Senior Design Engineer- Actuators for Generalist Intelligent Robots

About the role

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.

Responsibilities

• Own the mechanical design of motors, gear trains, and actuator housings from concept through mass production.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field.
• 5+ years of mechanical design experience, including at least one full-cycle product launch of precision electromechanical hardware.
• Experience in robotics, automotive electrification, aerospace actuation, or industrial servo.
• Strong grasp of machine design fundamentals — bearing selection and preload, gear sizing and tolerance, shaft design, fits and finishes, fastener engineering, and the mechanics of rotating assemblies.
• Deep proficiency in CAD (CATIA preferred) and the ability to define datum strategies and tolerances from concept through production. You think in GD&T natively and use it as a design driver, not as decoration added at the end.
• Comfort interpreting FEA (structural, modal, thermal) to iterate designs, and the judgment to know when a hand calculation is enough and when you need the simulation.
• Exceptional organizational skills, first-principles thinking, and the ability to push parts through suppliers under tight timelines without dropping quality.
• Hands-on experience designing or integrating harmonic drives, cycloidal drives, or precision planetary gearboxes.
• Familiarity with manufacturer catalog selection (ratings, lubrication, mounting) and the failure modes that aren't in the datasheet.
• Experience with PMSM/BLDC motor mechanical design — stator and rotor stack-ups, magnet retention, air gap control, bearing arrangements, and thermal paths.
• Knowledge of precision machining, MIM, die casting, gear cutting/grinding, or heat treatment, and the supplier base for each.
• Familiarity with B-life specification, fatigue analysis, and Weibull-based life testing for wear-out components.
• Prior experience designing actuators for legged robots, manipulators, EVs, or other high-cycle electromechanical systems.
• Background spanning both Design Engineering and Manufacturing/Quality Engineering.

Qualifications

• Exceptional organizational skills, first-principles thinking, and the ability to push parts through suppliers under tight timelines without dropping quality.

Skills

• Strong grasp of machine design fundamentals — bearing selection and preload, gear sizing and tolerance, shaft design, fits and finishes, fastener engineering, and the mechanics of rotating assemblies.
• Deep proficiency in CAD (CATIA preferred) and the ability to define datum strategies and tolerances from concept through production. You think in GD&T natively and use it as a design driver, not as decoration added at the end.
• Comfort interpreting FEA (structural, modal, thermal) to iterate designs, and the judgment to know when a hand calculation is enough and when you need the simulation.
• Hands-on experience designing or integrating harmonic drives, cycloidal drives, or precision planetary gearboxes.
• Experience with PMSM/BLDC motor mechanical design — stator and rotor stack-ups, magnet retention, air gap control, bearing arrangements, and thermal paths.
• Knowledge of precision machining, MIM, die casting, gear cutting/grinding, or heat treatment, and the supplier base for each.
• Familiarity with B-life specification, fatigue analysis, and Weibull-based life testing for wear-out components.
• Prior experience designing actuators for legged robots, manipulators, EVs, or other high-cycle electromechanical systems.
• Background spanning both Design Engineering and Manufacturing/Quality Engineering.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package.
• Flexible work schedule.
• Opportunities for professional growth and development.
• Collaborative and inclusive workplace culture.

Pay

Competitive compensation package.

Schedule

Flexible work schedule.