Flight Dynamics Modelling 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

At Helsing, we deliver AI-based capabilities and the enabling foundation that allows machines to perceive and assist human decision-making. An important element of this is to describe (flight) system dynamics in order to rapidly develop and evaluate control and AI-based capabilities.

In this role, you will work in a small team and be responsible for building and validating models for system dynamics from first principles using numerical predictions and test data.

The day-to-day

• Develop flights dynamics models for different aerial platforms end to end: from model architecture definition and specification of numerical/experimental campaigns all the way to model validation in flight test

• Support the specification and execution of tests for model validation

• Collaborate with interfacing disciplines such as Control, Aerodynamics, and Testing

• Follow and analyse flight tests

You should apply if you

• Hold a M.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or an equivalent degree

• Have at least 5 years of professional experience in flight dynamics modelling

• Have very good skills in Matlab/Simulink

• Have a solid background in aerodynamics, stability and control, and systems modelling

• Have excellent communication skills and the ability to report and present findings clearly and efficiently both internally and externally.

• Possess solid software engineering skills, writing clean and well-structured code in Matlab and/or languages like Python, Rust, Java, or modern C++

• Are passionate about keeping up to date with current research and enjoy reimplementing / extending papers on state of the art dynamics modelling

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 control systems design, applied aerodynamics, system identification

• Previous experience in deploying dynamics models to real time test rigs such as HIL

• A (private) pilot license and/or flying RC model planes

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

• A focus on outcomes, not time-tracking

• Competitive compensation and VSOP options

• Relocation support

• Social and education allowances

• Regular company events and all-hands to bring together employees as one team across Europe

• 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 .