Senior Mechanical Engineer- Robot Head

Senior Mechanical Engineer- Robot Head LocationMountain ViewEmployment TypeFull timeDepartmentHardwareCompensation$175K – $250KAt 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 DoOwn the mechanical architecture and packaging of the robot head, including cameras, speakers, microphones, and supporting electronics, within a tightly constrained envelopeDrive compatibility between the internal packaging and the industrial design surfaces, negotiating trade-offs between ID intent, sensor fields of view, thermal performance, and serviceabilityManage 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 actuationDesign 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 motionDefine 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 teamWork closely with the cladding team to define interfaces, attachment schemes, tolerances, and assembly sequences between the head structure and exterior claddingDrive finalization of sensor requirements with perception and systems teams — locking placement, alignment, thermal, and mounting specifications for cameras and other head-mounted sensorsCreate and maintain CAD models, drawings, tolerance stacks, and BOMs to support design reviews, prototyping, and manufacturing handoffsWhat We're Looking ForBS 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 similarDemonstrated experience packaging sensors, cameras, or dense electronics in tightly constrained, thermally challenging envelopesStrong command of mass properties analysis and the discipline to design to hard mass and CG budgetsExperience with precision optical or sensor mounting — alignment, boresight stability, and tolerance analysis for optical assembliesExpert-level proficiency with CAD software (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, or similar) for complex part and assembly designExperience collaborating with industrial design teams and translating ID surfaces into manufacturable, serviceable mechanical architecturesDeep familiarity with manufacturing processes — machining, injection molding, die casting, sheet metal, 3D printing — and design-for-manufacture principlesComfort working hands-on...