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Senior UX Designer (AI & Defence Systems) – Product Design Lead

Helsing Germany
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AI Summary

Join Helsing as a Senior UX Designer to shape the future of AI-driven defence systems by designing intuitive, trustworthy, and ethical applications for high-stakes environments. You’ll lead product development from concept to delivery, pushing boundaries in AI and UX while collaborating cross-functionally in a fast-paced, mission-driven startup. Ownership and impact are prioritized over bureaucracy, with opportunities to influence culture and work processes.

Key Highlights
Lead UX design for AI-based cognitive applications in defence, ensuring usability, reliability, and ethical compliance for battlefield use
Work in a high-impact, early-stage environment with full ownership over product development cycles (concept to delivery) in months, not years
Collaborate with world-leading experts in AI, radar systems, and military doctrine to solve complex, mission-critical challenges with autonomy and responsibility
Key Responsibilities
Design intuitive and trustworthy AI-based applications for defence and cognitive systems, ensuring usability in high-pressure battlefield scenarios
Lead product development from ideation to delivery, collaborating across engineering, AI, and military doctrine teams to define and execute solutions
Challenge the status quo and translate abstract concepts (e.g., radar systems, cognitive load, ethics) into actionable UX design strategies
Drive ethical and mission-aligned product outcomes, balancing technical innovation with geopolitical and safety considerations
Foster a culture of responsible autonomy, critical thinking, and proactive debate within the team to shape Helsing’s work and processes
Technical Skills Required
User Experience (UX) Design Product Design (End-to-End) Cross-Functional Collaboration
Benefits & Perks
Competitive compensation and VSOP options
Relocation support
Social and education allowances
Nice to Have
Background in AI, defence/intelligence, or B2B product companies
Experience with physical or innovative complex products
Experience with reinforcement learning, distributed systems, or generative AI

Job Description


Who We Are

Helsing is a new type of defence and artificial intelligence company. We believe that software - and especially artificial intelligence - will shape our democracies’ future. Our purpose is to attain technology leadership so that democratic societies are free to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards.

Our mission is to attract Europe’s best purpose-driven tech talent and apply their capabilities to some of the most complex problems.

We are looking for people with their heart in the right place, who share our conviction that our democratic values are worth protecting, for ourselves and for future generations.

The role

Join our team and use your UX skills to make a real difference. As software and AI become increasingly complex, it's critical to design intuitive and trustworthy applications, particularly for those on the battlefield.

We are still at the beginning of our journey. As a member of our team, you will have the opportunity to explore uncharted territories and help set the standard for great UX in AI-based cognitive applications for the next decade. Together, we will tackle complex design challenges and push the boundaries of what's possible with AI and UX design.

Expect impact – You will play a key role in our product development, aiming for big breakthroughs, not just small tweaks. You will ensure that we deliver products that are easy to use, reliable, and ethical – enabling soldiers to use them confidently in the heat of battle.

Expect speed and agility – Rather than just writing recommendations, strategies or ideas, you will be bringing products to life in a matter of months. You will contribute to every stage of the product development cycle, from concept to delivery, leveraging the full range of skills and tools at a designer’s disposal.

Expect autonomy and responsibilities – At Helsing, impact comes from doing, not overseeing. It is all about the work, not the fluff. You will not find yourself drowning in emails, sitting through pointless meetings, dealing with bureaucratic red tape or overcooked strategies. You will be in a dynamic, fluid, and challenging environment, where you, as an individual contributor, are entrusted with significant responsibilities and encouraged to define your own challenges. We are here to build, period.

The day-to-day

  • Generalist product designers, comfortable with all aspects of the design process
  • Experienced in early-stage complex product development or entrepreneurial endeavours
  • Comfortable in challenging the status quo and build understanding of abstract concepts which leads to solutions
  • Strong communication skills, with proven experience in cross-functional collaboration

Nice to have

  • Background in AI, defence/intelligence, or B2B product companies
  • Experience with physical or innovative complex products

You should apply if you

  • Are a builder at heart
  • Are a seasoned designer craving more hands-on work, less admin, fewer emails and fewer meetings
  • Are seeking to deliver work that will make a difference in the world
  • Have an appreciation of the broad role of product design, and believe it goes beyond drawing pixels
  • Have a willingness to lean into uncertainty, and use your skills to help your teammates making progress
  • Are a fast learner and have the intellectual curiosity to learn about the many new areas you will be taken into: radar systems; military doctrine; cognitive load; ethics; and so on…
  • Have personal values which match ours: ownership, initiative, dedication to mission, speed and inclusiveness

Note: We operate at an intersection 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.

Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields

  • Helsing’s work is important. You will 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 VSOP options
  • Relocation support
  • Social and education allowances
  • Regular company events and all-hands to bring together employees as one team across Europe

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 not submit personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning your health, or data concerning your sexual orientation.

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

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