Senior Systems Engineer ESM / ELS

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

We are developing an advanced airborne platform with integrated Electronic Support and Electronic Warfare capabilities. We are looking for an experienced engineer to lead the technical definition, design, and integration of the platform's Emitter Location System.

The role focuses on the complete direction-finding chain: from antenna-array architecture and antenna-element placement to signal processing, Direction-of-Arrival estimation, geolocation, and system-level co-design with the Radar Warning Receiver.

You will work at the intersection of antenna engineering, radar signal processing, Electronic Support Measures, navigation, aircraft integration, and real-time mission systems.

The day-to-day

• Define the architecture and system-level requirements of an airborne Emitter Location System.

• Translate operational emitter-detection and geolocation needs into measurable technical requirements.

• Develop and assess antenna-array concepts for airborne direction finding.

• Define the number, type, geometry, orientation, and placement of antenna elements on the aircraft.

• Analyse array performance across the required frequency range.

• Assess the impact of:
  - Element spacing
  - Array aperture
  - Phase-centre stability
  - Mutual coupling
  - Airframe shadowing
  - Structural blockage
  - Reflections and multipath
  - Installation-induced amplitude and phase errors
  - Polarisation mismatch

• Balance direction-finding accuracy, angular ambiguity, frequency coverage, installation constraints, and platform size.

• Develop calibration concepts for antenna, RF-channel, and installation-related errors.

• Define requirements for coherent multichannel RF reception, channel synchronisation, phase matching, amplitude matching, and timing accuracy.

• Develop and evaluate algorithms for:
  - Amplitude-comparison direction finding
  - Phase-interferometric direction finding
  - Correlative direction finding
  - Monopulse techniques
  - Beamforming
  - MUSIC, ESPRIT, Capon, and related high-resolution methods
  - Multi-baseline and multi-frequency ambiguity resolution
  - Wideband and frequency-agile emitter direction finding

• Develop robust Direction-of-Arrival estimation methods for dense and complex electromagnetic environments.

• Address challenges 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 confidence metrics and uncertainty estimates for Direction-of-Arrival measurements.

• Develop emitter geolocation methods using successive Direction-of-Arrival measurements and platform motion.

• Integrate aircraft position, attitude, heading, timing, and navigation uncertainties into the emitter-location solution.

• Define interfaces between the Emitter Location System, Radar Warning Receiver, ESM receiver, mission computer, navigation system, and other mission-system components.

• Develop a coherent system concept in which the Radar Warning Receiver and Emitter Location System share receiver resources, detections, signal descriptors, tracks, and threat information where appropriate.

• Assess the trade-offs between wideband threat warning, accurate direction finding, emitter identification, and geolocation performance.

• Define latency, update-rate, probability-of-intercept, dynamic-range, sensitivity, and accuracy requirements.

• Develop simulation environments and representative test scenarios for evaluating array and algorithm performance.

• Perform Monte Carlo analyses and sensitivity studies for antenna-placement errors, RF imperfections, navigation errors, and emitter geometries.

• Support hardware-in-the-loop testing, antenna-range testing, calibration campaigns, ground testing, and flight-test activities.

• Define verification and validation methods for direction-finding and emitter-location performance.

• Coordinate closely with antenna, RF, ESM, Radar Warning Receiver, navigation, software, aircraft, and mission-system engineering teams.

You should apply if you

• Degree in electrical engineering, communications engineering, physics, aerospace engineering, mathematics, or a related technical discipline.

• Several years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas:
  - Direction finding
  - Emitter location
  - Radar Warning Receivers
  - Electronic Support Measures
  - Radar signal processing
  - Phased arrays or antenna arrays
  - Multichannel coherent RF systems

• Strong understanding of antenna-array theory, array manifolds, phase differences, amplitude patterns, beamforming, grating lobes, and angular ambiguity.

• Experience with airborne antenna placement and platform-installation effects is highly desirable.

• Strong understanding of Direction-of-Arrival estimation algorithms and their practical limitations.

• Experience with phase-interferometric or amplitude-comparison direction-finding systems.

• Familiarity with high-resolution subspace methods such as MUSIC or ESPRIT is beneficial.

• Understanding of radar and Electronic Support signal characteristics, including pulse, frequency, modulation, scan, and waveform parameters.

• Experience with Radar Warning Receiver or ESM architectures, including detection, pulse measurement, deinterleaving, identification, threat evaluation, and tracking.

• Understanding of the trade-offs between RWR warning performance and precision emitter-location performance.

• Familiarity with geolocation, state estimation, sensor fusion, and navigation-error propagation.

• Experience defining requirements and interfaces for complex airborne mission systems.

• Experience with electromagnetic simulation tools such as CST, HFSS, FEKO, or comparable tools is beneficial.

• Experience with real-time embedded signal-processing systems, FPGA-based processing, or heterogeneous compute platforms is desirable.

• Strong analytical, communication, and technical-documentation skills.

• Ability to work across antenna, RF, signal-processing, software, navigation, and aircraft-integration disciplines.
  

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