Who we are
Helsing is a defence AI company. Our mission is to protect our democracies. We aim to achieve technological leadership, so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards.
As democracies, we believe we have a special responsibility to be thoughtful about the development and deployment of powerful technologies like AI. We take this responsibility seriously.
We are an ambitious and committed team of engineers, AI specialists and customer-facing programme managers. We are looking for mission-driven people to join our European teams – and apply their skills to solve the most complex and impactful problems. We embrace an open and transparent culture that welcomes healthy debates on the use of technology in defence, its benefits, and its ethical implications.
The role
You will be part of a team building the cutting edge and production-grade software foundations that power autonomous robotics. Your work will focus on designing, implementing, and deploying high-performance ROS2-based architectures and control software for robots operating in complex, unstructured, and dynamic real-world environments. This includes ensuring low-latency real-time communication, robust sensor integration, and reliable mechatronics performance. You will own the software lifecycle from architecture design to physical deployment on custom hardware, ensuring that our systems are highly reliable, easily diagnosable, and ready for critical real-world operations.
The day-to-day
- Design, implement, and rigorously test the ROS2 architecture and C++ modules that allow autonomous platforms to perceive, decide, and act reliably in complex, unstructured, and often adversarial environments.
- Take architectural concepts from a whiteboard to a fielded system, working hands-on with custom mechatronics to integrate sensors and actuators so the software layer performs exactly as required by the hardware layer.
- Develop diagnostic tooling and failure-analysis pipelines to detect actuator and system anomalies before they become mission failures, treating reliability as a foundational requirement.
- Utilize simulation environments such as MuJoCo and Isaac Sim, alongside Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, to stress-test control logic and de-risk deployment, ensuring what works in simulation survives contact with the real world.
- Enforce high standards through unit and integration testing alongside robust CI/CD pipelines, treating the codebase as critical infrastructure that prioritizes clarity, modularity, and long-term maintainability.
- Package and ship production-grade software via containerized environments like Docker directly to the edge compute hardware running on the physical robots.
- Spend time directly in the test environment, working alongside the physical hardware to diagnose edge cases that only surface when software meets the real world.
You should apply if you
•
Are an experienced robotics software engineers (5+ years of relevant industry experience) or are an outstanding early-career candidate who can demonstrate exceptional technical ability and strong project experience.
•
Are fluent in modern C++ and ROS2, with deep hands-on experience building, debugging, and optimizing complex, multi-node robotic systems.
•
Demonstrate strong software architecture design skills and write clean, robust, and well-structured code with a focus on modularity and maintainability.
•
Have hands-on experience in the testing of new, custom mechatronic systems for real-world applications—you bridge the gap between software and physical hardware.
•
Can drive diagnostics analysis for detecting actuator/robot failures, implementing systems and tools that improve the pace and depth of failure analysis.
•
Possess operational familiarity with a Linux development environment, including advanced bash/shell scripting, build systems, and system-level debugging tools.
•
Have a strong commitment to software quality, with extensive experience in modern testing methodologies (unit, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop testing), QA, and CI/CD pipelines.
Note: We operate in an industry where women, as well as other minority groups, are systematically under-represented. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all the listed qualifications; ability and impact cannot be summarised in a few bullet points.
Nice to Have
- Proficiency or experience in Python (appreciated but not required).
- Familiarity with low-level motor control interfaces, real-time operating systems (RTOS), and embedded systems constraints.
- Experience with sensor fusion (IMU, proprioception, lidar, vision) to enhance localization, perception, and control pipeline reliability in ROS2.
- Experience with robotics simulation environments (e.g., Mujoco, Isaac Sim) for testing and verifying ROS2 nodes and software architectures before physical deployment.
- Familiarity with modern deployment and containerization tools (such as Docker) for deploying robotics software to edge devices.
Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields
•
Helsing’s work is important. You’ll be directly contributing to the protection of democratic countries while balancing both ethical and geopolitical concerns
•
The work is unique. We operate in a domain that has highly unusual technical requirements and constraints, and where robustness, safety, and ethical considerations are vital. You will face unique Engineering and AI challenges that make a meaningful impact in the world
•
Our work frequently takes us right up to the state of the art in technical innovation, be it reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, or deployment infrastructure. The defence industry is entering the most exciting phase of the technological development curve. Advances in our field of world are not incremental: Helsing is part of, and often leading, historic leaps forward
•
In our domain, success is a matter of order-of-magnitude improvements and novel capabilities. This means we take bets, aim high, and focus on big opportunities. Despite being a relatively young company, Helsing has already been selected for multiple significant government contracts
•
We actively encourage healthy, proactive, and diverse debate internally about what we do and how we choose to do it. Teams and individual engineers are trusted (and encouraged) to practise responsible autonomy and critical thinking, and to focus on outcomes, not conformity. At Helsing you will have a say in how we (and you!) work, the opportunity to engage on what does and doesn’t work, and to take ownership of aspects of our culture that you care deeply about
What we offer
•
Competitive salary and VSOP options
•
Relocation support : up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation
•
Learning : €500/£450 yearly allowance
•
Health & wellness : gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)
•
Social : regular company events and monthly social allowances
•
Enhanced parental leave : 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers
•
Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work
•
A hands-on onboarding program (affectionately labelled “Infraduction”), in which you will be building tooling and applications to be used across the company. This is your opportunity to learn our tech stack, explore the company, and learn how we get things done - all whilst working with other engineering teams from day one
Helsing is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or gender identity. Please do not submit personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning your health, or data concerning your sexual orientation.
Helsing's Candidate Privacy and Confidentiality Regime can be found here .
Helsing
Defense Tech · Series D · Munich, Germany