Senior System Engineer – Product Security, Crypto and Cyber

As a Senior Systems Engineer specialising in Product Security, Cryptography and Cyber at Helsing, you will define and govern the security architecture of the CA-1 programme, building the software-defined intelligence layer for one of Europe's most advanced combat aircraft. You develop the aircraft security concept from first principles, own the design of intra- and inter-vehicle communication security, and lead Helsing's approach to platform-level cryptographic management. You work directly with customers and German national security authorities, translating complex security requirements into engineering reality on a programme that genuinely matters.

What you'll do

• Guide hardware and software design teams through security requirements specification and architectural decisions, ensuring compliance with national and NATO-level security regulations across the CA-1 programme
• Develop and own the aircraft-level security concept, derived from applicable rules, regulations and standards, and maintain it as the authoritative reference across the programme
• Define and implement engineering design processes applicable to product security, establishing repeatable, auditable workflows that can scale with the programme
• Create and maintain the compliance artefacts required by national and NATO security authorities, ensuring Helsing's security posture is demonstrable and defensible at all stages of delivery
• Design the security architecture for intra- and inter-vehicle communications, covering both on-board and off-board interfaces across the platform
• Develop the design concept for aircraft-level security functions, including erase and zeroise, ensuring operational integrity under all mission conditions
• Conduct vulnerability analysis and adversarial testing on platform systems, translating findings into actionable engineering mitigations
• Define the platform cryptographic management concept, including crypto key management architecture and lifecycle processes
• Engage directly with defence customers, including the Bundeswehr and other national authorities, to capture requirements, present solutions, and represent Helsing's security engineering capability with authority

What you bring

• Experience designing and delivering end-to-end security architectures for military or defence-grade systems, spanning requirements, system design and compliance evidence
• Understanding of and ability to apply NATO security standards and national-level regulations, including relevant STANAGs and German national security frameworks, to engineering programmes
• Experience developing cryptographic management concepts for complex platforms, including crypto key management design and lifecycle governance
• Experience conducting structured vulnerability analysis and adversarial threat assessments on safety- or mission-critical networked systems
• Experience defining communication security designs for intra- and inter-platform data exchange in a defence or government context
• Professional fluency in German, with the ability to engage with national security authorities, regulators and customers in technical and formal settings

Nice to have

• Familiarity with IFF systems and their associated security and certification requirements
• Experience designing erase and zeroise functions at aircraft or platform level
• Background in airborne mission systems or avionics security, including familiarity with DO-326A and ED-202A
• Exposure to Common Criteria evaluation processes or equivalent assurance frameworks
• Experience supporting security authority interactions as a named security engineering lead

What we offer

• Competitive salary and VSOP options
• Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation
• Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance
• Health and wellness: gym membership and mental health support via Nilo.health
• Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances
• Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers and 6 weeks for secondary caregivers
• Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work
• A hands-on onboarding programme where you build tooling and applications used across the company, learn the tech stack, explore the company, and work with other engineering teams from day one

About Helsing

Helsing is a defence AI company building world-leading AI and software systems for European democracies. The mission is to protect democracies by achieving technological leadership so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards. Helsing has already been selected for multiple significant government contracts and operates at the cutting edge of reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, and deployment infrastructure.