---
title: 'Field Robotics Deployment Lead at Rhoda AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/field-robotics-deployment-lead-rhoda-ai-mountain-view-v91gfb5byq4a'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-16'
---

# Field Robotics Deployment Lead at Rhoda AI

- **Company:** Rhoda AI
- **Location:** Mountain View, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-09-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/rhoda-ai/a2c69c72-78e9-404e-ab89-e10ce03224a1

## 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. Field Deployment Lead (US)

Heavy travel: international rotation to Germany for the first assignment (October 2026 through January 2027), then US customer sites at 50%+ with multi-week on-site blocks during production ramps. Open to remote start given the amount of travel. Start: as soon as possible, target October 2026.

## The Role

As Rhoda's Field Deployment Lead for the US, you will own the end-to-end execution of robot deployments: site preparation and installation through commissioning, Site Acceptance Test (SAT) sign-off, and transition to steady-state operations run from our Remote Operations Center (ROC). You will also support and travel to other geographies outside of the US, including Europe (principally Germany to start) and Asia. You will build and own the initial operational framework that keeps deployed robots running: the runbooks, operator training, escalation procedures, spare parts management, and the roster of contract operators and Tier 2 service partners at each site. This is not a traditional reactive field service role. Your focus is deployment quality and operational continuity: building systems that prevent emergencies, and managing service partners for hardware interventions beyond operator scope. You will work closely with the Application Engineering team on technical setup, with the ROC on shift handover and remote support, and with HQ Engineering on configuration and maintenance planning. During the initial production ramp at each new site, you will be on-site covering the day shift alongside contract operators to build firsthand understanding of the system in production, before transitioning to a supervisory, multi-site role as operations mature.

## What You'll Do

Deployment Execution

- Own site preparation, robot installation, system integration, and commissioning at new customer sites in logistics and manufacturing.
- Own on-site technical troubleshooting during commissioning and bring-up for the robots as well as integrated systems (Safety PLCs and Sensors, Conveyors, etc.)
- Lead Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) and SAT sign-off with customer technical teams; ensure systems meet production-readiness criteria before handover to steady-state operations.
- Coordinate deployment timelines with Application Engineering, Development Engineering, and the remote support teams. Manage site-specific dependencies, permits, EHS requirements, and risks.
- Document configurations, integration decisions, and site-specific adaptations for each deployment.

Operational Framework

- Design and implement the operational runbook for each deployed site: error response procedures, escalation paths, consumables management, shift handover standards, etc. For eventual handover to customer success teams.
- Train and onboard contract operators at each site; set quality and documentation standards; ensure consistent execution across shifts.
- Manage any local service partner: define scope and SLA, oversee training on Rhoda hardware, manage the callout process.
- Capture field learnings systematically (failure modes, edge cases, near-misses) and feed structured insights to Application and Developmental Engineering teams as well as Customer Success and remote support teams.
- Develop Maintenance procedures, Preventative Maintenance schedules, and fine-tune spares Bill Of Materials and storage process.

## What We're Looking For

Must-Have

- Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on industrial experience.
- 5+ years of hands-on experience in industrial robotics or industrial automation deployment, commissioning, or field engineering.
- Hands-on electro-mechanical troubleshooting skills: confident with a multimeter and oscilloscope, and working with VFDs, PLCs, sensors, actuators, and wiring in an industrial environment.
- Proven track record executing FAT/SAT processes and commissioning robotic or automation systems at industrial customer sites.
- Linux command-line proficiency; comfortable reading Python scripts and shell commands; basic Docker/container operations.
- ROS or ROS2 experience, or an equivalent industrial automation background with genuine willingness to learn ROS2 quickly.
- Strong documentation habits: you write runbooks, SOPs, and handover documents that others can follow without asking you.
- Available to start in October 2026, or within a few weeks of offer.
- Valid passport and ability to travel internationally, and support extended on-site rotation (up to 2 weeks at a time).
- Valid US driver's license and ability to travel domestically 70% or more, including multi-week on-site blocks.
- Authorized to work in the United States.

Nice-to-Have

- Prior experience deploying or commissioning robots at US automotive OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, agricultural or heavy-equipment manufacturers, or logistics operators.
- Familiarity with ANSI/RIA R15.06, ISO 10218, ISO/TS 15066, OSHA machine-guarding requirements, and lockout/tagout programs.
- Experience with Flexiv Rizon arms, ZED cameras, or comparable industrial robot platforms.
- Background writing and maintaining operational SOPs and field playbooks.
- Experience training non-technical operators on robotic or automated production equipment.
- Experience managing contractors or external service partners.
- Experience managing multi-site field operations or working alongside a remote operations center.
- Experience with teleoperated or learning-based robot systems, including data collection on production lines.

## About Rhoda AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Rhoda AI builds robot foundation models that learn from internet-scale video to enable manipulation-capable robots to generalize in real-world industrial environments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed + Series A; $680M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, CA, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Jagdeep Singh (CEO), Eric Chan (Chief Scientist), Changan Chen (Chief Research Officer), Andrew Wooten, Gordon Wetzstein (Scientific Advisor) [rhoda.ai/team](https://www.rhoda.ai/team)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Hardware
- **Target customers**: B2B – industrial enterprises in automotive, manufacturing, logistics, and e-commerce
- **Mission/purpose**: “Building at the frontier of embodied intelligence” and “Designing intelligence for the real world” – deploying general-purpose robot foundation models that adapt to the variability of commercial and industrial environments. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/) | [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhoda-ai)

## Products & Services
- **Rhoda Robot Platform (Hardware + Software)**: A turnkey robotic system with custom actuators (25kg rated, 40kg peak payload), safety-rated vision, wheel-base, and brakes in every actuator. The platform runs the **Direct Video Action** model, which pre-trains on over a million real-world videos and post-trains on task-specific robot data. Long-context windows enable single-shot learning from human demonstrations without retraining. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)
- **FutureVision Intelligence Layer**: A proprietary architecture that handles real-world industrial tasks autonomously by generalizing beyond conventional VLA pipelines. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)
- **Deployment Services**: End-to-end solutions for tasks such as returns processing, bearing decanting, container breakdown, and material transport in logistics and e-commerce facilities. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding **$680M** – Seed round $67.4M (April 2024), Series A $162.6M (April 2025), and Series A $450M (March 2026) with 4 investors. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhoda-ai)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not individually named in available sources; partners include customers in automotive, manufacturing, logistics, and e-commerce. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount growth of **+20% monthly** (LinkedIn reports 55 employees; Built In reports 73 employees – conflicting data). Talent sourced from companies like QuantumScape, Flexiv Robotics, Scale AI, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, and Stanford University. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhoda-ai) | [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/rhoda-ai)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Direct Video Action architecture** with web-scale video pre-training gives a strong prior on motion, physics, and dynamics, enabling generalization beyond lab settings.
- **Custom high-performance actuators** (25kg rated, 40kg peak) with safety-rated brakes and vision – designed for 3+ years of continuous operation at rated payload.
- **Long-context in-context learning** allows the robot to perform tasks single-shot from human demonstrations without retraining.
- **Turnkey industrial deployments** that handle ambiguity and variability (e.g., debris, transparent bags, heavy boxes) – tasks customers initially believed could not be automated. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling robot intelligence through a pre-training/post-training paradigm, moving from controlled labs to reliable production environments.
- Expanding commercial deployments across automotive, manufacturing, logistics, and e-commerce verticals.
- Pursuing a path to **physical AGI** by combining foundation models with custom hardware for real-world adaptability. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/)

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Building at the frontier of embodied intelligence” – emphasis on hard problems, first-principles thinking, and category-defining systems. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhoda-ai)
- **Work policy**: Hybrid workspace (employees combine remote and on-site work), with offices in Mountain View and Palo Alto, CA. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/rhoda-ai)
- **Engineering culture**: Strong research focus (Chief Research Officer, Chief Scientist, many research engineers/scientists). Recent job postings include Research Scientist, Robot Perception Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Fullstack Engineer, and Product Manager. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/rhoda-ai)
- **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but the company is well-funded ($680M) and at an early stage (founded 2024), offering significant growth opportunity and impact.

## Sources
1. [rhoda.ai](https://www.rhoda.ai/) – Company website (product, technology, commercial applications)
2. [rhoda.ai/careers](https://www.rhoda.ai/careers) – Careers page
3. [rhoda.ai/team](https://www.rhoda.ai/team) – Leadership team and co-founders
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/rhoda-ai) – Built In profile (employee count, offices, job listings, hybrid policy)
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhoda-ai) – LinkedIn company page (funding, headcount, executive list, talent sources)

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