Lead Indirect Tax

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

Helsing is growing fast across Europe, and our tax function is growing with it. As Lead, Indirect Tax, you will build Helsing’s indirect tax function, covering VAT, customs and stamp duty across multiple jurisdictions (Germany, UK, France to name a few). You will put governance in place so that every return is reviewed before it is filed, set our indirect tax policy for hardware, software and AI services, and advise finance and commercial teams before transactions are booked, not after. Working alongside our Director of Tax our Direct Tax Lead, and external advisers, you will combine technical depth with hands-on delivery, and help make tax part of how Helsing makes decisions as it scales.

The day-to-day

• Write and implement Helsing’s indirect tax policy, documenting treatment by jurisdiction and use case, owning the process end-to-end.
• Advise finance, FP&A and commercial teams on the VAT treatment of contracts, tenders and pricing, from government customers to cross-border software and AI services.
• Work alongside our customs and export control team on cross-border transactions and supply chain matters.
• Execute and control indirect tax filing obligations for every entity and build a Tax Compliance Management System (Tax CMS) for indirect taxes with clear controls.
• Review VAT and customs returns across multiple jurisdictions before submission, working with our accounting team and external compliance provider.
• Deliver German e-invoicing readiness and company-wide indirect tax training, starting with finance.

You should apply if you

• Are a qualified German tax adviser (Steuerberater) or hold an equivalent qualification, with a specialism in indirect tax.

• Have deep, hands-on VAT and customs expertise, and are as comfortable doing the calculations as writing the policy.

• Have advised on indirect tax across several jurisdictions, including the EU VAT Directive and UK VAT and customs.

• Can explain complex tax positions clearly to colleagues outside finance and help them act on them.

• Communicate fluently in German and 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 in a Big Four indirect tax practice or a large corporate group tax team, ideally followed by building tax processes in a smaller or fast-growing company.

• Experience with e-invoicing roll-outs, SAP tax set-up, or customs for export-controlled goods.

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.