews, explain design rationale and trade-offs, incorporate input from product management, human factors engineering, and development, and help drive decisions toward implementation.
Collaborate with Human Factors to convert usability risks and findings into practical, implementable design requirements.
Design or refine XR interactions that are intuitive and easy for novice XR users to learn.
Establish and maintain a design repository documenting XR interaction best practices, human-factors heuristics, and product-specific visual and interaction designs.