---
title: 'Machine Learning Engineer, Detection and Tracking at Helsing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-detection-and-tracking-helsing-washington-8stsjrh0fg21'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Machine Learning Engineer, Detection and Tracking at Helsing

- **Company:** Helsing
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://helsing.ai/jobs/4953562101?gh_jid=4953562101

## Job description

## Who we are

Helsing develops artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities to protect and defend democracies. We build Altra, an AI-powered drone software platform, and HX-2, our autonomous drone. We are growing our US operations, cultivating an ambitious and committed team of mission-driven professionals to apply their skills to solve challenging problems.

## The role

You will own the detection and tracking models that power Helsing's products — training, tuning, and deploying models against US-specific datasets. This is an applied ML role: you won't be writing research papers, but you will be expected to have strong intuition for model performance, data quality, and the practical trade-offs involved in getting detection and tracking systems to work reliably in production. You will manage the full model lifecycle — from assessing and curating training data through annotation, training, evaluation, and deployment to edge platforms.

The day-to-day

- Training and fine-tuning detection models (YOLO, DETR, Faster R-CNN, and similar architectures) on mission-specific datasets
- Implementing and improving multi-object tracking pipelines (SORT, DeepSORT, ByteTrack, or similar)
- Evaluating model performance: analyzing metrics, diagnosing failure modes, and iterating on data and model improvements
- Managing the data pipeline end-to-end: assessing raw data, coordinating annotation, curating datasets, and implementing augmentation strategies
- Optimizing models for deployment on SWaP-constrained and embedded platforms (quantization, pruning, TensorRT, ONNX export)
- Collaborating with systems engineers to integrate models into the broader Altra platform
- Working across sensor modalities as needed, including electro-optical, infrared, and other imaging sources

You should apply if you

- Have 5+ years of experience in applied machine learning or computer vision
- Have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field; Master's or PhD strongly preferred
- Have production experience training and deploying object detection models — not just research or academic projects
- Are proficient in Python and PyTorch or a comparable deep learning framework
- Have strong intuition for data quality; you can look at annotated datasets, training curves, and evaluation metrics and know what's wrong
- Have experience with the full model training lifecycle: data curation, annotation management, training, evaluation, and deployment
- Have experience optimizing models for deployment on SWaP-constrained and edge platforms (TensorRT, ONNX, quantization)
- Understand multi-object tracking and have implemented or worked with tracking algorithms in practice
- Can read and contextualize scientific papers in computer vision and apply findings to production systems
- U.S. citizenship required

## Nice to have

- Strong proficiency in Rust or C++ for production model deployment and optimization
- Experience with multiple sensor modalities — particularly infrared or thermal imaging
- Familiarity with MLOps tooling: experiment tracking (MLflow, Weights & Biases), dataset versioning, model registries
- Experience with annotation tools and workflows (CVAT, Label Studio, or similar)
- Background in computer vision beyond detection — segmentation, pose estimation, activity recognition
- Experience with simulators, emulators, or synthetic data generation for training and evaluation
- Experience deploying models on GPU-accelerated embedded platforms (NVIDIA Jetson, similar)
- Background in defense, intelligence, or other mission-critical environments

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 defense 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 practice 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

- A focus on outcomes, not time-tracking

- A generous compensation and benefits package (in addition to base salary) that includes, but may not be limited to, insurance coverage (medical and travel), flexible paid time off, paid holidays, and remote and/or hybrid work available depending on position. All compensation and benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying plans or programs, as applicable and as may be amended, terminated or superseded from time to time.

Helsing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetics, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.  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](https://helsing.ai/candidate-privacy-and-confidentiality-regime/).

## About Helsing

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Helsing builds artificial intelligence-driven autonomous systems and defense hardware to protect democratic nations, integrating airborne, maritime, and electronic warfare capabilities.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D in progress, May 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Munich, Germany
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf, Niklas Köhler

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Defense technology, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems
- Target customers: NATO-aligned governments, defense ministries, and allied militaries (B2G)
- Mission: "Protect our democracies" – using software and AI to enhance battlefield decision-making, precision engagement, and national security

## Products & Services
- **HX-2**: AI-enabled strike drone, mass-manufactured in “Resilience Factories” (1,000+ per month)
- **HF-1**: AI-powered electronic warfare system (autonomous combat aircraft for electronic attack)
- **SG-1 Fathom**: Underwater autonomous glider for maritime surveillance and infrastructure protection
- **Cirra**: AI for electronic warfare, already flight-tested (Feb 2026)
- **CA-1 Europa**: Joint project with HENSOLDT for advanced electronic attack capabilities
- **Altra**: Recce strike software for battlefield intelligence
- **Centaur**: AI system for autonomous air dominance
- **Lura**: Underwater autonomous mass system

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed (latest deal $1.2B in progress, May 2026)
- **Total Funding**: ~$1.5B (Series D $694M in July 2025; Series C $489M in July 2024; Series B $222M in Sept 2023; Series A $119M in Nov 2021; Seed in Jan 2021)
- **Key Investors**: Prima Materia (led Series A & D), General Catalyst (led Series B & C), plus 12 total investors
- **Key Partners**: HENSOLDT, EURENCO, Grob Aircraft (subsidiary), Airbus Defence and Space (talent source)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 78.4% YoY (515 employees per LinkedIn; PitchBook reports 900); second German Resilience Factory operational (Feb 2026); expanded to 17 countries; acquired HELSING LIMITED and Helsing Germany GmbH; 192 active job postings (June 2026)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Full-stack defense AI**: Combines software, hardware, and mass manufacturing in-house, unlike traditional primes or pure software firms.
- **Resilience Factories**: Proprietary high-volume production lines for drones (1,000 HX-2/month) with local supply chains, enabling rapid scaling.
- **Ethical commitment**: Publicly emphasizes responsible AI deployment and democratic governance, differentiating from less transparent competitors.
- **Pan-European footprint**: Offices in Munich, London, Paris, Berlin – drawing top talent from across Europe and the US, with strong ties to governments.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and underwater domains.
- Deepening partnerships with European defense ministries and industrial primes (e.g., HENSOLDT, EURENCO).
- Expanding electronic warfare and AI-powered strike capabilities (e.g., CA-1 Europa, Cirra).
- Recruiting heavily for AI research (RL, CV, foundation models, robotics), hardware engineering, and program management.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Explicitly focused on protecting democratic values – attracts talent who want meaningful impact in defense.
- **Culture**: Values include “move fast, act with conviction, do what’s right – even when it’s hard”; ground-up playbook, skeptical of conventional wisdom.
- **Growth**: 78% YoY headcount growth, 192 open roles, and rapid internal advancement.
- **Diverse team**: Combines software engineers, deep learning specialists, program managers from top companies (Palantir, Google, Amazon, BAE Systems, McKinsey).
- **Locations**: Hybrid-friendly offices in Munich, London, Paris, Berlin; also remote or flexible for some roles.
- **Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but significant investment in R&D and manufacturing suggests strong resources for tools and equipment.

## Sources
1. [helsing.ai](https://helsing.ai/)
2. [helsing.ai/careers](https://helsing.ai/careers)
3. [linkedin.com/company/helsing](https://www.linkedin.com/company/helsing)
4. [pitchbook.com/profiles/company/481513-60](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/481513-60)

## Other roles at Helsing

- [Commercial Director](https://feeny.ai/job/commercial-director-helsing-munich-nrx1v118r35d) — Munich, Germany
- [Senior Flight Test Engineer {PL}](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-test-engineer-pl-helsing-munich-0brx5h30nh5r) — Munich, Germany
- [(Senior) Programme Manager Mission Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-programme-manager-mission-systems-helsing-munich-wpnm64kf9x6q) — Munich, Germany
- [Guidance, Navigation & Control Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/guidance-navigation-control-engineer-helsing-london-z8wnt6e8nwq8) — London, United Kingdom
- [Workplace Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/workplace-manager-helsing-barcelona-s7t2ht20k0yv) — Barcelona, Spain
- [Team Lead - Training and Mission Success - International](https://feeny.ai/job/team-lead-training-and-mission-success-international-helsing-london-yc7xf7v2fk4f) — London, United Kingdom
- [Warehouse Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/warehouse-manager-helsing-munich-d3jw3ww8mer3) — Munich, Germany
- [Warehouse Clerk](https://feeny.ai/job/warehouse-clerk-helsing-munich-hte766v8ej6c) — Munich, Germany
- [Warehouse Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/warehouse-operator-helsing-munich-rv1me3vxmz29) — Munich, Germany
- [Senior Commercial Finance Business Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-commercial-finance-business-partner-helsing-munich-wcm87snmyfbq) — Munich, Germany