Test Engineer - Environment (manual)

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.

As an Environment Test Engineer, you will be responsible for the design, execution, and analysis of environmental stress test campaigns across the full range of drone sub-systems and Ground Support Equipment (GSE). As a generalist within the Environmental Cluster, you will apply your knowledge to mechanical, thermal, and environmental qualification—across multiple hardware domains. The Environmental Cluster is the «Physical Reality» team within the Test Department. Where other clusters validate functionality, the Environmental Cluster validates survivability and performance under real-world stress.

The cluster is organized around domain specialists—Launch Systems, Ground Communication Systems—but requires a generalist backbone to ensure test coverage continuity across all sub-systems, absorb campaign overflows from specialist engineers, and extend the cluster's capability into emerging and sensitive hardware domains.

• Vibration & Shock Campaigns: Designing and executing vibration test campaigns (sine sweep, random vibration, shock) on drone sub-systems and GSE hardware to simulate transport, operational, and launch-induced dynamic environments.
• Thermal Soak & Cycling: Executing controlled thermal exposure tests across the full operational temperature range on any sub-system assigned by the Head of Testing or cluster lead.
• IP & Ingress Testing: Executing dust and water ingress tests on drone enclosures, connectors, and GSE hardware to validate field survivability.
• Humidity, Salt Spray & Corrosion: Running humidity-controlled and salt-spray campaigns to identify corrosion risks in connectors, structural joints, and electronic housings.
• Altitude Simulation: Validating component behaviour under simulated low-pressure conditions relevant to the operational altitude range of the drone.
• Fatigue & Endurance: Running high-cycle mechanical campaigns to characterize material and joint fatigue over the required operational life of any assigned sub-system.
• Failure Mode Boundary Testing: Deliberately pushing hardware beyond its design limits to physically map the failure envelope and validate safety margins across all assigned sub-systems.

Note: We operate in an industry 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.

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