Procurement Project Manager – UK

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 Procurement Project Manager at Helsing, you will take ownership of procurement activities across development and customer projects, working within established programme structures while bringing increasing independence to how you manage suppliers, timelines, and cost. You will be involved early in project phases, giving you the opportunity to contribute to sourcing decisions before they become fixed constraints. Your work connects engineering, supply chain, production, and external partners, and your ability to coordinate across those boundaries will determine whether projects are set up to deliver. From prototyping through to production ramp-up, you will ensure that the right suppliers are selected, that costs stay on track, and that quality is maintained throughout. At this level, you will be building the experience and judgement needed to manage increasingly complex scopes, supported by senior colleagues while taking genuine responsibility for defined workstreams.

The day-to-day

• Support and lead procurement activities across development and customer projects, ensuring cost, quality, and schedule targets are met across assigned workstreams

• Engage early in project planning phases to contribute to sourcing strategies, flag potential supply risks, and align procurement timelines with engineering and programme milestones

• Research, evaluate, and recommend suppliers for technical components and systems, applying clear assessment criteria and escalating trade-offs for senior review where appropriate

• Serve as a reliable interface between engineering, procurement, suppliers, and production teams, ensuring technical requirements are clearly communicated and that issues are surfaced promptly

• Support prototyping, industrialisation, and serial production ramp-up phases, adapting procurement approaches as projects move through different stages of development

• Track supplier performance against agreed commitments and flag deviations in cost, quality, or delivery early enough for corrective action to be taken

• Contribute to building and maintaining a qualified supplier base that meets Helsing's technical and compliance requirements

You should apply if you

• Have managed procurement activities within technically complex or project-driven environments, taking responsibility for defined workstreams from requirements through to delivery

• Can read and interpret technical documentation well enough to engage meaningfully with engineering teams and assess supplier capabilities without constant support

• Have coordinated across cross-functional teams, keeping engineering, production, and supplier stakeholders aligned on priorities and timelines

• Have supported or led supplier negotiations and relationship management for technical components, with an understanding of what good contract terms look like

• Bring a structured and methodical approach to managing competing priorities, with the ability to escalate clearly when trade-offs arise

• Communicate clearly (in both written and spoken English), adjusting your level of detail to suit technical and non-technical audiences

Note: We operate in an industry where women, as well as other minority groups, are systematically under-represented. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all the listed qualifications; ability and impact cannot be summarised in a few bullet points.

Nice to Have

• Exposure to defence, aerospace, or other regulated industries where compliance, traceability, and quality requirements shape procurement practice

• Familiarity with industrialisation or production ramp-up phases, with an understanding of how sourcing needs shift from development to volume supply

• Experience working with ERP or procurement management systems in a project-led organisation

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: regularly 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

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.