Head of Talent
Rhoda AI
Location
Palo Alto
Employment Type
Full time
Department
Business
At Rhoda AI, we're building the full-stack foundation for the next generation of humanoid robots — from high-performance, software-defined hardware to the foundational models and video world models that control it. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling scenarios unseen in training. We work at the intersection of large-scale learning, robotics, and systems, with a research team that includes researchers from Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and beyond. We're not building a feature; we're building a new computing platform for physical work — and with over $400M raised, we're investing aggressively in the R&D, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make that a reality.
What You'll Do
Own the Recruiting Function
Lead end-to-end hiring across research, engineering, hardware, and operations
Manage and develop a small team of recruiters as the company scales
Build and maintain a high-quality candidate pipeline with rigorous bar-raising standards
Own offer strategy, closing, and candidate experience from first touch to day one
Compete for Top Research Talent
Develop and execute a talent strategy specifically targeting PhD researchers and ML scientists in robotics, CV, and foundation models
Design and host events — PhD mixers, research talks, lab visits — that position Rhoda as a destination for frontier researchers
Build relationships with top academic programs at Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, MIT, and others
Partner with research leadership to articulate what makes Rhoda's research environment compelling and differentiated
Drive Quality and Standards
Define and maintain a consistent hiring bar across all roles and functions
Build structured interview processes, rubrics, and feedback loops that reduce bias and improve signal
Serve as a quality check on candidates — pressure-test assessments and push back when the bar isn't met
Establish recruiting metrics and reporting to give leadership clear visibility into pipeline health and hiring velocity
Build the Employer Brand
Craft a compelling narrative about why top talent should choose Rhoda
Partner with marketing and leadership on presence at key conferences (NeurIPS, ICRA, RSS, CoRL, etc.)
Develop content and outreach strategies that make Rhoda visible and attractive to passive candidates
Leverage AI to Move Faster
Use AI-powered sourcing tools to identify and engage passive candidates at scale
Automate repetitive recruiting workflows — screening, scheduling, follow-ups, pipeline reporting — to free up time for high-signal human interactions
Build AI-assisted outreach sequences that feel personal, not automated
Continuously evaluate and adopt new tools that improve recruiter efficiency and candidate quality
Use data and AI-generated insights to identify pipeline gaps, drop-off points, and sourcing channel performance
Treat your recruiting stack as a product — always iterating, always optimizing
Build the Function
Inherit a lite foundation (Ashby) and build on top of it — this is a molding role, not a maintenance role
Establish recruiting processes, tooling, and workflows with an automation-first mindset
Create onboarding frameworks that set new hires up for success
Hire and develop the talent team as headcount grows
What We're Looking For
6–10+ years of experience in technical recruiting or talent leadership, with at least 2 years managing a team
Proven track record hiring world-class engineers and researchers in AI, ML, or robotics
Deep understanding of what top research talent cares about and how to speak their language
Operationally strong — you can run a tight process while keeping the candidate experience warm and genuine
Fluent with modern recruiting tools and AI-powered workflows; you're always looking for leverage
Entrepreneurial and agency-driven — you'll be building process, not following it, and you own your outcomes
Natural curiosity about technology; comfortable spending time with engineers and researchers and genuinely interested in what they're building
Creative and competitive — you have a point of view on how a Series A startup wins against the best-resourced organizations in the world
Nice to Have (But Not Required)
Experience recruiting PhDs or researchers from top academic programs
Existing network in the robotics, CV, or foundation model research community
Experience at a high-growth hardware or deep-tech startup
Familiarity with the humanoid robotics or embodied AI landscape
Why This Role
The intelligence of our robots is a direct function of the people we hire — this role sits at the center of that
Rare opportunity to build a talent function from scratch at a well-funded, technically ambitious company at the intersection of physical AI and humanoid robotics
Every great hire you make compounds — you'll see your work come alive in the researchers and engineers building the next generation of humanoid robots