---
title: 'Precision Assembler at Persona AI Inc'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/precision-assembler-persona-ai-inc-houston-b7h62z0a3b93'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Precision Assembler at Persona AI Inc

- **Company:** Persona AI Inc
- **Location:** Houston, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-08-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/persona.ai/b3d798e1-72bf-4280-890b-d19016a3bd14

## Job description

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/aa49b1e1-7c30-48a6-95a0-274e978c150a/3ee0e81d-0652-45aa-a407-19ed1c3eb17e/image.png]

Job Title: Precision Assembler

Department: Manufacturing – Hand & End Effector Cell

Employment Type: Full Time

FLSA: Non-Exempt (hourly; overtime paid at 1.5x)

Location: Houston, TX – Onsite

## Who We Are

Persona AI is developing and commercializing rugged, multi-purpose humanoid robots that perform real work. Persona AI founding team has a decades-long history in humanoid robotics, bionics, and product development delivering robust hardware that has touched the stars, worked miles below the surface of the ocean, and even roamed Disney Parks. Our mission is focused squarely on shipping beautiful, reliable products at massive scale, while building a customer-focused team to achieve these aims.

## 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

You will build the hands that hold the torch. Persona AI's humanoids weld, grind, and inspect in shipyards and heavy fabrication shops, and every one of those jobs comes down to a hand gripping a tool in a hot, dirty place and not letting go.

The hand is the hardest thing on the robot, the most parts, the tightest tolerances, and the smallest fasteners on the machine. It is also the part that decides whether the robot can do the work at all. Ours get built one at a time, by hand, in Houston.

This is fine-motor bench assembly under magnification: finger and thumb mechanisms built from miniature bearings, pivot pins, and linkages; drive tendons routed and pre-tensioned; fasteners torqued in newton-centimeters rather than foot-pounds. A dropped part is a lost part, and a quarter-turn too far is a stripped thread in a component with a long lead time.

Sensors, encoders, and motors arrive as sealed modules that you install mechanically and never open. You will work under ESD discipline, which we train and certify you on.

If you have spent years doing precise work with your hands — watches, instruments, medical devices, firearms, dental prosthetics, jewelry — this is that same craft, pointed at something new. We are not here to replace the trades. We are building machines that take on the worst jobs in heavy industry, directed by the crews who know that work best.

## What You'll Be Doing

- Assemble finger, thumb, and wrist mechanisms from engineering drawings — miniature bearings, pivot pins, linkages, retaining rings, and springs.
- Route and pre-tension drive tendons and cables to specification.
- Assemble miniature gearheads and small actuator units, keeping serialized matched sets together.
- Torque miniature fasteners (roughly M1.6 to M3) with calibrated low-range torque drivers, working in newton-centimeters.
- Apply adhesives, thread locker, and lubricant in controlled quantities; install seals, boots, and covers.
- Verify each hand against acceptance criteria — range of motion, joint backlash, tendon pre-tension, and smoothness — using pin gauges, micrometers, and dial indicators.
- Mate pre-terminated sensor connectors and dress flex cable during palm and wrist closeout, under ESD control.
- Record build data accurately — serial numbers, matched sets, torque values, and tendon tensions — in our shop floor build records.
- Flag parts, drawings, or steps that don't work as written. We would rather fix the instruction than build a hundred hands wrong.

## What We're Looking For

- High school diploma or GED.
- Demonstrated fine-motor precision work with your hands, from any industry — watch or instrument repair, medical or dental device assembly, jewelry, gunsmithing, luthiery, or military precision maintenance.
- Steady hands, patience, and the ability to hold focus on detailed work. Comfort working under magnification, or confidence you will adapt to it.
- Ability to read mechanical drawings and assembly work instructions.
- Comfort with precision measuring tools, or the interest to learn them. We will train you on anything you haven't used.
- Willingness to follow a documented process exactly, and to speak up when the process is wrong.
- Availability for overtime and occasional weekend work during production pushes, paid at 1.5x.

Bonus Skills

- Watchmaking, horology, or precision instrument, camera, or optics repair.
- Medical device, surgical instrument, or dental laboratory assembly.
- Microscope or magnified assembly experience in any industry.
- Cable, tendon, or wire rope work — including bicycle, aviation control cable, rigging, or textile backgrounds.
- Miniature bearing, gearhead, or small mechanism assembly.
- Military precision maintenance — avionics, optics, ordnance, instrument, or medical equipment specialties.
- Three or more years of fine-tolerance assembly, repair, or fabrication, which may qualify you at the Assembler II level.

Physical Requirements

- Sustained fine motor manipulation of small components and precision hand tools at a bench station for the duration of a shift, with the ability to alternate sitting and standing.
- Resolving fine visual detail at close range. Magnification is provided and required for most operations.
- Handling components and assemblies weighing up to 25 lbs, occasionally throughout a shift.
- Wearing required PPE and ESD equipment. These functions can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation; alternative signaling for audible alarms can be provided.

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/)

## Other roles at Persona AI Inc

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