---
title: 'Mechanical Engineer at Persona AI Inc'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-persona-ai-inc-houston-mv8f6188py21'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Mechanical Engineer at Persona AI Inc

- **Company:** Persona AI Inc
- **Location:** Houston, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/persona.ai/1a1c1052-9be3-494d-ad19-a68ca1f9e00d

## Job description

Job Title: Mechanical Engineer Department: Hardware Employment Type: Full-Time Location: Houston, TX Travel: 10%

## Who We Are

Persona AI is building humanoid robots for the most demanding environments in heavy industry — shipyards, steel mills, fabrication facilities, and offshore platforms — performing welding, grinding, maintenance, inspection, and material-handling work that is dangerous, physically demanding, and increasingly difficult to staff. We are backed by leading strategic and financial investors and engaged with global industrial leaders across Korea, Japan, the United States, and Singapore. Korea is the center of gravity for our early commercial strategy, anchored by relationships with the world’s leading shipbuilders and steelmakers. Our work spans both the robot platform itself and the systems, partners, and playbooks required to deploy it at scale.

Why Join Persona AI?

- We offer competitive compensation, a performance-based bonus, 99% employer covered medical benefits, early-stage equity, competitive PTO, and a company-wide paid winter break between December 24th and January 2nd.
- You’ll shape technology that’s redefining the possibilities of robotics and human interaction.
- Work alongside passionate teammates who value creativity, and continuous learning.

## About the Role

As an early Mechanical Engineer at Persona, you will help shape the design of Persona's humanoid robots while helping set the engineering culture of the company. We're looking for exceptional people who dream big, thrive on challenges, and love seeing their designs come to life — from initial sketches through CAD modeling, prototyping, manufacturing, testing, and deployment on real industrial job sites. We are primarily interested in candidates who have shipped products in the fields of autonomy, robotics, consumer products, medical devices, automotive, or aerospace.

## What You Will Be Doing

- Create and refine mechanical designs for advanced humanoid robotics, including actuators, manipulators, and integrated systems.
- Own your designs from initial sketches through CAD modeling, prototyping, manufacturing, testing, and deployment.
- Conduct simulations, structural analysis, and performance evaluations to optimize system functionality.
- Generate comprehensive documentation, including CAD drawings, block diagrams, test plans, fabrication, and assembly instructions.
- Interface with external manufacturing partners to optimize designs for manufacturing, testing, and assembly.
- Engage hands-on in the lab, transforming your designs from ideas to production systems through rapid, iterative development cycles.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teammates (electrical, software, controls, UX/UI, and industrial designers) to ensure seamless integration across the product.
- Solve fascinating engineering challenges daily, pushing the boundaries of robotics technology.

What We Are Looking For:

- Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, Robotics, Biomechatronics, Mechatronics, or related fields.
- 5+ years of experience (3+ years with advanced degree) designing mechanical systems in consumer products, robotics, aerospace, medical, automotive, or similar fields.
- Proven track record shipping products to market, ideally at scale.
- Experience designing for high-volume mass manufacturing DFM processes such as injection molding, sheet metal, stamping, casting, composites, or CNC machining.
- Practical hands-on experience with prototyping tools, manufacturing techniques, and material selection.
- Proficient CAD user (Onshape, SolidWorks, Catia, Creo, Fusion, etc.) with a passion for precise, elegant, scalable design.
- Strong grasp of mechanical engineering fundamentals.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the tenacity to tackle complex challenges, comfortable performing detailed engineering analyses (FEA, hand calculations, etc.).
- A friendly, collaborative mindset, strong communication skills, and excitement to work hands-on in a dynamic, supportive team environment; design without ego.
- Working understanding of tolerance analysis and GD&T.
- Keen attention to detail and craftsmanship, including fit and finish.

Bonus Skills:

- Hands-on experience with humanoid robotics, exoskeletons, or other articulated mechanical systems.
- Enjoys detailed design of complex surface geometry.
- Experience designing precision mechanisms, actuators, tight tolerance components.
- Familiarity with motors, actuators, transmissions (planetary, cycloidal, strain-wave), bearings, or cable drives.
- Experience designing cable harnesses, wire routing, or flexible PCBs.
- Ability to analyze thermal systems (hand calculations or FEA).
- Proficiency in C, Python, MATLAB, or similar analytical tools.
- Familiarity with classical or modern controls.
- Preference toward working in interdisciplinary, fast-paced environments.
- Experience collaborating with industrial designers, human factors, or UX/UI teams.
- Skilled at complex surface geometry and tight packaging constraints in CAD.
- Comfortable working in a machine shop (mill, lathe, etc.).

Persona AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

## About Persona AI Inc

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Persona AI develops industrial humanoid robots designed for skilled physical work in complex environments like shipyards, construction sites, and energy infrastructure.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Houston, Texas, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Nicolaus Radford (CEO), Jide Akinyode (COO), Dr. Jerry Pratt (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Industrial Robotics, Humanoid Robotics, AI, Manufacturing, Construction, Energy, Shipbuilding
- **Target customers**: B2B / Enterprise — heavy industrial sectors including shipbuilding, construction, energy (oil & gas, utilities), manufacturing, and defense.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To build industrial humanoid robots that perform skilled physical work in complex environments, addressing labor shortages, improving safety, and increasing operational efficiency across heavy industry. The company focuses on the "4D jobs" — dull, dirty, dangerous, and declining — so that humans don't have to perform them.

## Products & Services
- **Persona AI Humanoid Platform**: A modular industrial humanoid robot designed for real-world applications in shipyards, construction sites, energy infrastructure, and manufacturing facilities. The system is engineered for skilled physical work in complex environments and supports tasks such as welding, grinding, inspection, material handling, fabrication, and equipment maintenance. The modular design allows integration with standard industrial tools and adaptation to different workflows.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding — $30M (oversubscribed Pre-Seed round, closed June 2025)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Tides Ventures, Unity Growth Fund, POSCO DX, GOOSE Capital, SGH Capital, Embedded Ventures, and 19 other investors. Partners include Under Armour (performance materials), ABS (shipyard safety), and the State of Louisiana (pilot program at SSE Steel Fabrication).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~65 employees (as of mid-2025) with a monthly growth rate of +3.9%. Active job postings have grown +13.3% monthly and +54.5% quarterly. The company has announced key hires including Brian Davis (Head of Global Manufacturing) and Michael Perry (Head of Commercial Strategy). It has secured a pilot program with the State of Louisiana and a partnership with ABS for shipyard applications.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep domain expertise**: The leadership team has contributed to 15+ humanoid projects and published impactful robotics research, giving them a strong technical foundation.
- **Modular, task-focused design**: The robot platform is built to integrate with standard industrial tools and adapt to different workflows, making it practical for real-world deployment rather than being a general-purpose humanoid.
- **Early mover in a critical niche**: Persona AI is specifically targeting the skilled industrial labor gap in sectors like shipbuilding, construction, and energy, which face acute labor shortages and high demand for automation.
- **Strong government and industry partnerships**: Early pilot programs with the State of Louisiana and a partnership with ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) demonstrate real-world traction and validation.

## Strategic Focus
- **Productization and deployment**: Moving from R&D to deploying humanoid robots in real industrial environments, with a focus on welding, fabrication, and maintenance tasks.
- **Scaling the team**: Aggressively hiring across robotics engineering, machine learning, mechanical design, and commercial strategy roles to build out the organization.
- **Building commercial partnerships**: Establishing relationships with major industrial players (e.g., POSCO, HD Hyundai affiliates, Under Armour) and government entities to secure pilot programs and long-term contracts.
- **Expanding use cases**: Targeting shipbuilding, construction, energy infrastructure, and defense as primary verticals.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work**: The company is tackling a tangible, high-impact problem — the skilled labor shortage in heavy industry — by building robots that perform dangerous, dirty, and physically demanding tasks.
- **Strong technical team**: The leadership includes veterans from NASA, the robotics research community, and major defense/industrial companies. The CTO, Dr. Jerry Pratt, is a well-known figure in humanoid robotics.
- **Early-stage growth**: As a 2024 startup with $30M in funding and a headcount of ~65, new hires can have significant impact on the product and company direction.
- **Diverse, hands-on roles**: Open positions range from Welding Engineer and Robotics Technician to Machine Learning Engineer and XR Rendering Engineer, offering a variety of technical challenges.
- **Houston-based**: Headquarters in Houston, Texas, with a growing international presence. The company appears to be on-site or hybrid given the nature of hardware development.
- **Notable perks/culture**: The company emphasizes a "build" culture, with a focus on putting "tough humanoids to work." The team includes veterans from Anduril, Nauticus Robotics, and NASA, suggesting a high-caliber, mission-driven engineering environment.

## Sources
1. [persona.ai](https://persona.ai/)
2. [LinkedIn - Persona AI](https://www.linkedin.com/company/persona-humanoids-at-work)
3. [CB Insights - Persona AI](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/persona-ai)
4. [Ashby Careers - Persona AI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/persona.ai)
5. [Persona AI - The Team](https://persona.ai/the-team/)

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