Who we are

Helsing is a defense 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 program managers. We are looking for mission-driven people to join our 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 defense, its benefits, and its ethical implications.

The role

We're building Helsing's first U.S.-based engineering team in Washington, DC. As an early member of this team, you'll be pivotal in building a secure foundation for our applications and cloud architecture. You will be responsible for uniting security and engineering, spanning from cloud architecture, to application SBOM and vulnerability scanning, to continuous monitoring of our organization's cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP).

This role acts as a bridge between engineering and security operations, proactively identifying risks, designing, and implementing security controls (firewalls, IAM, encryption), and conducting deep-dive analysis of cloud-native security logs to detect and remediate threats.

The day-to-day Cloud Infrastructure Security Design: Architect and implement secure cloud infrastructure, ensuring compliance with industry-standard security frameworks (NIST, CIS Benchmarks, ISO 27001).

Security Automation & Dev Sec Ops: Utilize Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or CloudFormation to automate security configurations and embed security scanning (SAST/DAST/IaC scanning) into CI/CD pipelines.

Continuous Monitoring & Analysis: Monitor, analyze, and interpret logs (AWS CloudTrail, Azure Monitor) for signs of suspicious activity, utilizing SIEM systems (Splunk, Elastic) and CSPM tools (Wiz, Prisma).

Threat Detection & Incident Response: Investigate and respond to security incidents, performing forensic analysis on cloud-native services (containers, serverless functions) to mitigate threats.

Identity & Access Management (IAM): Design and manage zero-trust IAM policies, role-based access controls (RBAC), and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to prevent unauthorized access.

Vulnerability Management: Perform regular penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and configuration audits of virtual machines, containers, applications, and network components.

Security Policy Enforcement: Develop and document cloud security policies, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements (NIST, HIPAA, PCI-DSS).

You should apply if you

Possess 3–5+ years in cybersecurity, with at least 2+ years of hands-on experience in cloud infrastructure security (AWS, Azure, or GCP)

Have proficiency in native security tools (e.g., AWS Security Hub, Azure Defender, Guard Duty) and third-party tools (e.g., Wiz, Snyk, Palo Alto)

Have strong scripting capabilities (Python, Bash, or PowerShell) for automation of security tasks

Possess deep knowledge of Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation

Have a thorough understanding of networking protocols (TCP/IP, VPN, DNS, TLS) and virtual networking (VPCs, Subnets, Firewalls)

Demonstrate proven experience in log analysis, threat modeling, and root cause investigation

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 summarized in a few bullet points.

Nice to Have Certifications: Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), AWS Certified Security – Specialty, or Azure Security Engineer Associate

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field

Frameworks: In-depth knowledge of NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, or CMMC

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 defense 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 practice 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

A generous compensation and benefits package (in addition to base salary) that includes, but may not be limited to, insurance coverage (medical and travel), flexible paid time off, paid holidays, and remote and/or hybrid work available depending on position. All compensation and benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying plans or programs, as applicable and as may be amended, terminated or superseded from time to time.

The actual base salary offered to the successful candidate will be determined by a variety of factors including relevant experience, qualifications, education, skill level, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.

Helsing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetics, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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