Machine Learning Engineer

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

The AI Research group within Intuitive Surgical has an immediate opening in Sunnyvale, CA for a Machine Learning Engineer with focus on physical AI systems, robotics simulation environments and end-to-end ML pipelines, contributing to new technology development for next-generation robot-assisted surgery platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and optimize scalable Simulation and RL infrastructure for training surgical robots in simulated environments, leveraging distributed systems for parallel processing and high-throughput simulations
• Optimize performance across the simulation stack, including distributed systems, Inference, and rendering, to ensure optimal usage of hardware resources and fast, efficient simulations
• Sim-to-Real Validation: Support efforts to reduce the sim-to-real gap through domain randomization, noise modelling, and physics-based constraints.
• Synthetic Data Generation: Develop simulation workflows to produce synthetic datasets for AI model training and validation.
• Designing large-scale data pipelines from multimodal robot sensor streams (vision, depth, proprioception, action logs)
• Running structured experimentation across architectures, datasets, and training strategies for physical AI systems
• Contribute to end-to-end learning pipelines from data collection → training → evaluation → real-world deployment
• Work with AI/ML engineers to integrate simulation outputs into training pipelines, especially for physics-informed models.
• Deliver high-quality, production-ready code in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
• Contribute to building new clinical datasets and data pipelines.
• Participate in integration of new ML/CV algorithms into existing and future robotic platforms.
• Collaborate with users and clinical advisors to iterate prototype designs based on feedback and performance.

Qualifications

Experience and Abilities

• Doctoral degree in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, or Master's degree with minimum (5) years industry experience developing robotics and machine learning applications.
• Strong background in ML infrastructure, including designing training pipelines, data orchestration, and deployment of RL models at scale
• Proficiency in GPU optimizations for either inference or rendering
• Proficiency in Python, with familairty in frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, or RL libraries, and a proven ability to write clean, scalable, and efficient code
• Ability to research, implement, and adapt cutting-edge techniques from academic and industry sources into practical, production-ready solutions for scalable RL in simulation
• Strong hands-on experience with Python (proficiency), C/C++ (proficiency), shell scripting
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal.
• Self-starter and able to work in a collaborative and results-oriented environment.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally (5-15%)
• Able to view live and recorded surgical procedures.

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.

Mandatory Notices

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.