Guidance, Navigation & Control Engineer in London

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.

Helsing delivers AI-powered capabilities that redefine machine perception and decision-making. Our technology powers a range of UAS platforms, accelerating critical mission functions.

You will work in a dedicated Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) team and take full end-to-end responsibility for developing and validating state estimation, navigation and guidance algorithms. In close collaboration with field engineers, your goal is to elevate the performance of our UAS platforms to unprecedented levels and impact the future of defense technology.

The day-to-day:

• Own the development of bespoke controllers for UAS end to end; through conception, design, simulation, physical integration and feature iteration.
• Design, test and implement state estimator algorithms that work robustly in contested environments.
• Simulate the performance of navigation and guidance algorithms to inform the definition of sensor stacks, which could include IMUs, GPS/GNSS, barometers, magnetometers and advanced image-based positioning systems.
• Analyse real sensor and test data to calibrate sensors and validate performance, closing the simulation-to-real gap.
• Support the specification and execution of tests for navigation and guidance algorithm evaluation.
• Collaborate with interfacing disciplines such as Flight Mechanics, Aerodynamics, Embedded Hard- and Software, and Testing.
• Contribute to, follow and analyse flight tests.

You should apply if you:

• Hold a M.Sc. or PhD in Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics or an equivalent degree.
• Have at least 5 years of professional experience in navigation, guidance or state estimation development.
• Have very good skills in Matlab/Simulink.
• Have a solid background in state estimation theory, aerodynamics, stability and control, and systems modelling.
• Have excellent communication skills and the ability to report and present findings clearly and efficiently both internally and externally.
• Possess solid software engineering skills, writing clean and well-structured code in Matlab and/or languages like Python, Rust, Java, or modern C++.
• Are passionate about keeping up to date with current research and enjoy reimplementing / extending papers on state of the art navigation and guidance algorithms.

Nice to Have:

• Hands-on experience with fixed-wing aircraft / drones.
• Have worked with or even contributed to open-source autopilots like Ardupilot or PX4.

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:

• Competitive salary and VSOP options.
• Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation.
• Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance.
• Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health).
• Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances.
• Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 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 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.