University & Early Talent Recruiter

Foundry Robotics; Emeryville, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Generous PTO

Job summary

Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics contract manufacturer based in Emeryville, CA. This role leads the intern, new-grad and apprenticeship programs, building a measurable loop from school sourcing to alumni outcomes.

You will design practical intern projects, expand partnerships with universities and competition teams, and map a credible apprenticeship path with manufacturing leads. Travel across the US is expected.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in university or early-talent recruiting.
• You have run a program with a defined loop and measurable conversion.
• You know the collegiate engineering competition ecosystem.
• You build durable relationships with faculty, club leads, and career services.
• You have designed an intern project that produced real work signals.
• You have traveled to build an employer brand across the US.

Responsibilities

• Own the intern, new-grad, and apprenticeship programs end to end.
• Design intern projects that yield genuine signal and assessable outcomes.
• Develop school strategy beyond core engineering programs.
• Build the apprenticeship pathway with manufacturing leads.
• Reverse engineer where great candidates come from and track talent sources.

Skills

University recruiting

Early talent programs

Engineering-focused

Relationship building

Job description

About Us

Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically, we're building robots that build robots. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. As a founding member of our team, you will have a direct and significant impact on our product, culture, and ultimate success. This role is based in our Emeryville, CA office, but travel is required for this role.

The Role

The supply of experienced robotics talent is finite and every company in this category is calling the same people. Our durable edge has to be that we are great at discovering the undiscovered — and early talent is the highest-leverage version of that. The best mechanical engineer we hire in 2029 is twenty years old right now, rebuilding a Formula SAE suspension in a university garage at 2am.

We already run interns. What we do not have is a program: a defined loop, projects that produce real signal, trained mentors, and a conversion rate we can predict. This role exists to build that, and to make a Foundry internship the best engineering summer in the country.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the intern, new-grad, and apprenticeship programs end to end: school strategy, sourcing, the loop, project design, mentorship, conversion, and alumni relationships.

• Build a school strategy wider than the obvious top-ten ME, EE, CS, etcs programs — state schools, community college mechatronics and technical programs, and the competition teams (Formula SAE, Baja, FIRST, RoboMaster, rocketry) where people self-select into hard hands-on work.

• Design intern projects that produce genuine signal on a specific competency and work we actually needed done. Project-based assessment is the most honest interview there is.

• Build the shop-floor apprenticeship pathway with the Volume Recruiter and manufacturing leads — a credible way in for people without a four-year degree.

• Reverse engineer where great people have come from, be the data master of the undiscovered gold mines of talent and potential

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years in university or early-talent recruiting, ideally engineering-heavy.

• You have run a program, not just worked career fairs. You can describe the loop you designed and the conversion rate it produced.

• You know the collegiate engineering competition ecosystem, and why a strong FSAE member is often a better signal than a strong GPA.

• You build durable relationships with faculty, club leads, and career services that survive you changing jobs.

• You have designed an intern project that produced both real work and real assessment signal.

• Your best hire came from a school nobody on the panel had heard of.

Nice to Have (Not Required)

• Apprenticeship or non-degree pathway program design.

• Early-career hiring into ITAR-controlled programs, including the eligibility constraints.

• Robotics, aerospace, defense, or another hardware-rich industry.

• Experience using Ashby

Straight Talk About this Role

We practice ethical hiring

• Your cycle is the academic calendar and it does not flex. The season is intense and you cannot move it.

• The engineers whose time you need are the busiest people here, and every hour you ask for is an hour off the build.

• You are able and willing to travel across the US to build our employer brand and talk about our mission

Why Join Us?

This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers, and software engineers sit in the same room — building production systems together.

We are committed to being deeply embedded in the U.S. industrial base. Our focus is simple: build adaptive robotic assembly systems that make American manufacturing scalable, resilient, and competitive again.

If you want to run a mature, well-defined commercial org, this may not be the role.

If you want to build the commercial engine that brings AI-driven manufacturing to every industrial and energy customer in America — this is it.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of Emeryville is: $115,000 to $145,000 USD

Compensation packages at Foundry Robotics for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Foundry Robotics employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, and generous PTO.

Foundry Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.