Lead EE Design- Hardware

Lead EE Design- Hardware

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. 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’re looking for an electric/electronics team lead to mentor, motivate and foster a collaborative and innovative work environment focused on aerospace and drone challenges. You will be responsible for providing technical guidance, assisting with complex problem‐solving, particularly regarding SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) optimisation, reliability and environmental qualification.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Manage team performance, conduct reviews and support professional development tailored to aerospace design methodologies.

Hardware Design & Development

• Lead the design, development and testing of complex electronic systems for small drones and aerospace platforms, including avionics, flight control systems, payload integration and power management modules.
• Oversee detailed design work at system, subsystem or electronic board level, including component selection, schematic capture, advanced PCB layout for high‑density low‑EMI applications.
• Drive rapid prototyping, simulation design and analysis focusing on signal integrity, power integrity, thermal performance and EMI compliance in compact systems.
• Ensure designs comply with stringent industry standards, regulations and safety protocols relevant to aerospace (e.g., DO‑160, DO‑254, ARP4754A, ARP4761, ISO 26262).

Project Management & Coordination

• Manage engineering projects from conception to completion, ensuring timely delivery, adherence to aerospace‑grade quality and budget compliance.
• Oversee requirements engineering, validation, verification activities throughout the project lifecycle ensuring traceability and compliance with design assurance levels (DAL) and certification requirements.
• Collaborate effectively with cross‑functional teams (mechanical, firmware, software, product management, manufacturing) to define comprehensive project requirements and specifications specific to drone and aerospace systems.
• Responsible for hardware requirement capture, analysis and detailed documentation (e.g., BOM, DFMEA, FMECA) adhering to aerospace standards.

Process Improvement & Quality Assurance

• Contribute to the development of processes and methodologies, ensuring existing company processes and quality standards (e.g., AS9100) are maintained and evolved for aerospace product development.
• Oversee rigorous testing and validation of circuit designs, including environmental stress screening (ESS), HALT and other aerospace‑specific qualification tests, ensuring performance under extreme conditions.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering or a related field.
• Typically 5+ years of experience in hardware electronics/electrical design, with at least 1‑2 years in a team leadership role, specifically within aerospace, avionics or small drone development.
• Proven experience in leading engineering teams and projects within a regulated industry.

Technical Skills

• Expertise in analog and digital circuit design, including microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex‑M/R), FPGAs, high‑speed interfaces and power electronics optimized for efficiency and minimal footprint.
• Hands‑on experience in schematic capture and advanced PCB layout design tools (e.g., Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro) focusing on impedance control, signal integrity, power integrity and DFM/DFA for high‑reliability assemblies.
• Experience with SPICE and other circuit simulation tools (e.g., Multisim, LTSpice) for detailed analysis.
• Proficiency with aerospace communication protocols (CAN bus, ARINC 429, MIL‑STD‑1553, Ethernet) and drone‑specific protocols.
• Knowledge of DFM, DFA, DFT, design for reliability (DfR) and maintainability (DfMaint).
• Extensive experience with hardware qualification (CVT, DVT, PVT) and environmental testing (vibration, shock, thermal cycling, altitude) as per DO‑160.
• Expertise in mechanical (ECAD/MCAD) integration, thermal management and EMI certification for airborne systems.
• Direct experience in aerospace or automotive safety‑critical systems; strong understanding of design processes, standards and regulatory frameworks.

Nice to Have

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills to interface with internal teams, customers and regulators.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and meticulous attention to detail for safety‑critical systems.
• Decisive and proactive under uncertainty and pressure in aerospace development.
• Strong organizational skills to plan, schedule and coordinate critical milestones.

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, where robustness, safety and ethical considerations are vital.
• Our work frequently reaches the state of the art in technical innovation, including reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI or deployment infrastructure.
• In our domain, success is a matter of order‑of‑magnitude improvements and novel capabilities. We take bets, aim high and focus on big opportunities.
• We actively encourage diverse debate internally about what we do and how we choose to do it, giving teams ownership of their culture and outcomes.

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 employees together across Europe.
• A hands‑on onboarding program (“Infraduction”) where you will build tooling and applications used across the company, learning our tech stack and how we get things done 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.

#J-18808-Ljbffr