Sr/ Staff Human Robot Interaction Design Engineer
About The Position
The Human Factors Design Engineer (HFDE) is part of Intuitive’s Human Factors organization, which works to maximize the usability and desirability of its products while minimizing risk through scientific research and usability engineering. This role focuses on human-robot interaction research, neurorobotics, and neural interfaces within the development of robotic systems, instruments, and accessories. The position uses formative research and hands-on design engineering to inform user requirements and interface design requirements. It studies the psychology, biomechanics, and physiology underlying users’ performance during robotic teleoperations, generating evidence about differences in learning and performance across products. The role operates during ambiguous and strategic stages of product development, positioning and conducting experimental research within a business context. The HFDE translates research into evidence-based strategies, tools, prototypes, and concepts that inform the intuitiveness of current and future products. The work combines strategic direction with tactical execution, including experimental behavioral and neuroscientific research that informs product design, product development, and potential product claims for human-robot interfaces. The position reports to a Manager within the broader Human Factors organization. This is primarily an office-based, set-schedule role. It is onsite weekly, with the percentage of onsite work defined by the leader, and requires domestic and international travel of up to 25%.
Requirements
- Minimum 8–15 years of relevant industry experience.
- Minimum 6 years of relevant experience with human subjects.
- Ability to drive user-centered design strategies and apply usability engineering principles to product research, development, and design.
- Ability to independently propose and position research plans across products and with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to develop experimental conditions and stimuli in virtual and physical environments.
- Ability to translate study findings into product requirements for complex, software-controlled electromechanical medical devices.
- Experience authoring and reviewing scientific manuscripts.
- Expertise in robotic systems, including mechanical design (kinematics and mechanisms), sensing and perception, control systems, software engineering (programming and simulation), and human-robot interaction.
- Ability to work across groups and levels of management in a matrixed organization.
- Postgraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, Psychology, Neuroscience, or Biomechanics, with an emphasis on human-robotic interactions.
Nice To Haves
- Research experience in neuromotor or sensorimotor control and learning.
- Research experience in neuroscience.
- Experience in computational psychology or data science.
- Experience in differential psychology.
- Experience with bioinstrumentation.
- Experience in the medical-device industry or a similar regulated industry.
Responsibilities
- Apply expertise in robotics, human-robot interaction, and mixed-methods research to identify unmet user needs, performance limitations, and product innovation opportunities.
- Generate, prioritize, and communicate actionable design insights that shape product strategy, influence development priorities, and advance human factors capabilities.
- Assess human performance, workflow, and usability factors to de-risk design strategies and identify and mitigate systemic usability risks across product lines.
- Serve as the human factors lead for complex initiatives, partnering with engineering, product management, quality, and regulatory teams to support usability-centered design decisions.
- Influence product and business decisions by balancing user needs, safety, usability, technical feasibility, and organizational priorities.
- Lead the definition and management of usability design inputs for robotic systems, instruments, and accessories, translating research into user and interface requirements.
- Conduct literature reviews to justify research strategy and study design.
- Plan and conduct experiments end to end, including data processing and analysis of multimodal data.
- Translate scientific evidence for internal and external stakeholders into recommendations for product design strategies, product requirements, or product claims.
- Develop and evaluate conceptual prototypes that communicate design strategies, performance considerations, and future product concepts.
- Extract, transform, process, analyze, and visualize data from biometrics, psychometrics, and system logs collected in laboratory and field experiments.
- Prototype and iterate on designs, develop tests, and deliver software in Python or C++ for machine-learning performance modeling.
- Manage system configuration updates to maintain reliable data-capture pipelines for laboratory and field experiments.
- Build and validate experimental conditions in virtual and physical environments.
- Develop and validate novel and off-the-shelf bioinstrumentation and psychometrics for reliably measuring individual differences related to human performance.
- Author and maintain early-stage human factors engineering deliverables in compliance with design controls, usability engineering processes, and regulatory requirements.
- Mentor peers and project teams in human factors methodologies, frameworks, and best practices, fostering innovation through user insights and cross-functional expertise.
Benefits
- Market-competitive compensation package including base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
