Ground Test 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

As Ground Test Engineer, you will own the systematic de-risking of Helsing's ground-side systems before flight, shifting failure discovery from the expensive flight-test phase into the controlled laboratory environment. Working across Ground Control Stations, launch systems and data links, you will build and maintain the test infrastructure, regression libraries and HIL/SIL environments that serve as the gatekeeping layer between bench and airspace. Your work directly reduces programme cost, prevents in-flight failures and provides the documented technical evidence required for airworthiness compliance.

The day-to-day

• Execute high-repetition burn-in tests on all new firmware and hardware configurations for the Ground Control Station and data links, targeting identification of 90% of GSE and interface issues in the laboratory before the first flight of any new configuration

• Engineer and validate mechanical and pneumatic launch system tests to ensure repeatable exit velocities and structural integrity, and maintain a ground-based Iron Bird environment in coordination with the IRB team to test system-wide reactions to simulated component failures

• Build and maintain a regression library of ground-side edge cases and failure scenarios that every new subsystem must clear before flight integration, achieving 100% coverage of critical failure modes such as GCS power failure and launcher misfire prior to any airworthy flight

• Set up and maintain HIL and SIL environments to simulate flight triggers on the bench, and perform vibration, thermal and EMI stress tests on supporting hardware to validate field survivability before deployment

• Generate technical de-risking reports and manage test cards in JIRA, maintaining a 48-hour bench-clearance turnaround for minor software or hardware patches and ensuring zero flight delays caused by preventable GSE failures

You should apply if you

• Have designed and executed ground-side test programmes for UAV, aerospace or defence systems, with hands-on experience across Ground Control Stations, pneumatic or mechanical launch systems, and tracking antenna arrays

• Have built and maintained HIL and SIL environments and can sniff and analyse communication protocols between ground and air segments to de-risk command-and-control latency and packet loss

• Are proficient with diagnostic and instrumentation tools including oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and network protocol analysers, and have performed root cause analysis on complex ground-side hardware failures in operationally relevant conditions

• Have conducted environmental and stress testing including vibration, thermal and EMI regimes on field-deployable hardware, with experience translating test findings into traceable de-risking reports and regression test assets

• 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 airworthiness compliance documentation and the evidence standards required to support regulatory submissions in a defence or certified aerospace programme

• Experience developing "Mission-in-a-Box" pre-validated ground system packages that reduce field setup time and eliminate configuration-driven flight delays

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 .