Software Engineer - Autonomous Air Systems

About the role

You'll build the autonomy brain for a cutting-edge autonomous aerial platform that will actually take flight. At Helsing, you won't just be developing software; you'll be integrating state-of-the-art reinforcement learning agents into the operational systems of our own Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV), the CA-1 Europa, part of the groundbreaking Centaur project. Working at the intersection of machine learning and systems engineering, you'll integrate reinforcement learning agents into high-performance runtime systems, enabling real-time autonomous decision-making in flight.

What you'll do

• Maintain our existing software stack, including working with internal and external customers to identify issues, improving operational reliability and performance, and fending off technical debt. The stack is a mix of Rust and Python, with Python mainly living in the ML-heavy sections.
• Further develop our tests and benchmarks, both at the micro and macro level, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations and flight testing.
• Review code contributions, proposals, and RFCs from colleagues, ensuring robustness and adherence to safety and performance standards critical for airborne applications.
• Propose and implement new features, capabilities, algorithms, infrastructure, or even full products across our stack, with a focus on refining the capabilities and reliability of our airborne mission systems.
• Become a mentor, find a mentee, and help support and develop our interviewing pipeline.
• Share your experience and technical know-how with other Helsingers via tech talks, "let's learn together" groups, and topical office hours.

What you'll need

• Can write legible, maintainable, and performant code.
• Communicate well in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Enjoy collaborating with others, including reviewing code and pair programming, particularly on complex system architectures involving tight hardware-software integration on a real-world aerial platform.
• Comfortable working asynchronously (writing PRs and RFCs, having discussions by email).
• Strong backend or embedded development experience, ideally with a language like Rust, Go, or C++.
• Comfortable working with Python in the ML-heavy sections of the stack.
• Feel like ethical considerations are an inherent part of engineering.

Nice to have

• Rust and Python specifically.
• Experience deploying Reinforcement Learning or Machine Learning agents in real-world systems.
• Safety programming experience.
• Familiarity with low-level flight control systems and their interfaces.
• Experience with sensor integration (IMUs, GPS, Lidar, Cameras) and sensor fusion techniques for navigation.
• Robotics (e.g., control systems) or production ML systems.