Principal Electrical Engineer

Primary Function of Position

We are seeking a Staff Electrical Engineer to join the Advanced Product Development (APD) research and development team at Intuitive Surgical. In this role you will be responsible for both embedded architecture definition, motor control systems and the design and implementation of high-speed compute platform PCAs. As a Staff Electrical Engineer, you will work with a small multidisciplinary start-up-like team chartered with inventing the future of computer-augmented robotic surgery. You will be involved in delivering features by integrating complex functionality into complete surgical robot solutions, and seeing these through verification, validation and product release.

The successful candidate must excel in a high-energy focused small-team environment, be able to drive to solutions from rough requirements, and have a commitment to high product quality. Quick learning and a desire to deeply understand requirements, develop high-fidelity prototypes, and rapidly iterate are essential.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Design, bring-up, and integration of custom printed circuit assemblies (PCAs).
• Architect communication, processing, and distribution of electronic subsystems across the product.
• Challenge the status quo architecture to propose alternate, efficient and latest tech stacks.
• Collaborate on system design and architecture with other Advanced Development engineering team members, including FPGA logic design, mechanical, software and controls.
• Identify and implement key components in actuation of robotic systems (e.g. position and motion sensing, vision, embedded display and UI, and the driving of brushed and brushless DC motors).
• Implement PCB designs that balance performance, cost, and manufacturability.
• Perform board level bring-up and troubleshooting.
• Perform formal risk analysis and develop mitigations.
• Discover and develop new vendors and their technologies.
• Write detailed design documentation, including specifications and verification plans per Intuitive's guidelines.
• Write V&V (Verification and Validation) protocols and associated scripts, as well as protocol execution.
• Follow rigorous design control methodology from design specification through design transfer to manufacturing.

Qualifications

• Minimum BS degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering
• Minimum 12 years industry experience in embedded system design
• Demonstrated expertise in dense Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design
• Strong understanding of digital logic design and transmission line theory
• Strong understanding of BLDC motor control systems, GAN FETs, Current sensing mechanisms
• Design experience with products that have real-world physical interaction (sensing and actuation)
• Experience in design, testing, and troubleshooting to meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements
• Familiarity with a broad range of electronic components and hardware, including FPGAs (Xilinx preferred), memories, logic, signal conditioning, and communication interfaces
• Expertise with schematic capture tools (OrCAD preferred)
• PCB layout experience desired (Allegro preferred)
• Exposure to FPGA logic design, tools, and verification process (Verilog and ModelSim preferred)
• Excellent ability to debug and characterize electronic systems using standard bench test equipment
• Proficiency in using scripting languages for development and test (Python preferred)
• Experience with all phases of the product development lifecycle
• Comfort with concepts of design input, design output, traceability, and risk analysis
• Hands-on engineering experience with proven ability to work well in a team environment
• Excellent communication and documentation skills