Product Manager - Autonomous Airborne Systems

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

We are seeking a Senior Product Manager with 10+ years of experience to lead the development of next-generation autonomous airborne systems for defense applications. You will own the product lifecycle from concept to operational deployment, bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI research and safety-critical military requirements.

In this role, you will define the roadmap for operational systems that leverage reinforcement learning, advanced perception, and swarming capabilities to deliver tactical superiority. You will work side-by-side with engineering, robotics, and mission planning teams to ship real-world products that work when it matters most.

The day-to-day

• Product Strategy: Define and execute the product vision for autonomous aerial platforms, focusing on autonomy, robotics, and swarming/teaming behaviors.

• Operational Delivery: Drive the transition of R&D prototypes (e.g., reinforcement learning agents) into robust, field-deployable systems.

• Safety & Compliance: Ensure all autonomy features meet rigorous standards for safety-critical systems in contested environments.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Translate high-level military operational needs into technical specifications for perception, path planning, and control teams.

• Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary technical interface for government customers and internal stakeholders.

You should apply if you

• Have 10+ years in technical product management or engineering leadership within autonomous systems, aerospace, defence, robotics, and/or AI.

• Have proven history of shipping complex hardware/software systems to real-world operational environments.

• Have Deep familiarity with autonomous systems, perception stacks (computer vision/sensor fusion), AI-driven behaviors and safety-critical, assured system design.
  
  

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.

Nice to Have

• Hands-on software development experience (C++, Rust, Python, ROS).

• Background in military operations or defence acquisition.

• Experience with multi-agent systems or collaborative autonomy.

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 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

• 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 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

• A focus on outcomes, not time-tracking

• Competitive compensation and stock options

• Relocation support

• Social and education allowances

• Regular company events and all-hands to bring together employees as one team across Europe

• 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.