Staff Software Build Engineer at Intuitive
Sunnyvale, CA
—
Jul 12, 2026
Sunnyvale, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A hands-on staff-level engineering role focused on designing, building, and operating a unified build system across robotic surgery software platforms. The work centers on Bazel-based infrastructure for large-scale C/C++ and embedded codebases — including remote caching, remote execution, CI pipelines, and developer tooling — written primarily in Rust, C/C++, and Python. Suits a seasoned engineer comfortable with deep technical ownership in safety-critical environments.
Staff level · 10+ years · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Full-time
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 50 people in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 10–70
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is explicitly titled 'Staff Software Engineer' and the JD describes cross-team technical leadership and org-wide build architecture ownership, which genuinely supports the Staff band — not merely a long-tenure Senior.
The SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role writes production code (Rust, C/C++, Python) and builds tooling (15-1252), but a significant portion of the work involves operating and integrating build infrastructure, which has some overlap with 15-1244. The primary day-to-day output is code and tooling, so 15-1252 wins.
No compensation figures were included in the posting text despite a reference to 'target compensation ranges are listed' — likely truncated. No comp fields could be populated.
Location is inferred as Intuitive Surgical's headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CBSA). The posting notes a preference against candidates residing in certain states, suggesting the role is primarily on-site or hybrid rather than fully remote.
An advanced degree (Master's or PhD) is listed under Preferred Skills only.
Experience supporting safety-critical or regulated software systems is listed under Preferred Skills — not a hard gate despite the medical device context of the company.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Bazel Remote Build Execution.
Read the full posting
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