Intuitive Surgical
Staff Embedded Software Engineer, Platform Networking
Intuitive Surgical is hiring a Staff Embedded Software Engineer, Platform Networking in Sunnyvale, CA, United States. Posted September 4, 2026.
Job at a glance
- Company
- Intuitive Surgical
- Location
- Sunnyvale, CA, United States
- Workplace
- On-site
- Sector
- Engineering & Technology
- Posted
- September 4, 2026
About the job
Job Description
The Embedded Platform Software team designs and builds the foundational software infrastructure for next-generation surgical robotic systems. We are looking for a high-energy, talented Senior Software Engineer to join the Embedded Networking Software team, within the Multiport Platform Software group.
We are a small group that works in a focused, high-energy environment working on New Product Development. We believe in applying first principles thinking, data driven decision making, continuous learning, and systematic planning to deliver results and achieve our goals.
· Are you passionate about technology?
· Do you want to have a direct impact on helping people live better lives?
· Are you interested in the medical applications of robotics?
· Do you like to build complex distributed systems?
· Does working in a multidisciplinary, systems-oriented design team sound exciting?
Your Role
You will be a technical leader on the team developing our flagship product, dV5. The team's focus is to enhance and extend the dV5 robotic embedded network across all 7 Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layers and apply that deep understanding to new surgical robotic systems. You will own the architecture, set the multi-year technical direction, and grow the engineers around you.
Your Responsibilities
In your first year in this role, you will:
· Design, develop, and deliver features, own some architectures across the embedded network stack and help define the technical roadmap across:
· Reliability, including redundancy and fault tolerance strategies
· Performance architecture for growing data transfer needs: low latency switching, traffic shaping, queue management
· A distributed publish/subscribe messaging framework built on DDS-style middleware
· Layer 5 Session APIs for seamless disconnect and reconnect of services and network nodes
· Set the technical direction and standards for Layer 2/Layer 3 software, Ethernet MAC and PHY drivers, and deterministic real-time paths for safety critical data, applying queueing theory
· Lead design and code reviews, mentor senior and mid-level engineers, and raise the bar on design quality and debugging rigor while staying hands-on in the highest-risk code
· Serve as the technical authority on hardware integration, and lead escalations on the hardest hardware-software networking failures (JTAG, GDB, protocol analyzers)
· Drive alignment across cross functional teams such as Application Development, Algorithms, FPGA, Electrical, Clinical, and Manufacturing to negotiate requirements and resolve architectural tradeoffs
· Influence build-versus-buy, vendor silicon, and middleware selection, and make the case for investments that retire technical debt