Senior Mechanical Engineer- Robot Head

Job description

At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality. We're looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to own the head of our humanoid robot platform. The head is one of the most constrained and cross-functional subsystems on the robot — it packages cameras, speakers, and sensors into a tight envelope that must satisfy industrial design intent, thermal and structural requirements, and strict mass and center-of-gravity targets driven by the neck it sits on. You'll drive the head's internal architecture, work shoulder-to-shoulder with perception, industrial design, and cladding teams, and coordinate closely with the neck team on the interface that carries everything. This is a high-ownership role where your decisions define what our robot sees, hears, and looks like. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Own the mechanical architecture and packaging of the robot head, including cameras, speakers, microphones, and supporting electronics, within a tightly constrained envelope - Drive compatibility between the internal packaging and the industrial design surfaces, negotiating trade-offs between ID intent, sensor fields of view, thermal performance, and serviceability - Manage the head's mass properties — minimizing mass and controlling center-of-gravity location to meet targets defined with the neck team, so the head can move responsively without oversizing the neck actuation - Design stiff, stable sensor mounting — camera alignment, boresight retention through thermal and dynamic loading, and structural paths that keep image quality high while the head is in motion - Define and own the mechanical interface to the neck — the structural mount, alignment and registration features, electrical pass-through, and serviceability scheme — driving this interface to closure with the neck team - Work closely with the cladding team to define interfaces, attachment schemes, tolerances, and assembly sequences between the head structure and exterior cladding - Drive finalization of sensor requirements with perception and systems teams — locking placement, alignment, thermal, and mounting specifications for cameras and other head-mounted sensors - Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, tolerance stacks, and BOMs to support design reviews, prototyping, and manufacturing handoffs WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - BS in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related field (MS preferred) - 5+ years of experience in mechanical design of complex electromechanical products — robotics, consumer electronics, camera systems, or similar - Demonstrated experience packaging sensors, cameras, or dense electronics in tightly constrained, thermally challenging envelopes - Strong command of mass properties analysis and the discipline to design to hard mass and CG budgets - Experience with precision optical or sensor mounting — alignment, boresight stability, and tolerance analysis for optical assemblies - Expert-level proficiency with CAD software (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, or similar) for complex part and assembly design - Experience collaborating with industrial design teams and translating ID surfaces into manufacturable, serviceable mechanical architectures - Deep familiarity with manufacturing processes — machining, injection molding, die casting, sheet metal, 3D printing — and design-for-manufacture principles - Comfort working hands-on with hardware: building prototypes, running tests, and troubleshooting physical systems - Strong communication skills and the ability to drive requirements to closure across mechanical, electrical, software, and design disciplines NICE TO HAVE (BUT NOT REQUIRED) - Experience packaging camera modules or vision systems in consumer electronics, AR/VR headsets, drones, or robotics - Background in acoustic design — speaker enclosures, microphone placement, or noise/vibration mitigation - Familiarity with thermal design and simulation for sealed or semi-sealed electronics enclosures - Experience designing to industrial design intent on consumer-facing products - Experience defining sensor requirements alongside perception or computer vision teams - Working knowledge of GD&T (ASME Y14.5) applied to optical and precision mechanical assemblies - Experience taking a subsystem from concept through DVT/PVT into production WHY THIS ROLE - Own the face of the robot — the head is what people look at and interact with, and you'll own everything inside it, from sensor packaging through ID integration - Work at the intersection of perception and industrial design — few mechanical roles demand optical packaging, acoustics, thermals, and aesthetic collaboration in one tightly constrained envelope - Join at a foundational moment and make the decisions that define the physical identity of a next-generation humanoid robot