Mechanical Design Engineer

The Role 
 
Our multidisciplinary development team is looking for an experienced Mechanical Design Engineer to help turn concepts into reality. Working in a fast paced environment,  the ability to identify and solve challenges is critical, and requires a proactive individual ready to work at the forefront of the industry where you will develop robust solutions able to operate in challenging conditions.  

The day to day 

• DESIGN: Produce high quality, robust, considered design/packaging work for parts and sub-assemblies for UAVs and related sub systems 

• BE HANDS ON: Build, integrate and test parts during first off builds, taking responsibility for issues and improvements for future design iterations 

• PLAN: Take responsibility for your own projects and timescales 

• SUPPORT: Provide cross functional support to other engineers 

• TROUBLESHOOT: Troubleshoot mechanical issues that arise during ground/air testing, trials, initial builds and providing robust solutions in a timely manner. Lead and assist with fault finding for hardware. 

• DOCUMENTATION: Create and maintain documentation (BOMs, build reports/manuals, purchase trackers, improvement logs etc) related to your project work 

• COLLABORATE: Collaborate with other departments to de-conflict integration issues, ensuring smooth project running and help build inter-team and inter-location relationships 

• INSTRUCT: Instruct technicians on manufacture and testing procedures beyond first prototype builds 

• SUPPLIERS: Liaise with multiple suppliers to obtain the highest quality parts in the quickest possible time. Develop flexible relationships to help us consistently hit our time goals 

• OFFSITE: Support flight testing and demonstrations in the UK and potentially overseas. 

You should apply if you have: 

• A Bachelors or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline 

• Proven experience working within a mechanical engineering team 

• Broad mechanical knowledge, demonstrated by a portfolio of work and detailed CV 

• A track record of taking a blank sheet design through to working prototype, meeting all design/system requirements 

• Experience with SolidWorks (solid and surfacing techniques), practical knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes (fabrication, machining, casting, composite), and treatments (coatings, heat treatment). 

• Experience with 3D printing and Rapid Prototyping techniques 

• Hands on building skills 

• A proactive, self-sufficient, and creative attitude 

• The ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment with constantly evolving project goals 

Nice to have 

• Experience with FE analysis tools – ability to calculate loads and stresses on structures 

• Experience of supporting a marketing team with early prototype renders and images 

• Able to support future junior engineers with day-to-day tasks, personal development, design and packaging skills 

Note: We operate at an intersection where women, as well as other minority groups, are systemically 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.  

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 

• 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