Data Engineer (ML Platform & Data Foundations) at Intuitive · San…

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.

Primary Function of Position

We are looking for a Data Engineer to build and own the data foundations that power machine learning and analytics, with a strong focus on image or and video data. This role is focused on designing pipelines to ingest, process, and organize large-scale visual datasets for machine learning applications .

You will work closely with ML scientists, data scientists, and software engineers to ensure data is reliable, discoverable, and production ready.

What Success Would Look Like:

• ML scientists can easily access trusted, well-organized image and video datasets-documented data
• Data pipelines are reliable, observable, and scalable
• Data quality issues are detected early and resolved quickly
• The data platform accelerates ML development and deployment

Essential Job Duties

• Data Platform & Pipelines
  • Build and maintain data pipelines for image and video datasets used by ML models
  • Handle visual data ingestion, processing, validation and storage across system
  • Extract and organize large media files and related metadata
  • Optimize data systems for performance and reliability including handling large binary data
  • Debug and fix issues in data pipelines and datasets
• Data Organization & Quality
  • Organize datasets so they can be reliably used for model training and evaluation
  • Define and maintain schemas, metadata, and data documentation
  • Implement data quality checks, validation frameworks, and monitoring
  • Support data versioning, lineage, and reproducibility across evolving datasets
• ML Enablement
  • Partner closely with ML scientists to understand data requirements
  • Prepare and maintain datasets used for training and testing models
  • Support ML workflows by ensuring consistent, high-quality data inputs
  • Enable smooth handoff from experimentation to production
• Collaboration & Standards
  • Collaborate with product, analytics, and engineering teams to align data solutions with business needs
  • Establish best practices for data modeling, pipeline design, and governance
  • Contribute to architectural decisions for data and ML platforms

Required Skills and Experience

• 3+ years of experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar role, primarily working with image or video data
• Strong proficiency in Python
• Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS or GCP)
• Experience in Docker and Linux

Required Education and Training

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Advanced degree or relevant certifications are a plus, but not required

Working Conditions

None

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.