Systems Engineer - Air Defense System - Contra

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 As a Systems Engineer for C2 C-UAS, you take our command and control (C2) node from working prototype to a qualified system in the field. C-UAS means Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems: the detection and defeat of hostile drones and cruise missiles. The C2 node fuses sensor tracks, runs threat evaluation and weapon assignment (TEWA), and controls the effectors. Your job is to prove that it does this safely and reliably, and to get it approved for operational use. You own the functional safety case and the qualification path of the C2 node. You decide which norms apply, which evidence is needed, who produces it, and how long it takes. Approval lead times, not engineering effort, often set the date of a fielding. You plan backwards from that date, so that safety, test, and certification work runs alongside development instead of after it. This is a hands-on engineering role. You work inside a fast software and autonomy team, write requirements and safety analyses they can build against, run system-level tests yourself, and stand in the field when the system is handed over to its users. Where the system-of-systems architecture defines the network, you make sure the command node in that network can be qualified, fielded, and trusted. The day-to-day • Own the functional safety case for the C2 node, covering the safety-relevant functions from identification through engagement decision to effector control • Run hazard analyses and turn their results into safety requirements, safety mechanisms, and verification evidence • Build and maintain the norms and approvals map for the C2 node: applicable norms, required evidence, evidence owner, current status, and lead time • Plan and run qualification of C2 hardware and software together with test centres and authorities • Define how the autonomy level per kill-chain step and human approval of engagements are argued in the safety case, and what has to be true before autonomy is raised • Write and execute system-level verification and test campaigns in test beds, at test ranges, and in field trials, and close findings through root-cause analysis • Specify the safety and interface evidence the C2 node needs from sensor and effector partners, and review their qualification data • Prepare fielding: acceptance tests, operational documentation, training input, and support for user approval and handover You should apply if you • Have taken a defence or safety-critical system through qualification and into operational use, ideally a C2, fire control, or air defence system • Have hands-on experience with functional safety and system safety for defence or comparable safety-critical systems • Have written safety cases and hazard analyses for systems with a large software share • Know military qualification testing and how long it takes to plan and pass • Have a strong foundation in requirements management, verification, and interface definition across hardware and software • Are comfortable running your own system-level tests and debugging failures, not only writing documents • Can keep pace with a fast engineering team and make the safety and q