---
title: 'Software Engineer, Platform Engineering at Helsing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-platform-engineering-helsing-washington-jsfgw33s925y'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Software Engineer, Platform Engineering at Helsing

- **Company:** Helsing
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://helsing.ai/jobs/4953565101?gh_jid=4953565101

## 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 join the Platform Engineering team, which architects, builds, and maintains a developer-focused platform that powers all of Helsing US's product and project teams. You will design and operate cloud infrastructure, deploy and maintain shared services like GitLab, Artifactory, and CI/CD pipelines, and build internal tooling that accelerates software delivery across the organization. You will also enable product teams with their own isolated environments — provisioning cloud accounts, standing up EKS clusters, databases, and the automation to make it all self-service and efficient. Security is foundational to this role: the platform must meet CMMC Level 2 compliance requirements, and you will help ensure that the infrastructure and software supply chain are built to satisfy ATO and NIST security controls.

The day-to-day

- Designing and maintaining cloud infrastructure across a multi-account AWS environment using Terraform and Terraform Enterprise
- Provisioning and managing EKS clusters, networking, IAM, and other AWS primitives for product and project teams
- Standing up and operating shared services (GitLab, Artifactory, CI/CD pipelines) and other developer tooling
- Building automation and self-service tooling that enables product teams to move quickly within secure guardrails
- Designing and deploying agentic AI workflows to streamline developer activities, infrastructure operations, and platform compliance
- Hosting and maintaining a mix of open-source, COTS, and internally developed services
- Supporting MLOps workloads — enabling model training pipelines and managing secure data at scale
- Building and maintaining observability and monitoring infrastructure for platform and product services
- Collaborating with product teams to understand their infrastructure needs and translate them into scalable, repeatable platform capabilities
- Working with engineering teams to ensure infrastructure meets CMMC and ATO requirements

You should apply if you

- Have 5+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform, or cloud engineering
- Have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
- Have strong experience with AWS, including GovCloud, multi-account architectures, Control Tower, IAM, VPC, EKS, and CloudFormation
- Are proficient with Terraform and have managed infrastructure at scale across multiple accounts, ideally using Terraform Enterprise or Terraform Cloud
- Have experience deploying and operating Kubernetes clusters in production
- Are proficient in Python and Bash, with experience writing automation and infrastructure tooling
- Are comfortable building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and developer tooling
- Understand security fundamentals including FIPS encryption requirements and can build infrastructure that satisfies compliance frameworks like CMMC and NIST
- Can work across the stack, from cloud networking and IAM policies to Helm charts and container registries
- U.S. citizenship required

## Nice to have

- Experience with Go or other systems programming languages
- Familiarity with ArgoCD and GitOps-based deployment patterns
- Experience with SIEM platforms (e.g., Elastic) and centralized logging architectures
- Experience supporting ML/AI workloads — GPU-backed instances, training pipelines, large dataset management
- Background in defense, intelligence, or other regulated environments requiring ATO
- Experience operating COTS products alongside custom-built internal services

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.

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