Lead Cytopathologist

Intuitive Surgical
San Carlos, CA, USA2026-04-16Full-time

About the job

As a Lead Cytopathologist, you will serve as a medical and scientific expert in the development of algorithmic pathology solutions. You will provide medical and scientific oversight for dataset curation, annotation strategy, and algorithm evaluation, ensuring that our products are clinically robust and aligned with real-world pathology practice. You will also help manage and train annotator teams to ensure quality, consistency, and scalability of labeled datasets. This role requires a board-certified pathologist with a deep understanding of cytopathology, rapid on site evaluation, and pathology workflows. Ability to work at our San Carlos, CA office is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide expert pathology guidance across product development initiatives

Work with a team of consultant pathologists to support annotation, validation, and research activities

Evaluate and annotate pathology images and data

Oversee pathology data quality, consistency, and interpretability across diverse datasets

Guide algorithm validation, ground truth curation, and performance evaluation from a clinical perspective

Contribute to product development roadmaps and clinical validation studies

Participate in scientific research, publications, and presentations

Represent pathology and clinical interests in cross-functional discussions

Qualifications

Minimum

Minimum Education: MD / DO, Board certification in pathology and fellowship training in cytopathology

5+ years of experience in clinical cytopathology and ROSE

Strong understanding of pathology workflows, sample preparation, and diagnostic criteria

Familiarity with digital pathology and ability to adapt to and learn new digital workflows

Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate clinical insight into actionable guidance for non-clinical and technical teams

Preferred

Prior experience in medical imaging annotation and digital pathology

Involvement in research or validation of AI-based pathology tools

Prior experience in diagnostics or healthcare technology

Publications or presentations in computational pathology or AI applications

Familiarity with ML/AI workflows and dataset curation

Experience with regulatory frameworks for medical data (FDA, CE, HIPAA)

Up to 20% travel