Lead Legal Counsel Corporate Office

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 Lead Counsel Corporate Office, you will lead and scale Helsing's global corporate legal function, taking responsibility for corporate governance, and equity structures, as the company keeps growing and expanding. Reporting to the Group General Counsel, you will manage a team of three Legal Counsels covering Corporate, Employment, and Compliance, and play a central role in shaping how Helsing structures itself as a global enterprise. You will serve as a trusted legal partner at executive level, advising Finance, People, and leadership teams on corporate structure, international expansion, and strategic transactions, while contributing to Helsing's AI-powered Legal Operating System.

The day-to-day

• Manage all aspects of Helsing's global corporate governance, including board and shareholder matters, subsidiary management, the Delegation of Authority framework, and statutory filings across all jurisdictions, anchored at Helsing SE level

• Advise on and manage equity incentive schemes (VSOP, ESOP, and related instruments) across jurisdictions, ensuring Helsing's capital market compliance

• Line-manage and develop three Legal Counsels (Corporate, Employment, Compliance), setting clear goals and priorities aligned with the Legal OKR framework to build a collaborative, high-performing team

• Coordinate cross-functional legal workstreams for Helsing's international expansion, including entity formations and market entry structuring, while supporting M&A and strategic partnership transactions from a corporate law perspective

• Contribute to the development of Helsing's AI-powered Legal Operating System, identifying areas within the corporate function that can be systematised and automated for greater efficiency and scale

You should apply if you

• Hold a full legal qualification (German Volljurist or equivalent) and have built a substantial track record in corporate law across ideally both top-tier law firm and senior in-house environments

• Bring deep expertise in German corporate law (GmbH, SE, AG) and international corporate governance, with experience managing complex shareholder structures and equity incentive schemes across multiple jurisdictions

• Have led, managed, or mentored legal teams, bringing the ability to set clear priorities, foster collaboration, and develop people within a structured goal-setting framework

• Communicate with clarity and confidence at executive level, translating nuanced corporate legal risk into practical, well-reasoned guidance for Finance, People, and C-suite stakeholders

• Are fluent in German and English to a professional standard, written and spoken

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

• Have experience advising or working at a DAX or MDAX company, or equivalent large-cap multinational

• Have worked across multiple European jurisdictions in high-growth, venture-backed, or scale-up environments

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 .