Sr. AI & Automation Engineer, Robotics

About the Team
The Future Forward organization is Intuitives advanced concepts group. We explore emerging
technologies prototype next-generation solutions and build software experiences that shape
the future of robotic-assisted surgery. Our research team is building advanced augmented
dexterity capabilities for next-generation robotic platforms.

The Role
Our researchers should spend their time on ideas not on the manual work required to turn
those ideas into results on real robots.

As a Senior AI & Automation Engineer you will build the AI tools automation systems
integrations and evaluation capabilities that help researchers and engineers train test and
evaluate models faster and make better decisions. Youll leverage existing AI technologies while
developing new solutions from agent-driven workflows and AI tooling to the APIs services and
automation frameworks that support engineering and research activities.

That could mean agents that set up and run experiments automation workflows that accelerate
testing and evaluation or tools that sort through logs and video to help teams understand
failures and improve outcomes. Its a hands-on engineering role that uses AI to improve how
physical AI systems are trained and tested. Youll automate that work; you wont design the
models themselves. Youll work closely with ML researchers simulation engineers and robotics
engineers.

What Youll Do
Build and integrate AI tools APIs and agent workflows that automate engineering and
research work across the team.
Automate the training and fine-tuning workflow from setting up experiments to
launching tracking and comparing runs so researchers can reproduce results without
hand-built scripts.
Build automation and integration workflows that help researchers and engineers
evaluate new ideas in simulation and on real robots quickly reliably and at scale.
Design evaluations and experiments that show with statistical confidence whether a
change is a real improvement.
Build logging analysis and debugging tools that help the team understand results and
failures and that turn robot sessions into data the team can train on.
Make what you build reliable secure and safe to run with human approval where it
matters and responsible use of AI throughout.
Evaluate emerging AI tools models and technologies and bring in the ones that deliver
measurable impact.
Measure the impact of what you build document it clearly and make successful tools
part of how the team operates.

Qualifications :

What You Bring
We care more about real depth in a few of these areas than shallow coverage of all of them.
Hands-on work with real robots. Youve built testing automation or evaluation
systems that ran on real robot hardware or other physical systems via software
interfaces not only in the cloud or in simulation.
AI and automation youve built and put into daily use. Youve built LLM-agent
workflows AI tool integrations copilots or automation pipelines for real engineering
work and measured whether they helped. Be ready to walk us through one: what it did
where it failed and what you changed.
Evaluation and experimental rigor. You know how to design experiments and
understand the statistics needed to determine whether an improvement is real.
Strong software engineering. You have 5 years of software engineering experience.

You write production-quality Python can read C and are comfortable with Linux
CI/CD Docker containerized services APIs and distributed systems.

Strong candidates often come from robotics autonomous systems physical AI or robot-
learning research and have applied AI tooling to real hardware. Youre comfortable working
across disciplines in a fast-moving research environment and can explain trade-offs clearly to
researchers and engineers alike.

If you dont check every box we still want to hear from you.

Education
BS MS or PhD in Computer Science Robotics Electrical Engineering Mechanical
Engineering or a related technical field.
Advanced degree (MS or PhD) preferred.
Bonus Points
None of these are required. Theyre signals not gates and any one of them is a nice plus.
Robotics simulation such as NVIDIA Isaac Sim/Lab or MuJoCo
Evaluating AI/ML robotics or robot-learning systems
Surgical or medical robotics including da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) systems
ROS 2 or other robot middleware
Agent frameworks tool integrations or MCP servers adopted by engineering teams
AI assistants copilots or productivity tools built for engineers or researchers
AI applied to scientific engineering or research workflows

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.

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 employeeswho 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 governments 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 employeesstart 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 candidates experience knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidates 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

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.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time