Systems Engineer - Space

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 do the analysis and ship the code, turning mission and spacecraft design problems into the models, tools, and trade studies the constellation programme runs on.

You will also act as a technical expert on satellite and mission design, challenging partner and supplier designs alongside your own analysis work. The work culminates in moving a programme through development stages up to flight.

The day-to-day

• Run mission analysis for constellation design, for example orbit selection, revisit and coverage, or launch and disposal.

• Own requirements flowdown, system budgets (mass, power, link), and the interfaces between segments.

• Build and maintain the analysis tooling the rest of the team relies on, to production standards.

• Act as the technical expert for satellite system design, including subsystems.

• Drive trade studies across subsystems and segments. Present the results to internal teams, partners, and the customer.

You should apply if you

• A master's or PhD in aerospace engineering, physics, or a related field, with hands-on work on at least one flown or near-flight space programme.

• Fluency in orbit mechanics and mission analysis, with tools such as GMAT, FreeFlyer, STK, or Orekit. You can work from first principles where no tool exists.

• A working grasp of spacecraft systems engineering across requirements, budgets, interfaces, and verification.

• Recognised depth in at least one subsystem, for example AOCS and GNC, propulsion, power, thermal, or TT&C and RF.

• Several years of production-grade software work in a large, shared codebase, with code review, continuous integration, testing, and documentation. Python, plus at least one of Rust or modern C++.

• Strong mathematics and physics, for example linear algebra, numerical methods, and error budgets.

• Communicate clearly and precisely in both written and spoken English and German

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

• Optimisation background: convex and mixed-integer methods, evolutionary or heuristic approaches, or trajectory and scheduling optimisation.

• Model-based systems engineering, for example SysML or Capella, or digital twin experience.

• Machine learning applied to engineering problems, for example surrogate models for costly simulations.

• Earth observation, SAR, or ISR mission experience.

• Familiarity with ECSS standards and requirements management tooling.

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: regularly 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

These are the core benefits across all locations, there may be additional benefits in certain locations.

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.