About Helsing

Helsing is a defence AI company with the mission to protect democracies by achieving technological leadership, enabling sovereign decision-making and ethical control over advanced technologies. We are a team of engineers, AI specialists, and customer-facing programme managers committed to solving complex and impactful problems. We foster an open and transparent culture that encourages debate on the ethical implications and use of technology in defence.

The Role: Software Engineer - Backend

At Helsing, we develop and deliver AI-based capabilities and the infrastructure that allows semi-autonomous platforms to perceive, navigate, and localize in real-time. We build software designed for challenging environments with significant technical constraints, requiring reliability and a frictionless user experience. This role involves tackling complex engineering challenges across various fields, including:

• Distributed systems with intermittent connectivity.
• Embedded computing in resource-constrained environments.
• Robotics, control systems, and tasking.
• Networking for long-range, low-bandwidth communication.
• Deployment infrastructure for air-gapped and heterogeneous systems.
• Security for data sharing in low-trust networks.
• Machine learning systems for model development and deployment.

We operate at the forefront of technology, often implementing and extending research papers to practical applications.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities:

• Review code contributions, proposals, and RFCs from colleagues, prioritizing unblocking others.
• Propose and implement new features, capabilities, algorithms, and infrastructure across the stack.
• Mentor colleagues and contribute to the interviewing pipeline.
• Share technical knowledge through tech talks, learning groups, and office hours.
• Maintain the existing software stack (Rust and Python), addressing customer issues and improving reliability.
• Develop and enhance tests and benchmarks to ensure robustness and performance.
• Present work in weekly demo sessions to foster feedback and shared understanding.

Required Qualifications:

• Ability to write legible, maintainable, and performant code.
• Strong English communication skills (verbal and written).
• Enjoyment of collaboration, code reviews, and pair programming.
• Comfort with asynchronous communication (PRs, RFCs, email).
• Backend development experience, ideally with languages like Rust, Java, Go, or C++.
• Familiarity with backend interface tools such as REST, GraphQL, gRPC/Protocol Buffers, and Arrow.
• A drive for continuous self-improvement and contributing to team and company culture.
• A belief that ethical considerations are integral to engineering.

Note: We encourage applications from candidates who may not meet all qualifications, as ability and impact are not solely defined by listed criteria. Helsing is committed to equal opportunities and values diversity.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with Rust and Python.
• Container-based and cloud-native architectures (Docker, Azure, AWS).
• Metrics tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• SQL and streaming database systems.
• Familiarity with routing protocols (IGP, BGP).
• Knowledge of cryptographic protocols (Signal, WireGuard).
• Experience with hardware interfaces (Arduino).
• Robotics experience, particularly in control systems.
• Experience with production ML systems.

Why Join Helsing?

• Impactful Work: Contribute directly to the protection of democratic countries, balancing ethical and geopolitical considerations.
• Unique Challenges: Engage with highly unusual technical requirements and constraints in a domain where robustness, safety, and ethics are paramount.
• Cutting-Edge Innovation: Work at the forefront of technical innovation in areas like reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, and deployment infrastructure.
• Growth Opportunities: Be part of a company that aims for order-of-magnitude improvements and novel capabilities, with significant government contracts.
• Empowered Culture: Participate in healthy, diverse debate, practice responsible autonomy, and have a say in how we work and shape our culture.

What We Offer:

• Focus on outcomes, not time-tracking.
• Competitive compensation and stock options.
• Relocation support.
• Social and education allowances.
• Regular company events and all-hands meetings.
• A hands-on onboarding program ("Infraduction") to learn the tech stack and company processes.