Senior Industrial Designer

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 Industrial Designer at Helsing, you will help define and shape the physical design language across our expanding portfolio of defence technology products. This is a role with significant breadth and depth, you will take ownership of projects from early-stage concept development through to production-ready execution, translating complex technical systems into refined, intuitive and visually distinctive physical products. Working closely with engineering, manufacturing and product teams, you will operate at the intersection of aesthetics, ergonomics and manufacturability, ensuring that what we build is not only functional but coherent, considered and capable of operating in demanding real-world environments. Your contribution will extend beyond individual projects: you will actively shape Helsing's cross-domain design identity and help build a product portfolio that reflects the seriousness and ambition of our mission.

The day-to-day

• Lead industrial design projects end-to-end, from high-level concept development through to production-ready execution, maintaining design integrity at every stage

• Develop technically informed, usability-driven design solutions for advanced technology applications, ensuring products are functional, manufacturable and operationally effective

• Translate complex technical systems into clear, intuitive and highly refined physical products that meet both engineering constraints and user needs

• Define and evolve strong semantic design languages, detailed graphical applications and coherent product architectures that contribute to Helsing's cross-domain design identity

• Plan and facilitate design sprints and workstreams, validating ideas through prototyping, mock-ups and field evaluation

• Produce high-quality 3D models and visualisations using industry-standard tools to communicate, test and refine design concepts with cross-functional stakeholders

• Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing and product teams throughout the development cycle to ensure designs are realised accurately and at scale

• Balance competing constraints, aesthetics, ergonomics, manufacturability and operational performance, to deliver products that are both distinctive and fit for purpose

• Contribute to the growth and coherence of Helsing's product portfolio, bringing rigour and design thinking to each new challenge

You should apply if you

• Have designed and shipped physical products from concept to production, with a portfolio that demonstrates both creative range and engineering rigour

• Bring strong 3D modelling and visualisation capability, with proficiency in tools such as Alias, SolidWorks, Maya, Fusion 360, Rhino or equivalent

• Think in systems and are able to hold the complexity of technical constraints, user needs and manufacturing realities simultaneously and make sound design decisions across all three

• Demonstrate a refined sensitivity for semantics, detailing and graphical design application, with a clear point of view on what makes a product distinctive

• Have worked effectively within engineering-driven development environments, collaborating across multidisciplinary teams to realise concepts at scale

• Communicate design intent clearly and persuasively through models, visualisations and dialogue to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike

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 defence, aerospace, robotics, mobility, medical or other advanced technology sectors where design decisions carry significant operational consequence

• Familiarity with designing mission-critical or operational equipment, with an understanding of the constraints and responsibilities this entails

• Knowledge of advanced manufacturing processes and materials, and how these shape design decisions at the concept stage

• Experience working across hardware and digital interaction systems, with an appreciation of how physical and software-driven experiences intersect

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 .