Software Engineer - Backend

Helsing; Paris; On-site; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and stock options

Relocation support

Social and education allowances

Regular company events and meetings

Hands-on onboarding program

Job summary

A leading defence AI company in Paris is looking for a Software Engineer – Backend to develop AI-based capabilities and maintain existing technology. The role involves writing performance-optimized code primarily in Rust and Python, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and knowledge sharing. The ideal candidate will have backend experience and understand modern coding practices. This position offers competitive compensation and a supportive work culture focused on ethical considerations and innovation.

Qualifications

• Write legible, maintainable, performant code.
• Communicate effectively in English.
• Collaborate through code review and pair programming.
• Work asynchronously with PRs, RFCs, and email discussions.
• Backend experience with Rust, Java, Go, or C++.
• Familiar with REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and Arrow.

Responsibilities

• Review and prioritize code contributions and proposals.
• Propose and implement new features and infrastructure.
• Mentor peers and support the interviewing pipeline.
• Lead tech talks to share knowledge.
• Maintain stack in Rust and Python to improve reliability.

Skills

Legible code writing

Effective communication in English

Code review collaboration

Asynchronous work with PRs

Backend experience with Rust, Java, Go, or C++

Familiarity with REST, GraphQL, gRPC

Self-improvement and culture enhancement

Ethical engineering consideration

Tools

Rust

Python

Docker

AWS

Prometheus

Grafana

SQL

Job description

Software Engineer – Backend at Helsing

Who We Are Helsing is a defence AI company dedicated to protecting democracies. Our mission is to achieve technological leadership so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions while maintaining ethical standards. We are an ambitious, committed team of engineers, AI specialists, and customer‑facing programme managers, and we seek mission‑driven people to join our European teams.

The Role we develop and deliver AI‑based capabilities and the enabling infrastructure that allow semi‑autonomous platforms to localise, navigate, and perceive the world in real time. We build software that operates under constant change, must support challenging use‑cases, and is used in high‑risk, high‑stress situations. The engineering challenges span distributed systems, embedded computing, robotics, networking, deployment infrastructure, security, and machine learning.

• Distributed systems: intermittent connectivity and Byzantine actors.
• Embedded computing: resource‑constrained compute and reverse‑engineering.
• Robotics: control systems and tasking.
• Networking: long‑range low‑bandwidth radios and cross‑medium routing.
• Deployment infrastructure: air‑gapped devices and heterogeneous fleets.
• Security: data sharing in low‑trust, no‑TLS networks and secret data handling.
• Machine learning: systems for model development, storage, and dissemination.

Day‑to‑Day Activities

• Review code contributions, proposals, and RFCs, prioritising unblocking colleagues.
• Propose and implement new features, capabilities, and infrastructure across our stack.
• Mentor peers, support the interviewing pipeline, and grow the engineering community.
• Lead tech talks and office hours (e.g., on Rust) to share knowledge.
• Maintain the existing stack (Rust and Python), improving reliability, performance, and reducing technical debt.
• Develop extensive tests and benchmarks for robustness.
• Present work at weekly demo sessions, fostering shared understanding and feedback.

Requirements

• Write legible, maintainable, performant code.
• Communicate effectively in English.
• Collaborate through code review and pair programming.
• Work asynchronously with PRs, RFCs, and email discussions.
• Backend experience with Rust, Java, Go, or C++.
• Familiar with REST, GraphQL, gRPC/Protocol Buffers, and Arrow.
• Strive to improve yourself, peers, and culture over time.
• Consider ethical implications a core part of engineering.

Note: Women and other minority groups are under‑represented in this intersection; we encourage applicants who may not meet all listed qualifications. Ability and impact cannot be summarised in a few bullet points.

Nice to Have

• Rust and Python specifically.
• Container‑based, cloud‑native architectures (Docker, Azure, AWS).
• Metrics tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• SQL and streaming databases.
• Routing protocols (IGP, BGP).
• Cryptographic protocols (Signal, WireGuard).
• Hardware interfaces (Arduino).
• Robotics control systems.
• Production ML systems.

Why Helsing?

• Direct impact on protecting democratic countries while balancing ethical and geopolitical concerns.
• Uniqueness of highly unusual technical requirements and constraints.
• Innovation at the state‑of‑the‑art, including reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, and deployment infrastructure.
• Opportunity to shape culture and autonomy, with responsibility for outcomes over time‑tracking.
• Recent government contracts and rapid growth.

What We Offer

• Outcome‑focused work culture.
• Competitive compensation and stock options.
• Relocation support.
• Social and education allowances.
• Regular company events and all‑hands meetings across Europe.
• Hands‑on onboarding program titled “Infraduction,” building cross‑team tooling and applications.

Helsing is an equal‑opportunity employer committed to diversity. We do not store personally identifying data. Candidate Privacy and Confidentiality Regime can be found here.

Senioritiy Level: Entry level

Employment Type: Full‑time

Job Function: Engineering and Information Technology

Industry: Software Development