Camera Engineer - Physical Products

Camera Engineer - Physical Products at Helsing

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 Camera Engineer, you will give sight to our next generation of autonomous drones. In this role, you will take ownership of the full imaging stack, designing custom opto‑electronic architectures that allow our AI to perceive the world with superhuman precision, even in challenging, contested environments. You will move beyond off‑the‑shelf integration, guiding the design of custom sensor boards, architecting high‑bandwidth FPGA logic, and ensuring microsecond‑level synchronization between optical sensors and the platform's compute core. Working at the intersection of hardware and Perception AI, you will translate abstract mission requirements into concrete, ruggedised hardware—from the lens selection to the bitstream. Your expertise will be vital in realizing robust, scalable solutions that enhance the situational awareness of Helsing's AI systems, directly supporting our mission to provide advanced defence capabilities. For a better idea of the impact you will have, check out our work on AI‑enabled land and air capabilities at and You will be building the eyes for systems that define the future of information superiority and platform protection.

Day‑to‑Day Responsibilities

• Define the imaging architecture: select the optimal combination of lenses and sensors, aligning requirements with our AI team to optimise algorithm performance, balancing technical trade‑offs.
• Guide and perform the implementation of low‑level logic such as FPGA programming, handling high‑speed sensor interfaces, and implementing hardware‑based synchronization.
• Drive the manufacturing lifecycle: collaborate closely with external partners to transition designs from prototype to production, define validation tests, and resolve challenges for complex opto‑electronic assemblies.
• Hardware bring‑up and debug: spend hands‑on time in the lab bringing up prototypes, testing their performance under varying conditions, and supporting integration into our software stack.
• Image quality tuning: analyse application‑specific camera performance and tune designs and low‑level algorithms to maximise the value the sensor provides to our AI applications.

Requirements

• Ph.D. or M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, related field or equivalent work experience.
• Professional track record of bringing complex opto‑electronic systems from prototype to mass production.
• Mastery of opto‑mechanical design challenges, e.g. thermal management for high‑power sensors or precise mechanical mounting for optical alignment.
• Deep understanding of the physics of imaging, ranging from lens selection and MTF characteristics to CMOS sensor architecture, quantum efficiency, and noise sources.
• System‑level synchronization knowledge, including PTP, PPS, or hardware triggers (Hsync, Vsync) to align image capture with other sensors and compute modules.
• Proficiency in languages such as C/C++ or Rust for low‑level firmware development or hardware‑software interface debugging.

Nice to Have

• Experience bringing hardware to life using Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL or similar, dealing with high‑bandwidth data streams, video processing pipelines, and sensor interfaces on the lowest level.
• Hands‑on experience designing and debugging PCBs for high‑bandwidth image sensors, including managing signal integrity for MIPI CSI‑2, LVDS, SLVS‑EC links, or similar.
• Experience with optical design software (e.g., Zemax, Code V, or equivalent) and familiarity with ray tracing, lens curvature, or custom glass specification.
• Experience writing Linux Kernel Drivers or working with V4L2 or similar frameworks to interface with our sensors.
• Exposure to computer vision or AI pipelines, understanding how the images captured are consumed by Helsing’s downstream algorithms.
• Experience with thermal imaging design, calibration, and programming LWIR cameras.

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 together employees as one team across Europe.
• A hands‑on onboarding program (affectionately labelled “Infraduction”), where you will build tooling and applications used across the company, 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.

Helsing's Candidate Privacy and Confidentiality Regime can be found here.