Systems Technical Writer

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

As Systems Technical Writer, you will own the creation and maintenance of technical documentation across Helsing's multidisciplinary drone hardware and software programmes. Working directly with mechanical, electrical, software and aerodynamics engineers, you will extract first-principles technical knowledge from complex system architectures and translate it into precise, structured documentation used by both internal engineering teams and external operators. Your work ensures that the integrity of engineering intent is preserved from system requirement through to end-user procedure, directly supporting programme maturation, compliance and operational readiness.

The day-to-day

• Author and maintain high-quality technical publications including Interface Control Documents, System Architecture Descriptions, Operator Manuals and Maintenance Guides, drawing on direct analysis of CAD assemblies, electrical schematics, software APIs and aerodynamic test data

• Document physical, electrical and logical integration interfaces, including wire harnesses, pinouts and signal telemetry protocols, working in close collaboration with electronics and software engineers to ensure accuracy and traceability

• Author flight-test procedures, aerodynamic performance envelopes and flight-limitation documentation in partnership with flight-test and aerodynamics teams, ensuring outputs meet regulatory and operational standards

• Create clear isometric line art, block diagrams and system flowcharts derived from SolidWorks, NX or electrical schematics, ensuring visual documentation meets the precision required for assembly, integration and troubleshooting workflows

• Participate in design reviews, validation events and hands-on hardware integration sessions to verify the accuracy of draft procedures, maintaining requirements traceability from high-level system specifications down to individual component guides within PLM and version control systems

You should apply if you

• Have authored structured technical documentation across multidisciplinary engineering domains, including mechanical, electrical, software and aerodynamic systems, within aerospace, defence, robotics or UAV programmes

• Can read and interpret 3D CAD assemblies, electrical wire harness schematics, PCB layouts and software API documentation to produce accurate, first-principles technical content without requiring intermediaries

• Are proficient in structured authoring tools such as MadCap Flare, Adobe FrameMaker, LaTeX or Confluence, and have worked within PLM and version control environments such as Windchill, Arena, Git or equivalent

• Have translated highly complex engineering architectures into user-facing procedures and operator manuals that are clear, compliant and structured for a non-specialist audience

• Communicate clearly and precisely in both written and spoken English and German, and can convey complex engineering concepts accurately to technical and non-technical audiences alike.

• Act decisively with minimal guidance, own outcomes end-to-end and initiate solutions without waiting for direction

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

• Familiarity with aerodynamic performance documentation and flight manual authoring within a certified or regulated aerospace or UAV operating environment

• Experience creating visual technical content directly from CAD source files, reducing dependency on engineering team bandwidth for illustration and diagram production

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.