The role

Based in Paris, the Senior/Programme Manager (NATO & EU) will create new opportunities to shape and align Helsing’s strategic partnerships and ambitious customer programmes that define the future of defence, national security, and intelligence.

The day-to-day

You will focus on building Helsing’s NATO and EU engagement and business by:

• Building a deep understanding of customer demands and evaluating opportunities for collaboration with various NATO organisations, commands, divisions, and agencies (incl. SHAPE, ACT, NATO Regional Commands, NCIA etc.)
• Execute Helsing strategy regarding EU institutions (European Defence Fund, European Defence Agency), identify relevant EDF calls and secure Helsing participation.
• Set-up and entertain a respective Key Account Management function ensuring the appropriate interactions between NATO stakeholders and Helsing experts.
• Lead respective sales campaign in close cooperation with Helsing’s leadership teams, domains, product and technical teams.
• Manage ongoing projects in close collaboration with NATO and government customers and/or industry partners.
• Be responsible for overall project management, risks and budget tracking as well as project planning during bid and delivery phases for NATO and EU projects
• Prioritise and drive Helsing engagement into relevant NATO studies, military exercises, and AI certification & standardisation efforts.
• Identify and prioritise relevant NATO & EU industry events Helsing should attend, defining objectives and tracking impact
• Define engagement plan of senior decision makers and political stakeholders, and coordinate engagement of Helsing leadership team

You should apply if you

• Are experienced across government, the defence industry, or related professional services
• Have strong knowledge of NATO and EU organisations, including prior experience working and engaging with NATO
• Hold deep domain expertise within aerospace or defence, military, or the intelligence community
• Have an appreciation of the broad role of program development and management within a company, from commercial through to technical
• Have a willingness to lean into uncertainty and lead a team in the discovery of new business / product areas and its co-creation with our customers.
• Have the intellectual curiosity to learn about the many new areas you’ll be taken into : defence mission systems, defence procurement; military doctrine; defence-industrial policy; defence AI technology and regulation
• Your own personal values match ours: ownership, initiative, dedication to mission, speed and inclusiveness
• Have a university degree (or equivalent experience) in any subject relevant to these sectors, including but not limited to Political Science, Business Administration, Data Science, Aerospace Engineering, and other relevant studies.
• Are fluent in English and French (German desirable)

Note: The above bullet points describe the ideal candidate. None of us matched all of these at once when we first joined Helsing. We encourage you to apply even if you believe you meet only part of our wish list.

This position requires the successful applicant to apply for and be granted NATO Secret security clearance.

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

• 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