Systems Engineer - Land at Helsing in Paris, Île-de-France, FR

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 Systems Engineer, Land, you own systems engineering for one of Helsing's land programmes, with a focus on software-intensive systems. You cover the full V-cycle, from requirements and architecture to integration, verification, validation and release. You work daily with software architects, AI engineers and hardware developers to keep the system coherent. You work directly with French industry partners, the DGA and land forces to turn their needs into systems for tomorrow's battlefields. You run system-level tests, trace failures to root causes and shorten design iterations. You are accountable for delivering all systems engineering activities on time, to quality and within budget.

The day-to-day

• Own the V-cycle for your land programme, from requirements capture to release, and deliver every systems engineering activity on time, to quality and within budget

• Design the system architecture and manage interfaces with software architects, AI engineers and hardware developers, so the integrated system stays coherent

• Plan and run system-level tests, analyse test data and find the root causes of failures to cut design iteration time

• Represent engineering in technical exchange meetings, milestone reviews and demonstrations with land forces, DGA and industry partners

• Produce requirements traceability matrices, verification evidence and RAMS analysis (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) that support qualification, certification and operational release

You should apply if you

• Have delivered an integrated software and hardware product end to end to a defence, B2G or B2B customer, and worked directly with that customer's stakeholders and end users

• Have applied the full V-cycle (requirements, architecture, design, integration, verification, validation, release) to software-intensive systems, including system-level tests and root-cause analysis that shortened design iteration cycles

• Have worked with software architects, AI engineers and hardware developers to keep interfaces and requirements consistent across disciplines

• Are fluent in both French and English

• Are ready to meet the requirements for a French security clearance (habilitation) under national law

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 with DGA or land forces to shape requirements, or applied Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and SysML

• Have used Python, Palantir or similar data tools, and AI tools, to speed up test data review, requirements analysis and documentation

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.