Data Engineer

helsing.ai; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A defence AI company in Greater London seeks an expert in architecting data infrastructure for AI systems. The successful candidate will design scalable data pipelines for sensor data and collaborate across teams for production-grade solutions. Ideal applicants have strong experience in video processing and production-level Python coding, as well as an ability to communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders. This is a chance to work on cutting-edge technology that plays a critical role in democratic stability.

Benefits

Competitive compensation and stock options

Relocation support

Social and education allowances

Company events and team-building activities

Hands-on onboarding program

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in production data environments with versioned storage systems.
• Expertise in handling large media datasets and optimizing storage.
• Ability to write production-grade Python code and collaborate with technical teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable data pipelines for sensor and camera data.
• Collaborate with engineers and researchers to translate data needs.
• Build infrastructure between field data acquisition and model training.
• Automate processes to reduce manual overhead.
• Design systems for constrained environments.

Skills

Experience in data infrastructure architecture

Expertise in video processing pipelines

Production-grade Python coding

Understanding of multi-sensor data

Effective communication

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.

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

At Helsing, data is the foundation of our AI capabilities. We build scalable systems that transform raw sensor and camera data into mission‑critical datasets powering advanced AI algorithms. You will architect and build the data pipelines that bridge field data acquisition and AI development, working in an environment where off‑the‑shelf solutions rarely fit and custom systems are the norm.

This role requires moving fast while maintaining a long‑term vision, balancing immediate impact with scalable architecture, and collaborating across teams to deliver flexible solutions that evolve with our needs. Over time you will become a recognized expert in building production data infrastructure for AI systems, shaping how Helsing processes and scales mission‑critical data.

The day‑to‑day

• Design and implement scalable data pipelines that ingest sensor and camera data, process large video datasets, and deliver AI‑ready outputs with high throughput and reliability.
• Collaborate with field operations, AI researchers, and ML engineers to understand data requirements and translate them into automated, production‑grade solutions.
• Build the critical infrastructure layer between data acquisition in the field and model training in production, owning the architecture and technical decisions.
• Reduce manual overhead through automation, establishing best practices for data quality, validation, and observability.
• Design systems that work in constrained environments where standard tools and frameworks don’t apply.

You should apply if you

• Have demonstrated experience architecting and scaling data infrastructure in production environments, including versioned storage systems with access control and efficient queryability.
• Bring expertise in video processing pipelines, handling large media datasets efficiently, and optimizing for storage and compute constraints.
• Write production‑grade Python code with strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Have worked with multi‑sensor computer vision or robotics data, understanding the challenges of synchronization, calibration, and data acquisition in complex systems.
• Communicate effectively across technical and non‑technical stakeholders, balancing speed with long‑term architectural vision.

Nice to have

• Hands‑on experience with hardware systems such as drones, multi‑sensor robotics platforms, or custom data recording setups for computer vision.
• Knowledge of video processing optimisation and codec internals.
• Background in defence, aerospace, or other hardware‑intensive domains.
• Experience with Rust for performance‑critical components.

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.
• 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.

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, whether it is 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 are not incremental; Helsing is part of, and often leading, historic leaps forward.

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.

Equal Opportunity

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