Environmental Test Engineer – Generalist and Lethality Package

Who we are 

The Role

The Environmental Cluster is Helsing's "Physical Reality" team within the Test Department. Where other clusters validate functionality, this cluster validates survivability and performance under real-world stress – and this role is its generalist backbone.

As Environmental Test Engineer, you will design, execute, and analyse environmental stress campaigns across the full range of drone sub-systems and Ground Support Equipment (GSE). You will apply the cluster's core methodological toolkit – mechanical, thermal, and environmental qualification – across multiple hardware domains, ensuring test coverage continuity, absorbing campaign overflows from specialist engineers, and extending the cluster's capability into emerging and sensitive hardware areas.

A defined portion of this scope extends to the environmental qualification of lethality packages. This requires a working understanding of the unique regulatory and safety constraints that govern the testing of energetic and weapons-related hardware. This is not a weapons engineering role: the lethality knowledge requirement is scoped specifically to environmental test safety and procedural compliance. You will validate that lethality packages survive the drone's environmental lifecycle without compromising safety or function – operating within a strict regulatory framework at every step.

You will be embedded in a team of domain specialists covering launch systems and ground communication systems. Your role is to ensure that no sub-system falls through a coverage gap, that the cluster's documentation and certification evidence meets the required standard, and that Helsing's hardware is validated against the full physical reality of its operational environment.

The day-to-day

General environmental testing (primary scope)

• Design and execute vibration test campaigns – sine sweep, random vibration, and shock – on drone sub-systems and GSE hardware to simulate transport, operational, and launch-induced dynamic environments
• Execute controlled thermal soak and cycling tests across the full operational temperature range for any sub-system assigned by the Head of Testing or cluster lead
• Run dust and water ingress tests on drone enclosures, connectors, and GSE hardware to validate field survivability against IP-class requirements
• Execute humidity-controlled and salt-spray campaigns to identify corrosion risk in connectors, structural joints, and electronic housings
• Validate component behaviour under simulated low-pressure conditions relevant to the drone's operational altitude range
• Run high-cycle mechanical fatigue and endurance campaigns to characterise material and joint performance over the required operational life of assigned sub-systems
• Deliberately push hardware beyond its design limits to physically map the failure envelope and validate safety margins – producing evidence that informs structural and design decisions across the programme

Cross-cluster support

• Step into any specialist domain – launch systems, communication systems, airframe – to cover campaign peaks without compromising test quality or schedule
• Independently set up instrumentation rigs, configure DAQ systems, and validate sensor placement for any environmental campaign within the cluster
• Coordinate with the Iron Bird Cluster to confirm that sub-systems entering integration have completed their environmental qualification, and that any outstanding findings are formally documented before handover

Lethality package environmental testing (secondary scope)

• Apply the specific safety protocols required for the handling, storage, and testing of lethality-related hardware in an environmental context, operating within ITAR/EAR export control obligations and applicable national defence regulations at all times
• Execute vibration and shock campaigns on inert lethality package representations – non-energetic surrogate hardware – to validate structural survivability under transport and operational dynamic environments without risk of unintended arming
• Evaluate the thermal behaviour of lethality package housings and mechanical interfaces under operational temperature extremes, with specific focus on confirming that thermal expansion does not compromise the safe-arm mechanism's dimensional tolerances
• Execute IP and humidity tests on lethality package enclosures to validate sealing integrity under field environmental conditions
• Validate the mechanical interface between the lethality package and the drone's payload bay under simulated operational loads – vibration, shock, and thermal – confirming that integration does not induce unintended stress on either system

Documentation and certification

• Author detailed, traceable test procedures aligned to DO-160, MIL-STD-810, and – for lethality-related campaigns – applicable defence environmental qualification standards
• Produce structured, evidence-based test reports with raw data, processed curves, and clear pass/fail conclusions for every assigned campaign
• Log every anomaly with structured Root Cause Analysis and clear corrective action recommendations, ensuring full traceability from observation to resolution
• Contribute to the environmental qualification dossiers for all assigned sub-systems, applying the appropriate level of classification and access control to lethality-related test evidence

You should apply if you

• Have designed and executed hands-on environmental test campaigns – vibration, shock, thermal cycling, or ingress testing – and can own a campaign from procedure authoring through to final report without close supervision
  
  
• Are proficient in physical instrumentation and DAQ configuration: you have worked with strain gauges, accelerometers, thermocouples, pressure transducers, and load cells, and understand how sensor placement decisions affect data quality
  
  
• Have a solid working knowledge of structural mechanics, material fatigue, and vibration dynamics across metallic and composite structures, and can interpret test results in that context
  
  
• Have operated environmental test equipment – vibration tables, thermal chambers, shock rigs, salt-spray cabinets, or IP spray rigs – as a primary operator, not solely as a test observer
  
  
• Have worked within a formal standards framework such as DO-160 or MIL-STD-810, and understand how to translate standard requirements into a defensible, auditable test procedure
  
  
• Have worked with defence, dual-use, or otherwise regulated hardware in a test context, and understand what it means to apply a "Treat as Live" principle or operate within an export-controlled data environment

Nice to have

• Familiarity with UAV or unmanned systems hardware – you understand the platform context behind the sub-systems you are testing
  
  
• Direct experience testing energetic, pyrotechnic, or weapons-adjacent hardware within a regulated test environment, with exposure to safe-arm principles and associated test setup constraints
  
  
• Experience contributing to a certification evidence package for an aerospace or defence programme – you understand what a qualification dossier needs to contain and why traceability matters
  
  
• Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR obligations as they apply to test data, report handling, and access control for defence-related hardware programmes
  
  
• Familiarity with FEA or simulation outputs – not as a primary tool, but as a reference against which physical test results can be sense-checked and interpreted
  
  
• Experience coordinating across hardware integration teams – you have handed sub-systems into or out of an integration environment and understand the documentation requirements that govern that interface

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, 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

• Competitive salary and VSOP options

• Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation

• Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance

• Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)

• Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances

• Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers

• Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work

• 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 

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.