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.
Finance at Helsing is being built from first principles. There are no legacy systems, no inherited processes, and no established playbooks. As FP&A Team Lead, you will be one of the first senior finance hires and will shape the function from the ground up — designing the planning infrastructure, the reporting architecture, the capital model, and the financial narrative that will take Helsing through its next phase of growth and towards a public listing.
This is not a role where you will inherit a tool stack or a process. You will build both. Working as a financial partner to the CEO and VP Business Finance, you will produce the numbers that steer the business, the models that support capital allocation decisions, and the investor-grade reporting that positions Helsing for IPO. You will operate at the intersection of defence contract economics — cost-plus, time and materials, fixed-price, government milestone billing — and modern financial architecture. You will need to understand both, model both, and explain both to a Board that includes some of the most sophisticated investors in European technology.
Financial Planning & Forecasting
Own the annual budget and multi-year long-range plan across all business units, domains and geographie
Build and maintain a rolling 12-month forecast updated monthly, with full P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and capital plan integration
Design scenario models (bull / base / bear) that stress-test revenue against contract win rates, programme timelines and geopolitical variables
Lead the monthly financial review cycle — packaging actuals vs forecast vs budget with clear variance analysis and management commentary
Own overhead cost tracking and cross-functional cost allocation models, ensuring programme margins are correctly stated
IPO Readiness & Investor Reporting
Build the financial model underpinning Helsing's IPO equity story — revenue quality, gross margin trajectory, EBITDA bridge, cash burn and path to profitability
Develop and maintain the investor KPI dashboard: ARR, NRR, contract backlog, revenue per employee and gross margin by product line and domain
Prepare investor reporting, board packs and capital markets materials to the standard expected by institutional investors
Capital & Strategic Finance
Build and own the capital allocation framework — how Helsing decides which programmes, markets and M&A targets to invest in
Model CAPEX vs OPEX trade-offs for major investment decisions including facility expansion, owned hardware platforms and data centre infrastructure
Analyse and propose capital optimisation levers including lease vs own, build vs buy, and government grant or subsidised financing opportunities (EIB, export credit agencies, national defence industrial funds)
Support the CFO on term sheet analysis, financing structures and debt covenant modelling
Own working capital management — programme billing milestones, payment terms with governments and primes, and cash flow optimisation
Business Partnering & Decision Support
Translate operational plans into financial outcomes as a direct partner to the VP Business Finance and CEO
Build financial models for major business decisions: new market entry, domain expansion, pricing strategy and headcount investment cases
Analyse defence contract economics across contract types — cost-plus, T&M, fixed-price, IDIQ — and ensure bidding and revenue recognition reflect the correct financial treatment under IFRS 15
Partner with the M&A team on financial due diligence for acquisition targets and post-close integration financial modelling
Systems, Data & AI-First Finance
Lead the selection and implementation of Helsing's FP&A tooling — from planning platform (Anaplan, Pigment, Cube, or equivalent) to management reporting stack
Build AI-powered forecasting models that draw on contract backlog data, programme burn rates and external defence budget signals
Design the finance data architecture — ensuring planning data is clean, auditable and connected to the ERP
Develop and deploy AI agents for automated variance analysis, forecast generation and board reporting — reducing manual effort and increasing analytical depth
Define and own the single source of truth for all financial KPIs across the organisation
Have built an FP&A function from scratch — no inherited team, no legacy tools, no established process — and can demonstrate the planning infrastructure, reporting architecture and team you created
Have operated successfully in a high-growth, venture-backed or recently listed technology environment and understand the financial complexity of scaling across multiple geographies and contract types
Can build three-statement integrated financial models from first principles and model complex defence contract structures (cost-plus, T&M, fixed-price, milestone billing) under IFRS 15
Have selected and implemented modern FP&A tooling and take an AI-first approach to forecasting, variance analysis and reporting — you do not accept manual processes where automation can deliver greater analytical depth
Communicate the financial narrative clearly and concisely to non-financial audiences, including a Board with deep capital markets and valuation expertise
Are business-fluent in English and able to operate across Helsing's multi-jurisdiction footprint
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.
Experience in defence, aerospace, deep tech or dual-use technology — including programme accounting, government procurement cycles and the financial complexity of classified programmes
IPO experience — either as a member of an IPO team, a CFO's direct report through a listing, or in an investment banking or private equity context advising on IPO transactions
Deep knowledge of IFRS 16 (leases) and the treatment of government grants and R&D expenditure
Professional qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or MBA; CFA is an advantage for the investor relations component
Proficiency in SQL, Python or R for financial data analysis
Working proficiency in German or French
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
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
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
Helsing was founded to provide Artificial Intelligence to protect our democracies. Helsing works with partners in governments and across industry. Together, we develop systems that leverage AI and autonomy to provide autonomous mass that is sovereign, scalable and affordable.
We’re looking for people with their heart in the right place, who share our conviction that liberal democratic values are worth protecting, for ourselves and for future generations.
