(Senior) Systems Engineer – IT Architect at Helsing in Germany

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 a (Senior) Systems Engineer – IT Architect, you will define the architecture of the IT estate that supports Helsing's European offices and engineering teams, and build its key parts yourself. Across endpoint, identity, network, on-premises and cloud, you will work with Security, Engineering and IT Operations to turn operational and compliance requirements into clear roadmaps. You will prove your designs with reference implementations, then hand them to the IT Engineers and IT Support team to run. Working in German and English with colleagues, auditors and authorities, you will help Helsing scale across jurisdictions without weakening security or slowing engineers down.

The day-to-day

• Architect and build end-to-end systems across corporate, development and regulated environments, connecting Microsoft 365, Azure and on-premises infrastructure securely

• Design and implement identity, access and device management (Entra ID, Conditional Access, MDM) that enforces Zero Trust on macOS, Windows and Linux endpoints

• Define network and boundary protection for European sites and remote work, including segmentation, VPNs, and host- and network-based controls

• Set standards and reference builds for on-premises compute on Linux, virtualisation and Kubernetes

• Automate with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, Python, PowerShell) so every system is reproducible and auditable

• Work with Security, Compliance and external auditors to turn ISO 27001, NIS2, BSI IT-Grundschutz and UK Secure by Design into accreditation-ready architectures

• Make key architecture decisions, document the trade-offs, and review designs with IT Engineers and the IT Support team

You should apply if you

• Have proven experience designing and building enterprise IT systems with security and compliance built in, ideally in defence, government or other regulated sectors

• Have hands-on experience with hybrid environments: Linux on-premises, Kubernetes, macOS, Windows, and Azure, Microsoft 365 or AWS

• Have built identity, network segmentation and Zero Trust architectures, automated with Infrastructure as Code

• Turn ambiguous regulatory and cross-border requirements into clear roadmaps, and explain trade-offs to technical and non-technical colleagues

• Collaborate openly across teams and share our commitment to protecting democratic societies

• Communicate fluently in German and English (C1) with internal and external stakeholders

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 worked across the Microsoft 365 and Azure security stack (Entra ID, Intune, Defender, Purview)

• Have built infrastructure that feeds SIEM platforms and automated response workflows

• Have taken systems through formal national or defence accreditation

• Have scaled IT systems across several countries in a fast-growing engineering organisation

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.