Senior Systems Engineer ESM / ELS
Helsing
Senior Systems Engineer ESM / ELS
Helsing
AI software and autonomous defense systems
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.
We aredeveloping an advancedairborneplatformwithintegrated Electronic Support and Electronic Warfare capabilities. Wearelooking for an experiencedengineer to lead the technicaldefinition, design, and integration of the platform's Emitter Location System.The rolefocuses on the completedirection-findingchain: fromantenna-array architecture and antenna-element placement to signalprocessing, Direction-of-Arrival estimation, geolocation, and system-level co-design with the Radar Warning Receiver.You will work at the intersection of antennaengineering, radarsignalprocessing, Electronic Support Measures, navigation, aircraftintegration, and real-time missionsystems.
Define the architecture and system-level requirements of an airborne Emitter Location System.
Translate operational emitter-detection and geolocation needsintomeasurabletechnicalrequirements.
Develop and assessantenna-array concepts for airbornedirectionfinding.
Define the number, type, geometry, orientation, and placement of antennaelements on the aircraft.
Analyse arrayperformanceacross the requiredfrequencyrange.
Assess the impact of: - Element spacing - Array aperture - Phase-centre stability - Mutual coupling - Airframe shadowing - Structural blockage - Reflections and multipath - Installation-inducedamplitude and phase errors - Polarisation mismatch
Balance direction-findingaccuracy, angular ambiguity, frequencycoverage, installationconstraints, and platformsize.
Developcalibrationconcepts for antenna, RF-channel, and installation-relatederrors.
Define requirements for coherentmultichannel RF reception, channelsynchronisation, phasematching, amplitudematching, and timingaccuracy.
Develop and evaluatealgorithms for: - Amplitude-comparisondirection finding - Phase-interferometricdirection finding - Correlativedirection finding - Monopulse techniques - Beamforming - MUSIC, ESPRIT, Capon, and related high-resolution methods - Multi-baseline and multi-frequencyambiguity resolution - Wideband and frequency-agile emitterdirection finding
Develop robust Direction-of-Arrival estimationmethods for dense and complexelectromagneticenvironments.
Addresschallenges such as: - Multiple simultaneous emitters - Co-channel signals - Low signal-to-noise ratio - Short-duration and low-probability-of-intercept signals - Frequency-agile and pulse-agile radars - Multipath and platform-induced interference
Define confidencemetrics and uncertaintyestimates for Direction-of-Arrival measurements.
Developemitter geolocation methodsusingsuccessiveDirection-of-Arrival measurements and platformmotion.
Integrateaircraftposition, attitude, heading, timing, and navigationuncertaintiesinto the emitter-location solution.
Define interfacesbetween the Emitter Location System, Radar Warning Receiver, ESM receiver, missioncomputer, navigationsystem, and othermission-system components.
Develop a coherentsystemconcept in which the Radar Warning Receiver and Emitter Location System sharereceiverresources, detections, signaldescriptors, tracks, and threatinformationwhereappropriate.
Assess the trade-offs betweenwidebandthreatwarning, accuratedirectionfinding, emitteridentification, and geolocation performance.
Define latency, update-rate, probability-of-intercept, dynamic-range, sensitivity, and accuracyrequirements.
Developsimulationenvironments and representativetestscenarios for evaluatingarray and algorithmperformance.
Perform Monte Carlo analyses and sensitivitystudies for antenna-placement errors, RF imperfections, navigationerrors, and emitter geometries.
Support hardware-in-the-loop testing, antenna-range testing, calibrationcampaigns, groundtesting, and flight-test activities.
Define verification and validationmethods for direction-finding and emitter-location performance.
Coordinatecloselywithantenna, RF, ESM, Radar Warning Receiver, navigation, software, aircraft, and mission-system engineeringteams.
Degree in electricalengineering, communicationsengineering, physics, aerospaceengineering, mathematics, or a relatedtechnicaldiscipline.
Severalyears of professional experience in oneormore of the followingareas: - Direction finding - Emitter location - Radar Warning Receivers - Electronic Support Measures - Radar signal processing - Phasedarraysorantenna arrays - Multichannelcoherent RF systems
Strong understanding of antenna-array theory, arraymanifolds, phasedifferences, amplitudepatterns, beamforming, gratinglobes, and angular ambiguity.
Experience withairborneantennaplacement and platform-installation effectsishighlydesirable.
Strong understanding of Direction-of-Arrival estimationalgorithms and theirpracticallimitations.
Experience withphase-interferometricoramplitude-comparisondirection-findingsystems.
Familiaritywith high-resolution subspacemethods such as MUSIC or ESPRIT isbeneficial.
Understanding of radar and Electronic Support signalcharacteristics, including pulse, frequency, modulation, scan, and waveformparameters.
Experience with Radar Warning Receiver or ESM architectures, includingdetection, pulse measurement, deinterleaving, identification, threatevaluation, and tracking.
Understanding of the trade-offs between RWR warningperformance and precisionemitter-location performance.
Familiaritywith geolocation, stateestimation, sensorfusion, and navigation-error propagation.
Experience definingrequirements and interfaces for complexairbornemissionsystems.
Experience withelectromagneticsimulationtools such as CST, HFSS, FEKO, orcomparabletoolsisbeneficial.
Experience with real-time embedded signal-processingsystems, FPGA-basedprocessing, orheterogeneouscomputeplatformsisdesirable.
Strong analytical, communication, and technical-documentationskills.
Ability to workacrossantenna, RF, signal-processing, software, navigation, and aircraft-integration disciplines.
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
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 (Specifically for engineering and AI)
These are the core benefits across all locations, there may be additional benefits in certain locations.
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.
Helsing develops AI software and autonomous systems for democratic governments, covering air, land, sea, and sub-surface domains. Its software combines data from drones, radar, satellites, cameras and other sensors to create a real-time operational picture that helps commanders detect threats and move quickly, while keeping key decisions under human control. Its product lineup includes AI-enabled strike drones (HF-1 / HX-2) for contested environments and underwater surveillance systems (SG-1 Fathom) for critical infrastructure. Helsing collaborates with European armed forces and partners such as Saab, Airbus and Kongsberg, and has supported Ukraine since 2022. The company has raised large rounds of funding, with a focus on expanding AI platforms and autonomous systems for partner nations. Its goal is to provide robust, field-ready AI-powered platforms that enable faster, safer decision-making and action in defense while maintaining governance over critical choices.
Explore more opportunities at Helsing