Senior Clinical Project Manager Jobs in California

Location: Sunnyvale, CA, United States

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 Project Manager, Clinical Affairs, plays a pivotal role in supporting Clinical Affairs activities by partnering with key functions and business units across the organization, including R&D, Regulatory Affairs (RA), Clinical Development Engineering, Quality, and Business Unit PMOs. This role brings disciplined structure, cross-functional coordination, and strategic oversight to high-priority clinical affairs initiatives. Responsibilities include providing project management support and cross-functional coordination—within Clinical Affairs and with enterprise stakeholders—through the planning and execution of clinical studies (e.g., FHUs and IDE studies) and coordinating Clinical Evaluations to support MDR and other global submissions. The Senior Project Manager is accountable for building and sustaining effective collaboration across stakeholders to ensure Clinical Affairs deliverables are completed successfully and on time.

An ideal candidate brings deep familiarity with medical device development lifecycle as well as clinical lifecycle management, providing tactical guidance for execution frameworks that translate Clinical Affairs objectives into actionable plans, including development roadmaps, governance forums, prioritization, and alignment with business units and other key stakeholders. The role also requires hands-on management of project risks, troubleshooting execution challenges, coordinating internal and external activities, and ensuring milestones are achieved on time and within scope. Examples include developing bottom-up schedules, identifying critical path activities, maintaining risk registers, and leading detailed project reviews to drive continuous improvement.

Additionally, this role supports development of Clinical Affairs tools and operating mechanisms, including project dashboards, capacity and resource planning, and other processes needed to improve visibility, planning, and execution across the function.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Project Planning & Oversight:

  • Lead project planning, initiation of Clinical Affairs activities across clinical studies and clinical dossier deliverables, ensuring alignment to program milestones and regulatory expectations.
  • Develop and maintain integrated project plans that define scope, timelines, dependencies, resourcing, and deliverables for key Clinical Affairs workstreams.
  • Partner with cross-functional teams (R&D, Regulatory, Business Units, Clinical Development Engineering, Quality, and PMO) to align dependencies to support Clinical Affairs deliverables to the broader product development lifecycle.
  • Track progress against milestones for clinical trials and global clinical dossier submissions (e.g., EU Clinical Evaluation Reports [CERs]), including metric reporting and portfolio status summaries.
  • Facilitate routine cross-functional meetings; provide clear status updates, document decisions, and capture/drive action items to closure.

• Clinical Affairs Internal Coordination:

  • Coordinate activities within clinical affairs with subfunctions such as clinical operation, Clinical Data Management, Biostatistics, and Medical Sciences to ensure timely, consistent execution of study and submission deliverables.
  • Create and maintain tracking tools (dashboards, action logs, and schedules) to monitor study/submission progress, highlight risks and dependencies, and support proactive decision-making.
  • Support budget and timeline adherence by identifying resource constraints early, escalating as needed, and driving mitigation plans with functional leads.

• Stakeholder Communication & Governance:

  • Develop and deliver clear, audience-appropriate communications (project updates, decisions, risks, and next steps) to Clinical Affairs leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Prepare executive-ready status materials (dashboards, RAG status, milestone summaries, and key metrics) and ensure reporting cadence is maintained.
  • Serve as the primary point of contact and liaison between Clinical Affairs and key collaborative functions as well as cross-functional working groups to drive alignment and resolve conflicts.
  • Facilitate governance forums and working sessions by setting agendas, capturing decisions, and driving alignment across functions and business units.
  • Manage escalation pathways by surfacing critical issues early, aligning recommended options, and coordinating timely resolution.
  • Maintain high-quality project documentation, including action logs, decision logs, meeting notes, and communication artifacts, to support traceability and continuity.
  • Proactively identify execution risks, issues, and gaps; develop mitigation plans; and escalate priority items to leadership with recommended options.
  • Promote consistency across multiple clinical projects/programs by applying standard project management practices (scope, schedule, risk/issue management, and change control as appropriate).
  • Drive continuous improvement of Clinical Affairs project management processes and best practices, with a focus on cross-functional collaboration and operational efficiency.

Qualifications

Skill/Job Requirements:

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field. Minimum of 5 years’ experience in clinical project management, with at least 3 years focused on medical device development.
• Experience acting as a liaison between clinical and technical/project management teams.
• Knowledgeable with all stages of clinical studies, design control process, product development lifecycle; including idea generation, concept development and testing, design, implementation, validation and transfer.
• Project Management: Advanced organizational, planning, and prioritization skills; proficiency with project management tools such as Smartsheet, MS Project, or equivalent and methodologies.
• Regulatory Acumen: Strong understanding of clinical research regulations and standards applicable to medical devices. Familiarity with global regulatory requirements (e.g., FDA, EU MDR, ISO 14155, ICH GCP).
• Certification in project management (PMP) desired.

Nice to Have Skills:

• Proven track record of successful cross-functional project leadership in a regulated environment.
• Leadership: Ability to inspire, influence, and drive teams toward common goals.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; adept at presenting complex information to diverse audiences.
• Problem Solving: Proactive in identifying issues and developing effective solutions.
• Collaboration: Experience working with multidisciplinary teams and external partners.
• Attention to Detail: Commitment to accuracy and quality in all deliverables.

Travel

Occasional travel may be required to meet with stakeholders.

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.

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.

Base Compensation Range Region 1: $150,500 USD - $216,500 USD

Base Compensation Range Region 2: $127,900 USD - $184,000 USD

Shift: Day

Workplace Type: Set Schedule - This job will be onsite weekly, the percentage of onsite work will be defined by the leader.