Staff Electrical Engineer (Sensors & Imaging Systems)

Rhoda AI•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $400M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality. We are seeking a Staff or Principal Member of Technical Staff (MTS) – Electrical to lead the architecture, design, and technical execution of advanced multi-sensor imaging and perception systems. This is a senior individual-contributor role for an electrical engineer with deep, hands-on expertise across camera and imaging pipelines, depth and ranging sensors (ToF, Radar, LiDAR), thermal imaging, and the surrounding electrical and signal-integrity considerations that make these systems work in production. The successful candidate will set the technical direction for sensor selection, integration, and validation; partner closely with optics, mechanical, firmware, ML, and systems teams; and serve as a recognized technical authority across the organization. This role is ideal for an engineer who has taken multiple sensor-driven products from concept to volume production and is energized by solving hard, cross-disciplinary problems.

Requirements

B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.
Staff level: 10+ years of relevant industry experience designing electrical/sensor subsystems for shipping products.
Principal level: 15+ years with a demonstrated track record of leading the technical direction of multiple high-volume sensor-based products.
Deep, hands-on knowledge of CMOS image sensors and end-to-end camera systems, including the trade-offs that drive camera selection (resolution, pixel size, QE, SNR, HDR, rolling vs. global shutter).
Strong understanding of optics fundamentals — Field of View (FOV), focal length, F-number, depth of field, distortion, and lens/sensor matching.
Image Signal Processing (ISP): demosaic, AE/AWB/AF, denoise, tone-mapping, color correction, lens shading, and ISP tuning for target use cases.
Camera interfaces: MIPI CSI-2 / D-PHY / C-PHY, parallel RGB, and RAW pipelines — including timing, lane allocation, signal integrity, and bring-up.
Experience designing illumination / lighting subsystems for cameras (visible, IR, NIR, synchronized strobes).
Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors: iToF and dToF principles, modulation schemes, multipath and ambient-light mitigation, depth accuracy characterization.
mmWave radar for object detection: FMCW radar fundamentals, antenna arrays, range/Doppler/angle estimation, and integration of radar modules at the board and system level.
Thermal cameras: microbolometer-based LWIR sensors, NUC, thermal calibration, and integration trade-offs.
LiDAR: working knowledge of mechanical, MEMS, and solid-state LiDAR architectures and their electrical/interface requirements.
Strong fundamentals in analog and digital design, schematic capture, PCB layout review, power delivery, and signal integrity for high-speed interfaces.
Hands-on lab debug skills: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, optical/imaging test equipment.
Experience taking products through EVT → DVT → PVT → MP and resolving production issues.
Excellent written and verbal communication; able to drive alignment across hardware, firmware, ML, and product stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

NVIDIA platform experience — Jetson (Orin, Xavier), DRIVE, or other NVIDIA SoC/GPU platforms used for camera and perception workloads.
Other high-end GPU / accelerator exposure — Qualcomm, Ambarella, AMD, or comparable platforms for vision and AI inference at the edge.
FPGA exposure — familiarity with FPGA-based sensor interfacing, bridging, and prototyping (Xilinx/AMD, Intel/Altera, Lattice). Embedded HDL coding is not required; an architectural and integration-level understanding is sufficient.
Acoustic & audio hardware — experience with MEMS microphones, microphone arrays, 3D acoustic field capture / beamforming, and audio front-end design.
Speaker driver / amplifier design — Class-D amplifiers, transducer selection, and audio output subsystem integration.
Experience with sensor fusion software stacks, ROS, or working closely with computer-vision / ML teams.
Published work, patents, or conference contributions in imaging, sensing, or perception.

Responsibilities

Architect end-to-end imaging and sensing subsystems, including camera selection, optics interface, illumination, and electrical integration, to meet product-level performance, power, and cost targets.
Drive camera and sensor selection across CMOS image sensors, ToF, mmWave radar, LiDAR, and thermal modules — evaluating resolution, FOV, sensitivity, dynamic range, frame rate, latency, and SWaP (size, weight, and power).
Own the camera signal chain, including ISP tuning and configuration, RAW/RGB pipelines, MIPI CSI-2 / parallel RGB interfaces, and characterization across lighting, temperature, and motion conditions.
Lead sensor fusion hardware design combining cameras, depth sensors, radar, and LiDAR for perception and object-detection workloads.
Define lighting and illumination strategies for active and passive imaging, including IR illuminators, structured light, and synchronized strobe designs.
Specify and review schematics, layouts, and BOMs for sensor boards, flex cables, connectors, and power-delivery networks; ensure signal-integrity and EMI/EMC compliance for high-speed interfaces.
Develop characterization and validation plans with lab measurements (oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, optical bench) and statistical bring-up/qualification methodologies.
Collaborate cross-functionally with firmware/embedded, computer-vision/ML, mechanical, optical, and manufacturing engineering to drive designs from prototype through DVT, PVT, and mass production.
Mentor and influence engineers across the org; review designs, set best practices, and represent electrical engineering in architectural decisions.
Engage with external vendors and partners (sensor suppliers, module houses, ODMs) to evaluate roadmaps, negotiate specs, and resolve technical issues.