Mechanical Engineer - Prototype Workshop

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

To achieve airworthiness, our development and testing environment must be as professional as our product. We are seeking a "Maker" specialist to build a Prototyping and Testing Workshop from the ground up. You will be responsible for transitioning our R&D and verification environment into a state of permanent "Test Readiness," ensuring that standardized test beds and traceable calibration chains are always in place to accelerate our development cycle. You will be responsible for bringing up a workshop which will allow prototyping (Skunk Work Style).

The day-to-day

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Workshop Build-up: Lead the physical setup of Helsing’s "Skunk Works," including workbench ergonomics, safety equipment installation, and the creation of specialized tool zones.

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Test-Bed Construction: Partner with Test Engineers to build physical "Golden Rigs" and environmental test chambers. You are the person who "makes the CAD real".

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Mission Logistics: Manage the "Test Warehouse," ensuring all drone spares, batteries, and ground support equipment are accounted for, charged, and ready for immediate field deployment.

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Equipment Stewardship: Own the lifecycle of every tool. You will manage the RMA process for broken sensors and coordinate with external labs for tool calibration.

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Safety Gatekeeper: Act as the Workshop Safety Officer, enforcing protocols to secure health and safety.

You should apply if you

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Rapid Prototyping & Fabrication: Proficiency in 3D printing (SLA/FDM) and basic machining (CNC/Lathe) to create custom mounts and enclosures.

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Test-Bed Integration: Experience physically assembling "Iron Bird" rigs—integrating flight controllers, ESCs, motors, and sensors for long-duration stress testing.

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Metrology & Calibration: A deep understanding of the "Traceability Chain" for managing calibration cycles of torque wrenches, multimeters, and pressure sensors.

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Electronic Assembly: Knowledge in soldering and wiring harness fabrication (IPC-standard preferred), including EMI shielding for drone environments.

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Logistics & HSE Mastery: Expertise in handling dangerous goods (LiPo storage), warehouse inventory management (ERP/Jira), and implementing Health & Safety protocols for high-speed motor testing.

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.

Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields

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Helsing’s work is important. You’ll be directly contributing to the protection of democratic countries while balancing both ethical and geopolitical concerns

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Competitive salary and stock options (ESOP)

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Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation

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Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance

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Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)

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Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances

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Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers

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Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work

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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.