--- title: 'Senior Technical Recruiter – Advanced Manufacturing at Persona AI Inc' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-recruiter-advanced-manufacturing-persona-ai-inc-houston-7xhsd3k6ym9r' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-06' --- # Senior Technical Recruiter – Advanced Manufacturing at Persona AI Inc - **Company:** Persona AI Inc - **Location:** Houston, TX - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2026-08-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/persona.ai/4e9ec6da-8c17-412d-a62c-208fa35cb029 ## Job description [https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/aa49b1e1-7c30-48a6-95a0-274e978c150a/bf448c10-999e-4a50-b9a9-abdd34ca8671/image.png] Job Title: Senior Technical Recruiter – Advanced Manufacturing Department: People Operations Employment Type: Full Time FLSA: Exempt 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? - 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. - Enjoy full access to best-in-class sourcing tools, a strong employer brand, and the autonomy to build our recruiting function from the ground up. ## ABOUT THE ROLE Houston is where we manufacture our humanoid robots, and we're scaling production fast. That takes people, a lot of them, and finding great ones is one of the most important things we do. That's where you come in. We're looking for a driven Senior Technical Recruiter to power that ramp. Ideally you know how to source creatively, and thrive on filling hard-to-find roles. You'll own full-cycle sourcing and recruiting across manufacturing and operations - from the technicians and engineers building robots on the floor to the teams supporting them - partnering closely with hiring managers to move fast and land great talent. This position is fully onsite at our corporate office in Houston, five days a week, right where the robots get built. As we grow production in Texas and beyond, you'll be the recruiting engine behind it - with real ownership, real impact, and a front-row seat to one of the most exciting builds in robotics. ## WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING - Own full-cycle sourcing and recruiting for manufacturing and operations. - Build and manage active candidate pipelines from scratch using LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, trade schools and technical/vocational programs, local manufacturing and industry networks, employee referrals, and any other effective channels. - Partner directly with hiring managers to deeply understand role requirements, calibrate on candidate quality quickly, and iterate profiles in real time. - Leverage Houston’s deep manufacturing and operations talent pool, including energy, industrial, and aerospace crossover talent, and help build the company's presence in the local manufacturing and operations community. - Deliver a best-in-class candidate experience from first outreach through offer, recognizing the importance of your role as the first impression of Persona AI. - Track and report on pipeline health, time-to-fill, and sourcing metrics; use data to continuously improve your approach. - Help build and refine TA infrastructure, including interview processes, scorecards, ATS hygiene, and offer templates as the company scales. - Support employer branding efforts (job post copy, LinkedIn presence, candidate messaging) to position Persona AI as a destination for top manufacturing, operations, and corporate talent. ## WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: - 5 + years of recruiting experience. - Demonstrated track record of filling manufacturing, and operations roles at volume under real time-to-fill pressure. - Expert-level Boolean search skills and fluency across LinkedIn Recruiter and other sourcing channels beyond traditional job boards. - Comfortable working with ambiguity and building from scratch; effective without a fully mature TA function and able to help create one. - Strong candidate engagement skills, including getting responses from passive candidates and successfully closing them. - Ability to manage multiple positions simultaneously without losing quality or velocity on any single search. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including compelling outreach copy, sharp intake conversations, and clear internal updates to hiring managers. ## BONUS SKILLS: - Prior recruiting experience in manufacturing, robotics, industrial, automotive, aerospace, or other high-volume production environments. - Existing relationships within the Houston manufacturing, industrial, or operations talent community. - Familiarity with ATS platforms such as Ashby, Rippling, or similar. - Experience recruiting for organizations with 100–300 employees in a high-growth environment. - Comfort operating in a startup or high-growth manufacturing environment where processes are still being built and ambiguity is the norm. 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 - [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 - 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 - [Senior Robotics Software Engineer - Autonomy](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-software-engineer-autonomy-persona-ai-inc-houston-2qspy6cwd7jy) — Houston, TX - [Precision Assembler](https://feeny.ai/job/precision-assembler-persona-ai-inc-houston-b7h62z0a3b93) — Houston, TX - [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 - [Staff Platform Engineer - Developer Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-platform-engineer-developer-infrastructure-persona-ai-inc-houston-fd8hena58m0w) — Houston, TX - [Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-persona-ai-inc-houston-vqknnr9vt26s) — Houston, TX