Senior Embedded Software Engineer - Future Forward

Intuitive • Sunnyvale, CA

14d

About The Position

As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer in the Future Forward organization, you will work at the forefront of innovation, rapid prototyping, and new product development. You’ll collaborate with talented cross-functional teams—including engineers, clinicians, and product managers—to advance Intuitive’s robotic surgical platform, driving the entire product lifecycle from concept to launch. In this role, you will design, develop, and integrate embedded and platform software across a complex robotic system, interfacing with hardware, firmware, control algorithms, vision pipelines, user interfaces, and test infrastructure, including fault-injection and diagnostic frameworks. You will contribute to the architecture, implementation, and system-level integration of advanced functionalities into complete surgical robotic platforms, supporting product release and validated human use. Your work will be critical to meeting delivery milestones while ensuring safe, reliable, and compliant operation for patients worldwide.

Success in this role requires excelling in an agile, small-team environment—transforming initial concepts into robust prototypes, methodically iterating designs, and consistently maintaining exceptional product quality with a patient-first mindset.

Requirements

• A minimum of 8 years of experience in developing and supporting embedded systems; or 6 years with a Master’s degree; or 3 years with a PhD.
• Highly proficient in developing C/C++ embedded and real-time software for multi-core, multi-processor systems, especially on embedded Linux and QNX.
• Demonstrated experience with board bring-up, device driver development, and integration of new hardware components.
• Skilled in version control systems and collaborative development environments, supporting efficient, iterative improvement.
• Familiarity with a wide range of communication protocols—including TCP/IP, CAN, I2C, SPI—and serialization standards such as protobuf.
• Strong problem-solving skills and debugging capabilities for complex embedded software and electromechanical systems.
• In-depth understanding of failure mode and risk analysis, with a track record in safety-critical, product-focused designs.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for effective interaction across all organizational levels.
• Demonstrates passion for innovation, continuous learning, and developing solutions that make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with robotics and embedded software for complex electro-mechanical systems.
• Knowledgeable in Python or Matlab for automation, diagnostics, and testing.
• Familiarity with FPGA development and interfaces.
• Familiarity with CUDA programming and memory management concepts.
• Cyber-security concepts such as secure boot, authentication and encryption.
• Hands-on engineering experience with proven ability to work effectively in a team environment.
• Experience in all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debug, verification, validation, and transfer to manufacturing.
• Experience designing software products in a regulated industry or for mission critical applications; comfort with concepts of design input, design output, traceability, risk analysis, and mitigations.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop robust embedded software to enable system infrastructure, including OS drivers, hardware interfaces, real-time data pipelines, inter-processor communication, error handling, and user/test applications.
• Collaborate cross-functionally throughout the product lifecycle with key stakeholders to address clinical needs and safety requirements.
• Translate early requirements into prototype implementations to evaluate, iterate, and advance novel robotic systems.
• Conduct rigorous unit testing to support system integration and ensure reliable, robust system operation.
• Contribute to hazard and failure mode analysis, defining appropriate mitigations.
• Refine and iterate designs, balancing technical requirements, feasibility, schedules, and resource constraints.
• Produce clear and compliant supporting documentation in alignment with Intuitive's development and quality guidelines.
• Ensure all designs meet rigorous quality and safety standards per the Intuitive Quality Management System.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees