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
Primary Function of Position:
The Manager, Program Management organizes a diverse set of activities of the Program Management Office (PMO) group within the Product Development/Product Changes organization. The PMO group is responsible for leading cross functional teams developing for new products, and consists of project managers, program managers and project coordinators. The PMO group also helps develop processes for efficient product development and design controls in collaboration with design engineering and quality.
The Manager, Program Management orchestrates the activities of her/his staff to deliver compelling final product designs within demanding product release schedules. He/she must be highly organized and detail-oriented, and interact fluidly and effectively with numerous individuals and departments. The Manager will have a close working relationship with the Engineering, Quality, Regulatory, Clinical, Human Factors, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Technical Publications, Training, Service, Finance, and Marketing departments, as well as other program and project managers.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Hire and develop a small team of highly capable, professional project managers and coordinators to meet the needs of the Product Design group. Ensure team members are trained on company processes and tools for compliance, quality, and efficient planning and execution of product development projects. Act as player-coach for staff. Develop their capabilities and provide professional development path. Periodically assess staff performance and provide feedback, both formal and informal.
- Help in defining and aligning project goals with business unit and corporate objectives. Organize and prioritize the work of the teams to accomplish the objectives.
- Help the functional managers of the design group plan and execute the activities required to achieve project goals. Facilitate resource planning, load balancing, and priority setting by functional managers by providing clear, concise, actionable data.
- Support resource demand planning for project teams including estimating project work efforts, needs, roles and responsibilities. Coach project managers and support resolving resource gaps to balance scope, schedule, and resources for project success.
- Communicate project priorities and key project deliverables and milestones broadly including within the PMO team, to all cross-functional team members, to business unit management, and to shared services management. Support project managers in stakeholder communications and alignment.
- Coordinate effectively with a number of other project managers who are driving overall product development programs, to understand project goals, scope, and timelines, and help functional managers negotiate resources and schedules.
- Lead cross-functional project teams for larger projects. Develop detailed project plans for a cross-functional team focused on all the elements of those programs. Conduct weekly team meetings of project team. Responsible for establishing the meeting agenda, conducting the meeting, publishing meeting minutes, and tracking follow up activities.
- Plan and track the creation of the design history documents for projects by the project teams.
- Facilitate best practices sharing and feedback to PMO management. Enhance department and organization reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests, and exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
Qualifications
Skill & Requirements:
- BS degree required (or equivalent experience). Advanced degree a plus.
- 4+ years of experience leading teams in medical device product development.
- 1+ year of additional experience leading engineering projects or managing subordinates
- 5+ years as a Strong project/program management, planning, decision making, negotiating and change management skills.
- Strong experience managing a small team of project/program managers and project coordinators, preferably in a regulated industry.
- Experience and skills working on products with a very high level of complexity including capital equipment and consumables. Must be able to work on products involving many engineering disciplines, including clinical, mechanical, electrical, and software.
- Experience in software process and development.
Nice to have:
- Must be a highly passionate individual who cares deeply about delivering improved surgical solutions to patients, and has a proven ability to coordinate the efforts of talented people.
- Ability and commitment to constantly develop new and better processes for product development.
- Passion for keeping abreast of and advancing the state of the art in program management, and for building that expertise within the company.
- An advocate and leader for program management at the company.
- Exceptional aptitude for cultivating collaboration across department boundaries and influence cross-functional teams without formal authority to insure project success.
- Proven success recognizing critical issues with the ability to react quickly under pressure, and drive issues to closure by providing coordinated direction. Creative in succeeding.
- A consistent high performer, a continual learner leading with emotional intelligence.
- Hands-on engineering manager with the proven ability to work well in a team environment
- Fluency in surgical terminology and knowledge of anatomy/surgery a plus.
- Excellent communication (written, verbal), presentation and documentation skills.
Travel:
Ability to travel up to 10%, international and domestic.
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.
Preference will be given to qualified candidates who do not reside, or plan to reside, in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, or Tennessee.
This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on
business need and/or on the selected candidate’s experience, knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidate’s qualifications, consistent with applicable law.
We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity. 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 experience, skills, and qualifications. The target compensation ranges are listed.
Base Compensation Range Region 1: $180.400 USD - $259.600 USD
Base Compensation Range Region 2: $153.300 USD - $220.700 USD
Shift: Day
Workplace Type: Onsite - This job is fully onsite.






