Senior Design Engineer- Actuators for Generalist Intelligent Robots

Senior Design Engineer- Actuators for Generalist Intelligent Robots LocationMountain ViewEmployment TypeFull timeDepartmentHardwareAt 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.What to ExpectAs a Design Engineer, you will own the mechanical design of the actuators that move our robots — motors, gear trains, and housings — from concept through prototype through production. Actuators are the dense, highly-loaded subsystems where electromagnetics, structural mechanics, tribology, and thermal management all converge inside a few cubic centimeters. Every gram, every micron of tolerance, and every interface decision compounds across dozens of joints.In this role, you are the architect of your components. You translate system-level targets into manufacturable hardware, working hand-in-hand with modeling and test engineers to make sure the parts you draw are sized correctly, behave as predicted, and survive the duty cycles our robots see in the real world.We operate as T-shaped engineers. You must be a strong generalist across electromechanical hardware, but your superpower for this role is rigorous mechanical design — CAD, GD&T, tolerance stacks, and DfM — for precision rotating machinery.What You'll DoEnd-to-End Component Ownership: Own the mechanical design of motors, gear trains, and actuator housings from concept through mass production. You're accountable for performance, manufacturability, cost, and reliability of the components you draw.Detailed Design & CAD: Produce high-fidelity 3D CAD models and 2D engineering drawings with comprehensive GD&T and datum strategies. Design for assembly, design for manufacturing, and design for the inspection methods your suppliers actually have.Tolerance & Interface Management: Perform dimensional stack-up analysis on critical-to-function interfaces — air gaps, gear meshes, bearing fits, preload paths. Define and defend the tolerances that matter and open up the ones that don't.Supplier Coordination: Work directly with suppliers to ensure prompt delivery of parts. Run RFQs, technical feasibility reviews, and troubleshoot manufacturing issues during prototype and production builds. Build the kind of supplier relationships that get you parts on time when things go sideways.Test Plan Definition: Partner with modeling and test engineers to define test plans for optimization and durability of your components — characterization runs, life tests, environmental tests, and the failure-mode-specific tests that catch the issues a generic protocol misses.Characterization Support: Provide the mechanical engineering support required during actuator characterization — fixtures, instrumentation interfaces, teardown analysis, and the iterative design changes that come out of test data.Design Iteration from Data: Close the loop between test results, model predictions, and your CAD. When a part fails or a model says it shouldn't have, you're the one who figures out why and what to change.Cross-Functional Integration: Work closely with modeling, test, electronics, controls, and systems engineers. Your components live inside a larger robot, and the best mechanical design in the world doesn't matter if it doesn't integrate.What You'll BringEducation: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field.Experience: 5+ years of mechanical design experience, including at least one full-cycle product launch of...