Camera Engineer

Helsing; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Helsing seeks a Camera Engineer to own the imaging stack from lens choice to data pipelines, collaborating with optical physics, electrical engineering and computer vision teams.

You will translate mission requirements into concrete sensor specifications, lead hardware bring-up, and push designs from prototype to production, ensuring robust, field-ready systems that meet real-world constraints.

Qualifications

• PhD or MSc in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, Optical Engineering or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Proven track record taking opto-electronic systems from prototype to production.
• Knowledge of imaging physics: lens selection, CMOS architecture, quantum efficiency, noise.

Responsibilities

• Define imaging architecture and select lens and sensor combinations; align specs with AI requirements.
• Write FPGA firmware for high-speed sensor interfaces and synchronization.
• Drive the manufacturing lifecycle with external partners to move designs to production and define validation tests.
• Lead hardware bring-up and lab validation, solving integration challenges.
• Tune image quality and optimize designs and low-level algorithms for AI downstream.

Skills

C/C++

Rust

FPGA firmware

Sensor pipelines

Imaging synchronization

Education

PhD/MSc in EE/CE/Applied Physics/Optical Eng

Tools

Verilog/SystemVerilog/VHDL

Zemax/Code V

Linux kernel drivers / V4L2

Job description

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.

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

Helsing builds AI that works in the field, under real conditions, against real constraints. The Camera Engineer owns the imaging stack that makes that possible. From photon to bit, you define the hardware architecture that feeds our AI with the highest-quality, precisely timed sensor data.

You will translate mission requirements into concrete specifications for lenses, sensors, and data pipelines. You will work inside a multidisciplinary team spanning optical physics, electrical engineering, and computer vision, and you will see your designs move from prototype to operational deployment.

This is not a research role. The systems you build have real-world consequence.

The day-to-day

• Define imaging architecture. Select lens and sensor combinations, align specifications with the AI team, and own the technical trade-offs between optical performance and algorithm requirements.


• Implement low-level logic. Write FPGA firmware to handle high-speed sensor interfaces and hardware-based synchronisation.


• Drive the manufacturing lifecycle. Work directly with external partners to take designs from prototype to production. Define validation tests and resolve integration challenges across complex opto-electronic assemblies.


• Lead hardware bring-up and debug. Spend hands-on time in the lab, test performance under varying conditions, and support integration into the software stack.


• Tune image quality. Analyse camera performance against application requirements and optimise designs and low-level algorithms to maximise sensor value for AI downstream.

You should apply if you

• A Ph.D. or M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.


• A track record of taking complex opto-electronic systems from prototype to production.


• Practical knowledge of opto-mechanical design challenges, including thermal management for high-power sensors and mechanical mounting for optical alignment.


• A strong understanding of imaging physics: lens selection, MTF characteristics, CMOS sensor architecture, quantum efficiency, and noise sources.


• System-level synchronisation experience, including PTP, PPS, and hardware triggers such as Hsync and Vsync, to align image capture with other sensors and compute modules.


• Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust for low-level firmware development or hardware-software interface debugging.

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

• FPGA development experience using Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL or equivalent, including high-bandwidth data streams, video processing pipelines, and sensor interfaces.


• Hands-on PCB design and debug experience for high-bandwidth image sensors, with knowledge of signal integrity for MIPI CSI-2, LVDS, SLVS-EC, or similar.


• Familiarity with optical design software such as Zemax or Code V, including ray tracing, lens curvature, or custom glass specification.


• Experience writing Linux kernel drivers or working with V4L2 or similar frameworks to interface with sensors.


• Exposure to computer vision or AI pipelines and an understanding of how captured images are consumed by downstream algorithms.


• Experience designing, calibrating, and programming LWIR cameras.

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.