Senior Project Manager - Physical Products

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 Senior Project Manager - Physical Products, you will oversee end-to-end delivery of integrated Helsing products, bridging design teams, supply chains, engineering functions and internal manufacturing as well as external suppliers to ensure products are designed and built to standard, within budget and on schedule. Working directly with delivery teams, defence customers, partners and senior internal stakeholders, you will govern the full product development lifecycle, maintain clear programme visibility for company leadership and translate complex technical and commercial interdependencies into structured, traceable delivery.

The day-to-day

• Own the internal and external project roadmap across the full physical product lifecycle, from design and manufacturing through to customer delivery, driving prioritisation of deliverables and communicating programme status to defence customers and partners with precision

• Build and maintain a programme steering dashboard that tracks KPIs spanning supply chain performance, engineering milestones and contractual commitments, surfacing risks to senior leadership and proposing course corrections before they affect delivery

• Govern stakeholder interactions across internal engineering teams, supply chain partners, overseas manufacturers and military customers, ensuring decision-making is structured, traceable and aligned with contractual and strategic commitments

• Coordinate headcount planning and recruitment needs in close partnership with Programme Management, establishing governance standards that strengthen Helsing's project management function across the wider organisation

• Identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives across physical product delivery processes, translating lessons learned into scalable practices that enhance Helsing's ability to win and execute future defence opportunities

You should apply if you

• Have delivered large-scale physical product programmes as a project or delivery lead within military or defence contexts, with direct, hands-on experience managing land domain products through development, manufacturing and fielding

• Hold a PMP certification or equivalent, and have applied structured project management methodologies to govern roadmaps, risk registers and KPI frameworks across complex, multi-stakeholder defence programmes

• Have coordinated across design teams, supply chains, engineering functions and overseas manufacturers to deliver tangible defence products to standard, on time and within budget

• Have built programme steering dashboards and presented complex performance data to senior leadership, translating metrics into clear, decision-ready briefings

• Meet all requirements for national security clearance under applicable law, are willing to travel regularly to partner, manufacturer and customer sites, and communicate with full fluency in both 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

• Familiarity with defence procurement structures or government contract environments, gained through experience working at the interface between technical delivery and commercial programme management on military physical product programmes

• A background in engineering, political science or a related discipline that provides domain fluency for engaging with defence customers and navigating the technical complexity of physical product programmes

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 .