Staff Engineer - Value Engineering
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.
About the role
The Staff Value Engineer is a senior technical leader responsible for working cross-functionally to identify, develop, and implement enterprise-wide value engineering processes and tools. This role will also act as a subject matter resource to facilitate value engineering activities, driving cost savings and maximizing value across the full product lifecycle through collaborative, cross-functional solutions for cost, quality, and scale.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement Value Engineering processes and embed them into Intuitive’s broader business practices, such as the Product Development Process (PDP). Standardize and incorporate best practices to improve product cost, quality, and scale.
- Collaboratively lead the identification, assessment, recommendation, and implementation of Value Engineering tools (e.g., Should Cost modeling, Design For Manufacturing) to be integrated into Intuitive’s broader business practices.
- Serve as a subject matter resource on value engineering methodologies (FAST, Should Cost, DFx, etc.) and facilitate Value Engineering workshops as required.
- Develop training to support embedding the value engineering capability and mindset within the extended enterprise.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and drive systemic Value Engineering opportunities into focused actions for released and new products.
- Influence supplier technology roadmaps to ensure Intuitive system and instrument technical requirements are met.
- Define criteria and guidelines for design for manufacturing based on process and best practices for qualifying components.
Requirements
- Knowledge of value engineering and/or value analysis processes and tools.
- Product design and analysis skills, including the ability to interpret detailed drawings and execute tolerance stack-ups for assemblies.
- Familiarity with common manufacturing processes for both low- and high-volume components and assemblies.
- Strong technical skills in problem-solving, DFM, and should-cost/could-cost analysis.
- Demonstrated knowledge of component manufacturing processes in the medical device industry (e.g., injection molding, stamping, machining).
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with excellent interpersonal abilities.
- Experience training and/or facilitating value engineering workshops is a plus.
- Familiarity with medical device design, control, and validation regulatory requirements is a plus.
Qualifications
- BS degree in Engineering with 12+ years of experience, or a Master’s degree with 8+ years, or a PhD with 5+ years in design engineering, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or supplier engineering, preferably in the medical device industry.
- Certified Value Methodology Associate or Value Specialist preferred.
Working Conditions
- On-site in Sunnyvale, CA.
- Ability to travel to suppliers, domestic and international, up to 20% of the time.
Pay
Base Salary Range:
- Region 1: $186,300 - $268,100
- Region 2: $158,400 - $227,900
Compensation will be based on job level, candidate qualifications, experience, skills, and applicable law. Market-competitive packages include base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity.