Associate Mechanical Engineer

Rhoda AI; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Rhoda AI in Mountain View is seeking an entry-level Mechanical Engineer to work on the mono leg of our humanoid robot platform, the single load-bearing connection between base and torso.

You will design packaging for the leg actuator, shape structural cast parts, and implement thermal paths, while collaborating with experienced engineers to validate designs with tests.

This role offers hands-on hardware exposure, rapid iteration, and a path to growth in a fast-moving robotics company.

Qualifications

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.
• 0–2 years of mechanical design or hardware engineering experience.
• Proficiency with CAD software for part and assembly design.
• Solid grasp of statics, stress, stiffness, and heat transfer.
• Familiarity with manufacturing processes and hardware testing.
• Ability to follow engineering documentation practices.
• Willingness to learn from senior engineers in a fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and iterate on the packaging of the leg actuator to interface with requirements.
• Develop the structural cast parts geometry for stiffness and mass efficiency.
• Implement the thermal design and run thermal tests.
• Run structural analysis and correlate with physical tests.
• Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, and BOMs.
• Build test setups and prototypes and document results.
• Collaborate with mobile base, torso, actuation, and electrical teams.

Skills

CAD software

Mechanics fundamentals

Hands-on hardware

Design validation

Engineering documentation

Education

BS in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

CATIA

SolidWorks

Fusion 360

Onshape

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 an entry-level Mechanical Engineer to work on the mono leg of our humanoid robot platform — the single load-bearing structure connecting the mobile base to the torso. The mono leg carries the full weight and dynamic loads of the upper robot through a compact package built around structural cast parts and an actuator developed by our dedicated actuation team. You'll work under the supervision of the experienced engineers who own the leg architecture, taking real ownership of well-defined pieces within it: actuator packaging details, cast part design and iteration, and the thermal path from actuator to structure.

What You’ll Do

• Design and iterate on the packaging of the leg actuator — mounting hardware, spacers, alignment features, and cable exits — to interface requirements defined by senior engineers and the actuation team

• Develop the design of the leg’s structural cast parts under supervision: building CAD geometry for stiffness and mass efficiency, applying draft and wall-thickness rules, and incorporating vendor feedback on castability

• Implement the thermal design of the leg — conduction paths, thermal interface materials, and heat-sinking features — and run thermal tests to validate performance against limits set by the actuation and electrical teams

• Run structural analysis on leg components — static strength, stiffness, and basic fatigue checks — and correlate results against physical test with guidance from senior engineers

• Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, tolerance stacks, and BOMs to support design reviews and manufacturing handoffs

• Build test setups and prototypes, run structural, thermal, and durability tests, collect data, and document results

• Collaborate with the mobile base, torso, actuation, and electrical teams to keep your designs aligned with full-system requirements

What We’re Looking For

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related field

• 0–2 years of experience in mechanical design or hardware engineering (internships, co-ops, and serious project teams count)

• Proficiency with CAD software (Catia, SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, or similar) for part and assembly design

• Solid grasp of mechanics fundamentals — statics, stress, stiffness, and heat transfer — and the instinct to sanity-check designs with quick hand calculations

• Familiarity with common manufacturing processes — machining, casting, sheet metal, 3D printing — and how they inform design decisions

• Comfort working hands-on with hardware: assembling components, running tests, and troubleshooting physical systems

• Strong attention to detail and ability to follow and contribute to engineering documentation practices

• Eagerness to learn directly from senior engineers in a fast-moving environment and take feedback well through rapid design iterations

Nice to Have (But Not Required)

• Coursework or project experience with cast, molded, or otherwise tooled parts — anything where you had to design for a manufacturing process

• Exposure to FEA (structural or thermal) and correlating simple analyses to physical parts

• Experience on a robotics competition or engineering project team (FIRST, Formula SAE, Baja, university robotics)

• Hands-on experience with FDM or SLA 3D printing for functional prototypes

• Familiarity with GD&T and engineering drawing standards

• Personal projects that involved designing, building, and iterating on real mechanisms — we’d love to see them

Why This Role

• Grow fast under close supervision — you’ll get day-to-day mentorship from experienced engineers, real design ownership within a focused subsystem, and a fast track to becoming a strong structures engineer

• Join at a foundational moment and put your name on the structure that holds up a next-generation humanoid robot