Head of Talent

Head of Talent At Rhoda AI, we're building the full-stack foundation for the next generation of humanoid robots — from high-performance, software-defined hardware to the foundational models and video world models that control it. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling scenarios unseen in training. We work at the intersection of large-scale learning, robotics, and systems, with a research team that includes researchers from Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and beyond. We're not building a feature; we're building a new computing platform for physical work — and with over $400M raised, we're investing aggressively in the R&D, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make that a reality. What You'll Do Own the Recruiting Function - Lead end-to-end hiring across research, engineering, hardware, and operations - Manage and develop a small team of recruiters as the company scales - Build and maintain a high-quality candidate pipeline with rigorous bar-raising standards - Own offer strategy, closing, and candidate experience from first touch to day one Compete for Top Research Talent - Develop and execute a talent strategy specifically targeting PhD researchers and ML scientists in robotics, CV, and foundation models - Design and host events — PhD mixers, research talks, lab visits — that position Rhoda as a destination for frontier researchers - Build relationships with top academic programs at Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, MIT, and others - Partner with research leadership to articulate what makes Rhoda's research environment compelling and differentiated Drive Quality and Standards - Define and maintain a consistent hiring bar across all roles and functions - Build structured interview processes, rubrics, and feedback loops that reduce bias and improve signal - Serve as a quality check on candidates — pressure-test assessments and push back when the bar isn't met - Establish recruiting metrics and reporting to give leadership clear visibility into pipeline health and hiring velocity Build the Employer Brand - Craft a compelling narrative about why top talent should choose Rhoda - Partner with marketing and leadership on presence at key conferences (NeurIPS, ICRA, RSS, CoRL, etc.) - Develop content and outreach strategies that make Rhoda visible and attractive to passive candidates Leverage AI to Move Faster - Use AI-powered sourcing tools to identify and engage passive candidates at scale - Automate repetitive recruiting workflows — screening, scheduling, follow-ups, pipeline reporting — to free up time for high-signal human interactions - Build AI-assisted outreach sequences that feel personal, not automated - Continuously evaluate and adopt new tools that improve recruiter efficiency and candidate quality - Use data and AI-generated insights to identify pipeline gaps, drop-off points, and sourcing channel performance - Treat your recruiting stack as a product — always iterating, always optimizing Build the Function - Inherit a lite foundation (Ashby) and build on top of it — this is a molding role, not a maintenance role - Establish recruiting processes, tooling, and workflows with an automation-first mindset - Create onboarding frameworks that set new hires up for success - Hire and develop the talent team as headcount grows What We're Looking For - 6–10+ years of experience in technical recruiting or talent leadership, with at least 2 years managing a team - Proven track record hiring world-class engineers and researchers in AI, ML, or robotics - Deep understanding of what top research talent cares about and how to speak their language - Operationally strong — you can run a tight process while keeping the candidate experience warm and genuine - Fluent with modern recruiting tools and AI-powered workflows; you're always looking for leverage - Entrepreneurial and agency-driven — you'll be building process, not follow ... (truncated, view full listing at source)