Clinical Development Engineering Intern
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.
Job Description
This Clinical Development Engineering intern position reports to the Clinical Development Engineering Management. In this position, the Clinical Development Engineer utilizes their in-depth clinical, technical knowledge to collaborate with physicians and design engineering to discover, define, develop, and validate new product solutions for flexible robotic catheter platforms. Their primary focus is to understand user needs, establish clinical and engineering requirements, consider clinical risks and identify solutions to guide product development.
Essential Job Duties Apply in-depth clinical knowledge and technical system understanding in defining and developing products based on clinical needs
Collaborate with physicians and key clinical users on clinical procedure development and understanding product feedback
Clearly define clinical need and requirements for product
Develop test models and test methods for clinically relevant product evaluations.
Assess potential clinical risks and propose mitigations as an input to product design
Evaluate and assess clinical impact resulting from SW algorithm updates
Support post market investigation by driving clinical risk assessment, clinical workflow investigation and pre-clinical testing for critical field issues.
Lead testing and clinical evaluations of new product features
Qualifications
Required Skills and Experience
University Hiring Program Eligibility Requirements:
University Enrollment: Must be currently enrolled in and returning to an accredited degree-seeking academic program after the internship.
Internship Work Period: Must be available to work full-time (approximately 40 hours per week) during a 10-12 week period starting May or June. Specific start dates are shared during the recruiting process.
Required Education and Training
Current enrollment in a Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related degree-seeking program at the Master’s level. Bachelor’s level students would also be considered based on specific relevant experience.
Working Conditions Ability to work in a lab based environment.
Preferred Skills and Experience
Experience with medical device design concepts including user needs discovery, concept development, requirements, prototyping and testing.
Experience developing test models and/or performing user or preclinical testing
Knowledgable in medical terminology, anatomy, and procedures
Ability to adapt priorities in a fast paced, dynamic, product development team
Excellent verbal and written communications skills
Additional Information
Due to the nature of our business and the role, please note that Intuitive and/or your customer(s) may require that you show current proof of vaccination against certain diseases including COVID-19. Details can vary by role.
Intuitive is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.
U.S. Export Controls Disclaimer: In accordance with the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR §743.13(b)), some roles at Intuitive Surgical may be subject to U.S. export controls for prospective employees who are nationals from countries currently on embargo or sanctions status.
Certain information you provide as part of the application will be used for purposes of determining whether Intuitive Surgical will need to (i) obtain an export license from the U.S. Government on your behalf (note: the government’s licensing process can take 3 to 6+ months) or (ii) implement a Technology Control Plan (“TCP”) (note: typically adds 2 weeks to the hiring process).
For any Intuitive role subject to export controls, final offers are contingent upon obtaining an approved export license and/or an executed TCP prior to the prospective employee’s start date, which may or may not be flexible, and within a timeframe that does not unreasonably impede the hiring need. If applicable, candidates will be notified and instructed on any requirements for these purposes.
We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.
We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay (paid at an hourly rate), benefits, and a housing allowance. It would not be typical for someone to be hired at the top end of range for the role, as actual pay will be determined based on several factors, including relevant skills and experience for this internship, degree-seeking academic program (PhD, Master’s, Bachelor’s, etc), year in school, and location. The hourly rate is prorated against the intern program salaries listed and total program compensation will be based on internship duration.