Staff Software Engineer

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 At Helsing, our engineering culture is defined by technical impact, first-principles thinking, and high-agency execution. We are looking for a hands-on Staff Software Engineer to serve as a primary technical anchor, driving architectural decisions and shipping code across our backend systems. Designed for a builder who thrives on complexity and wants to remain close to the metal, you will have the autonomy to own projects from zero to one prototyping through to deploying resilient software on physical hardware. Your impact is measured by your ability to design robust systems, write performance-optimised code, and act as a technical multiplier for our teams. You will architect solutions across highly resilient distributed systems built for network partitions, resource-constrained embedded hardware, secure networking protocols, and high-performance machine learning inference pipelines directly at the tactical edge. The day-to-day Lead the review of complex code contributions, design proposals, and technical RFCs from colleagues. At Helsing we strongly believe that unblocking others and mentoring is the highest-leverage work you can do. Architect, propose, and implement major new features, capabilities, algorithms, infrastructure, or full products across our stack. We expect our engineers to look beyond their immediate team, identify systemic opportunities, and champion the solutions. Act as a key translator between engineering and the broader business. You will regularly interface with product managers, programme leads, and customers to translate deep technical designs and constraints into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders who depend on our technologies. Actively mentor engineers, find mentees, and help drive and scale our technical interviewing pipeline. You will be a key driver in fostering, growing, and scaling the engineering organisation. Share your extensive experience and technical know-how with other Helsingers. We host tech talks, run "let’s learn together" groups, and host topical office hours (e.g., on Rust) to help the entire engineering team get better with time. Maintain and evolve our existing software stack, partnering with internal and external stakeholders to diagnose complex system issues, optimise operational reliability and performance, and systematically address technical debt. Our stack is a mix of Rust and Python, with Python mainly living in the ML-heavy sections. Design and develop robust test architectures and benchmarks, both at the micro and macro level. We operate in a domain where robustness is of the utmost importance, and building highly reliable, performance-tested systems is key to achieving that. Present and celebrate your work at our weekly demo sessions. We host demo sessions that allow early feedback, celebration of progress, and a better shared understanding of everything that goes on at Helsing.  You should apply if you Have a proven track record of writing highly legible, maintainable, and performance-optimised systems code. Are a systems-level thinker capable of designing for the long term. You can ensure that a complex collection of independent, heterogeneous systems (including those outside your direct control) successfully integrate and function reliably end-to-end. Communicate well in English, both verbally and in writing, with the ability to articulate complex architectural decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Thrive in a collaborative, low-ego environment, with extensive experience running pair programming and peer code reviews. Are highly comfortable working asynchronously (writing robust PRs, leading design RFCs, and having discussions by email). Have seasoned, senior-to-staff level backend development experience, with expert-level mastery in a systems language like Rust, Java, Go, or C++. Are a natural multiplier, striving to constantly improve yourself, your peers, and the engineering culture around you. Feel like ethical considerations are an inherent part of software engineering. Note: We operate at an