Physician Future Forward Incubator

Intuitive•Sunnyvale, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Physician, Corporate Strategy is an MD physician innovator embedded within Intuitive’s Future Forward Incubator, a cross-functional group that identifies, evaluates, and develops new clinical opportunities and technology platforms. The role translates clinical insight and early-market understanding into growth opportunities by identifying unmet clinical needs, evaluating strategic fit, and shaping technology concepts from initial hypothesis through early de-risking. The position works closely with engineering, clinical, product, regulatory, reimbursement, health economics, commercial strategy, and business partners. Candidates may bring either substantial clinical practice experience paired with exposure to innovation, venture, startups, business development, Biodesign, or product development, or deep experience in those innovation and strategy areas alongside an MD background and sufficient clinical fluency to assess patient care, procedural workflows, and clinician needs. The role is full-time and onsite in Sunnyvale, California, with travel of up to 25%.

Requirements

MD or DO required.
Must have either meaningful hands-on clinical practice or procedural care experience plus exposure to innovation, venture, startups, business development, Biodesign, or product development; or strong venture, startup, business development, Biodesign, corporate strategy, or product strategy experience plus sufficient clinical fluency to evaluate medical needs and care pathways.
Ability to identify unmet clinical needs and convert observations into structured hypotheses, need statements, development plans, or investment theses.
Experience conducting clinician, patient, or stakeholder interviews and synthesizing voice-of-customer input into actionable product or strategy recommendations.
Comfort operating in ambiguous, early-stage environments where the path forward is uncertain and evidence must be built iteratively.
Strong cross-functional influence skills and ability to collaborate with engineering, clinical, regulatory, reimbursement, product, and business stakeholders.
Ability to evaluate clinical workflows, procedure economics, adoption barriers, competitive dynamics, and strategic implications for new technology platforms.
Clear executive communication skills, including concise written synthesis, structured presentations, and explaining complex clinical concepts to non-clinical audiences.
Curiosity, an ownership mindset, and enthusiasm for building technologies that can transform care delivery and improve patient outcomes.
Must be available to work full-time onsite in Sunnyvale, California.
Ability to travel to clinical sites, customer locations, or conferences, including internationally, up to 25%.
Must be able to meet hospital credentialing and compliance requirements for clinical site access, such as vaccination requirements.
May need to stand or walk for extended periods during clinical observations or procedures and occasionally lift up to 20 lbs.

Nice To Haves

Active clinical practice is valued, but is not required for candidates with substantial innovation, venture, startup, business development, Biodesign, or corporate strategy experience.
Biodesign or equivalent needs-based innovation training preferred.
Experience in venture, startups, business development, product strategy, or corporate strategy strongly preferred.
Surgical or interventional specialty training preferred.
Clinical practice experience, residency or fellowship training, or comparable patient-care exposure preferred for candidates from a primarily clinical background.
Biodesign, MBA, MPH, MS, fellowship, or other formal training in innovation, product development, health economics, or business strategy is a plus.
Candidates with fewer years of clinical training or limited active practice may be considered if they have substantial experience in early-stage innovation, venture-backed companies, medical technology strategy, product development, business development, or Biodesign.

Responsibilities

Identify, frame, and prioritize unmet clinical needs using clinical immersion, literature review, market sensing, and voice-of-customer input.
Translate physician and patient insights into need statements, opportunity hypotheses, clinical workflows, requirements, and early de-risking plans.
Evaluate early-stage opportunities for clinical importance, feasibility, strategic fit, adoption barriers, competitive landscape, and potential business impact.
Partner with engineering and design teams to define clinical use cases, procedural workflows, performance goals, and prototype feedback loops for new platforms.
Lead or support early clinical de-risking activities, including preclinical studies, simulated use, workflow validation, and early feasibility planning where appropriate.
Develop point-of-view assessments on emerging technologies, startups, venture-backed innovation, adjacent markets, and external partnership opportunities.
Collaborate with regulatory, reimbursement, health economics, product, and commercial strategy partners to shape indication strategy and development pathways.
Engage key opinion leaders, clinicians, entrepreneurs, academic innovators, and external partners to validate concepts and inform investment decisions.
Communicate findings to senior stakeholders through written recommendations, executive presentations, and data-driven opportunity narratives.