Senior Interaction Visual Designer

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

The Senior Visual/Interaction Designer, Ion Design System will own the visual language and design-system for Intuitive’s Ion products. This role will define, evolve, and protect the visual structure, hierarchy, components, layouts, and patterns that support clear and consistent experiences across Ion’s clinical workflows and product touchpoints, including the PlanPoint laptop and robotic experience.

Working closely with Interaction Designers, Engineers, Product Managers, Clinical partners, and other stakeholders, you will translate shared company design-system foundations into product-specific solutions for clinical environments, touchscreens, procedural workflows, and other specialized interfaces.

You will establish reusable visual patterns and components, guide their application across product areas, and ensure that designs are cohesive, accessible, technically feasible, and ready for implementation. You will also help identify opportunities to extend or improve the the design system based on the needs of the Ion product.

As a senior individual contributor, you will bring strong visual design judgment, influence design direction, resolve complex and ambiguous problems, and raise the quality and consistency of design across the team. You will contribute to design critiques, provide mentorship and feedback, and help establish a durable visual design practice for Ion.

This is a full-time position based in Sunnyvale, CA.

Roles & Responsibilities

About You

• You have a strong eye for visual quality, consistency, hierarchy, and craft.
• You take ownership of complex work and are comfortable navigating ambiguity.
• You are organized, thoughtful, and motivated by creating clear, scalable design solutions.
• You communicate effectively and collaborate well with Design, Engineering, Product, Clinical, and Human Factors partners.
• You balance visual quality, usability, accessibility, technical feasibility, and product constraints.
• You value systems thinking and are motivated to prevent inconsistency and design or technical debt.

What You’ll Do

• Collaborate with Interaction Designers to develop clear, polished interfaces for Intuitive’s robotic surgical systems.
• Define and maintain visual rules, patterns, and conventions for the Ion product.
• Build and maintain Figma component libraries, including components, states, variants, and responsive behaviors.
• Create production-ready Figma files and specifications for Engineering.
• Partner with Engineers throughout implementation and conduct visual QA.
• Design across screen sizes and support localization, translation, and consistent implementation.
• Contribute to the continued evolution of the Ion Design System and mentor other designers.

Qualifications

Skills, Experience, Education & Training

• Bachelor’s degree in Visual Design, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline preferred. Equivalent experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of professional experience in visual design, product design, production design, design systems, or a related discipline.
• Advanced Figma expertise, including component libraries, variables, component properties, conditions, variants, and auto layout.
• Strong visual design skills and experience creating detailed specifications for engineering implementation.
• Experience designing responsive interfaces, working directly with Engineers, and conducting visual QA.
• Experience designing for technically complex products is preferred; experience with QML, medical devices, robotics, or other safety-critical products is a plus.

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).

…