Software Quality Engineering - CoE structure

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 Senior Software Quality Engineer serves as a technical quality leader providing independent quality oversight for Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), Software in Medical Device (SiMD), Digital Health, AI/ML-enabled products, and cloud-connected healthcare solutions. This role partners closely with Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Product Security, Regulatory Affairs, and Product Quality teams to drive quality by design throughout the software development lifecycle.

Unlike traditional quality roles focused primarily on documentation review and compliance activities, this position engages early in product development to identify technical risks, influence software quality practices, evaluate architecture decisions, promote testability, and strengthen software delivery processes while maintaining independent quality judgment.

The Senior Software Quality Engineer participates in requirements, architecture, design, verification, cybersecurity, and release readiness reviews as a technical quality partner. The role is responsible for ensuring software products are developed using sound engineering practices and comply with applicable regulatory, quality, cybersecurity, and risk management expectations.

This individual is expected to possess strong software engineering knowledge, a deep understanding of modern SDLC practices, and the ability to effectively challenge technical decisions through objective quality and risk-based assessment.

The Senior Software Quality Engineer serves as a technical quality partner and independent quality authority. The role actively participates in requirements, architecture, and design activities; however, ownership of engineering requirements, software architecture, implementation decisions, and design specifications remains with Engineering. The SW QE provides technical quality consultation, risk assessment, and independent oversight while maintaining objectivity for design control and release decisions.

E ssential Job Duties :

Technical Quality Leadership

Serve as the Product Quality representative for software-intensive products and provide independent quality oversight across the software development lifecycle.

Partner with software and systems engineering teams to drive quality-by-design principles early in product development.

Participate in architecture, design, and technical review activities to identify quality, reliability, maintainability, and cybersecurity risks before implementation.

Evaluate software development practices and ensure alignment with industry-recognized engineering and quality principles.

Promote shift-left quality practices that prevent defects rather than relying solely on downstream verification activities.

Software Development Lifecycle Oversight

Assess software lifecycle execution against IEC 62304, FDA Quality System requirements, ISO 13485, and applicable organizational procedures.

Review software requirements, design specifications, risk controls, traceability structures, verification strategies, and release evidence to ensure lifecycle integrity.

Provide quality consultation on software development methodologies including Agile, DevOps, CI/CD, iterative development, and hybrid lifecycle models.

Evaluate software engineering deliverables for quality, completeness, maintainability, testability, and technical risk.

Architecture & Design Quality

Participate in software architecture and design reviews as an independent quality and risk management partner.

Assess system designs for scalability, modularity, reliability, resilience, maintainability, and testability.

Review integration architectures, interface designs, cloud-connected systems, APIs, embedded systems, and software platforms for quality and compliance concerns.

Challenge technical assumptions and facilitate risk-based discussions regarding design decisions and implementation approaches.

DevOps, Configuration Management & Release Quality

Evaluate software configuration management practices including source control, branching strategies, build management, release management, and product traceability.

Assess CI/CD pipelines and automated quality gates for effectiveness and regulatory compliance.

Review software release readiness criteria, build reproducibility controls, deployment processes, and software integrity safeguards.

Provide oversight of software bill of materials (SBOM), software configuration baselines, and release governance activities.

Verification, Validation & Test Engineering

Assess software verification and validation strategies using risk-based and quality-focused approaches.

Evaluate automation frameworks, test coverage, traceability, defect trends, and verification effectiveness.

Promote development of automated testing solutions including unit, integration, system, API, performance, and end-to-end testing approaches.

Drive testability considerations during requirements and architecture phases.

Cybersecurity & Secure Development

Evaluate software cybersecurity risks throughout the product lifecycle.

Collaborate with Product Security and Cybersecurity teams to promote Secure SDLC practices.

Participate in threat modeling, security risk assessments, vulnerability reviews, and cybersecurity readiness activities.

Support compliance with FDA cybersecurity guidance, NIST frameworks, and industry best practices for secure medical device development.

AI/ML & Digital Health Quality

Support quality and regulatory oversight of AI/ML-enabled software solutions.

Assess AI lifecycle controls related to data quality, model validation, bias mitigation, transparency, and traceability.

Promote risk-based validation strategies for AI-enabled healthcare products.

Support adoption of emerging technologies while maintaining patient safety, product quality, and regulatory compliance.

Quality Systems & Continuous Improvement

Support development and continuous improvement of software quality processes and procedures.

Participate in CAPA investigations, root cause analysis, audits, inspections, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Develop and monitor software quality metrics that support risk-based decision making.

Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineering teams on software quality best practices.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Software Engineering Experience

Minimum 8 years of experience in software engineering, software quality engineering, software test engineering, systems engineering, or related software development disciplines.

Prior hands-on experience in software development, software testing, automation engineering, DevOps, systems engineering, or product development environments.

Demonstrated ability to understand and evaluate software implementations beyond document review activities.

Technical Competencies

Strong understanding of the complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) including requirements, architecture, design, implementation, verification, deployment, maintenance, and post-market support.

Working knowledge of software programming concepts and software development practices.

Ability to review and understand software code, architecture diagrams, interface designs, and technical implementation approaches.

Demonstrated ability to read, understand, and evaluate production software implementations, software architecture, and technical design decisions.

Ability to review source code, pull requests, automation frameworks, and CI/CD workflows to identify quality, reliability, maintainability, and compliance risks.

Experience working with software technologies such as C++, Python, C#, Java, JavaScript, or similar languages sufficient to assess implementation quality and technical risk.

The successful candidate can credibly engage with software engineers, understand software architecture and implementation decisions, review code and technical artifacts, identify technical quality risks, and independently influence software quality outcomes throughout the development lifecycle.

DevOps & Configuration Management

Experience with Git-based source control systems.

Understanding of modern software configuration management principles.

Experience with CI/CD technologies including Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or equivalent platforms.

Knowledge of software build systems, deployment pipelines, release management, and software traceability controls.

Test Automation & Quality Engineering

Experience evaluating or developing automated testing solutions.

Knowledge of software testing methodologies including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and performance testing.

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.

Accommodation & Accessibility Notice:

Intuitive is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance or an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please contact People Services at [email protected].

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.