---
title: 'Process Engineer at Persona AI Inc'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/process-engineer-persona-ai-inc-houston-g6rrxyjnntxx'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Process Engineer at Persona AI Inc

- **Company:** Persona AI Inc
- **Location:** Houston, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-06-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/persona.ai/e5dd4a0a-e283-4bc4-9c19-70682c667a7b

## Job description

Job Title: Senior Process Engineer Department: Manufacturing Reports To: Head of Global Manufacturing Employment Type: Full-Time Location: Houston, TX

[Persona AI](https://persona.ai) is developing and commercializing rugged, multi-purpose humanoid robots that perform real work. Persona's 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, roamed Disney Parks, and has even been featured on a US postage stamp. Our mission is focused squarely on shipping beautiful, reliable products at massive scale, while building a customer-focused team to achieve these aims. Role Overview: We're looking for a Senior Process Engineer to join our manufacturing team and build Persona's production system from the ground up. This person will report into and function as the right hand to Persona’s Head of Manufacturing. You will lead the development implementation and optimization of a robust manufacturing process of complex humanoid robots. You'll own the complete manufacturing process architecture: including process development, assembly sequencing, factory layout, and scalability.

Responsibilities:

- Factory Layout & Process Flow: Own the physical and operational design of Persona's manufacturing environment. How the factory is laid out, how sub-assemblies and finished robots move through the space, and how each station connects to the next. Think flow, not in tasks.
- Process Development: Define and document every step in the robot build sequence from incoming components to final test. Build the work instructions, station designs, and standard work that make every build repeatable regardless of who's on the floor.
- Equipment Specification & Procurement: Identify, spec, and own the capital equipment and tooling needed to build robots right. You'll make the call on what to buy, justify it, and integrate it into the line.
- Metrics & Visual Management: Design the factory floor metrics and display systems so that anyone, from a new technician to a first-time visitor, can walk the floor and immediately understand build status, throughput, and where problems are.
- Poka-Yoke & Error-Proofing: Partner with the Quality Lead to design processes and fixtures where the right build is the only possible build. Mistake-proof the line at the process level so quality is built in, not inspected in.
- Continuous Improvement: As Persona scales from tens of robots to hundreds, you will own the ongoing optimization of the production system like cycle time, yield, throughput, and cost per unit. Apply lean and kaizen principles to eliminate waste as the line matures.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the Quality Lead, Supply Chain Lead, and assembly technicians. Partner with engineering during design reviews to influence DFM/DFA decisions upstream before they become production problems downstream.
- Root Cause Analysis: Lead formal failure analysis and troubleshooting efforts. Institute the use of problem solving tools such as 8D, CAPA and other.
- Compliance & Safety: In addition to ISO9001, Persona will pursue compliance with newly established ISO & safety certifications for humanoid robots.

Qualifications:

- 10–15+ years in manufacturing or process engineering in a complex hardware environment like robotics, automotive (OEM or Tier 1/2 supplier), aerospace, industrial equipment, or consumer electronics
- Proven experience or strong aptitude to design and build production systems from the ground up
- Experience with implementation of MES systems (Tulip, ProPlanner, or like)
- Deep knowledge of factory layout, line design, and process flow. You've moved equipment around on paper (and in practice) and know how to design a build sequence that actually works
- Hands-on experience with lean manufacturing principles: standard work, poka-yoke, 5S, kaizen, value stream mapping
- Strong DFM/DFA instincts. You’re comfortable pushing back on engineering when a design will create production problems
- Experience specifying and integrating capital equipment and production tooling
- Ability to read and interpret technical drawings, GD&T, and assembly documentation
- Comfortable working directly with technicians on the floor — this role is as much floor leadership as it is engineering
- Houston-based or willing to relocate

Why Join Persona AI? Most process engineering jobs are optimization problems - someone else built the line, and you make it run better. This one is a creation problem. You'll design how Persona's robots get built: the layout, the flow, the stations, the metrics, the equipment. When Persona ships at scale, this is the system you built. That's not a common opportunity, and it's not a common thing to be able to say. You'll have a front-row seat to the evolution of humanoid robotics, with the opportunity to shape our systems and scale our manufacturing from the ground up. If you're energized by early-stage innovation, hands-on engineering, and building things that push boundaries, we'd love to hear from you.

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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- [Senior Assembly Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-assembly-technician-persona-ai-inc-houston-n7kt2xazhmpk) — Houston, TX
- [Robotics Software Internship, Manipulation](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-internship-manipulation-persona-ai-inc-houston-3ymz9b7b5tm8) — Houston, TX
- [Talent Acquisition Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/talent-acquisition-coordinator-persona-ai-inc-houston-27jreg4pv57e) — Houston, TX
- [Senior Technical Recruiter – Advanced Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-recruiter-advanced-manufacturing-persona-ai-inc-houston-7xhsd3k6ym9r) — Houston, TX
- [Senior Technical Recruiter - Humanoid Robotics Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-recruiter-humanoid-robotics-engineering-persona-ai-inc-houston-ze8sb651qkw5) — Houston, TX
- [Controls Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-systems-engineer-persona-ai-inc-houston-dwx4kw5d6sp5) — Houston, TX
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- [Robotics Full Stack Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-full-stack-software-engineer-persona-ai-inc-pensacola-fl-or-houston-9n7bffpy4sfk) — Pensacola FL OR Houston, TX