Optical Sensing Test Engineer

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 sit at the centre of the Optics Cluster in our Test Department, with a scope that crosses cluster boundaries. A sensing subsystem is not only an optics problem. It sits where optics, electronics, embedded software, and mechanical integration meet.

Integration decides whether sensor data can be trusted. An EO camera that is perfectly focused but misaligned with the LiDAR produces unsafe data. A LWIR sensor that passes standalone characterisation can still fail beside a hot avionics bay. The airframe tells a different story from the bench.

You will therefore do more than execute tests. You will act as the sensing system architect for test, and you will:

• Turn sensing subsystem requirements into structured test cases and test equipment concepts.

• Specify and commission the optical, electrical, and mechanical ground support equipment (OGSE, EGSE, and MGSE) that each modality needs.

• Serve as the department's technical authority on sensor synchronisation, calibration, and multimodal data quality.

The day-to-day

• Prototype testing: Characterise new sensors and integrated sensing subsystems during development. Turn requirements, such as performance at a given speed, temperature or altitude, into test plans. Design, build, and run the lab setups that show whether the sensor meets them.

• Integration support: Help decide how cameras and other sensors fit each new platform, including mounting angles, focus, field of view, and protective window.

• Production support:Define and run the acceptance test procedures that every production unit must pass before shipment.

• Supplier evaluation:Assess new sensor suppliers and components against technical requirements before we commit to procurement.

• In-service root cause analysis:Investigate sensing failures in products already flying, in the field or from reports. Reproduce the fault, fix it, and give structured findings to the design and manufacturing teams.

You should apply if you

Must have skills:

• Have hands-on experience testing optical cameras or imaging systems in a lab, in industry or in applied research.

• Have designed and built your own test setups, not only run existing procedures.

• Can turn specifications into test cases with clear pass or fail criteria.

• Troubleshoot hardware in a structured, practical way.

• Hold a degree in engineering, physics, or a related field, or have equivalent practical experience.

• Work professionally in English.

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

• Experience with radar or LiDAR sensors. This is a strong plus.

• Experience with thermal (LWIR) cameras.

• Familiarity with sensor fusion, synchronisation, or camera calibration.

• Programming skills, such as Python or MATLAB, for test automation and data analysis.

• Experience with environmental testing, including temperature and vibration.

• A background in aerospace, defence, or another regulated hardware field.

• German language skills.

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.