Software Engineer - Infrastructure

Who we are Helsing is a defense 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. The role We're building Helsing's first U.S.-based engineering team in Washington, DC. As an early member of this team, you'll architect and build the infrastructure foundation that enables our mission in the U.S. market. This is a rare greenfield opportunity to establish secure, compliant cloud infrastructure from the ground up while working at the intersection of cutting-edge AI technology and national security. You will own the end-to-end infrastructure stack — from designing and implementing compliant AWS environments to developing and deploying the developer tooling that multiplies your team's effectiveness. As we scale, you'll build the platforms and automation that allow teams to focus on rapidly delivering capabilities to our customers, safely and securely. The day-to-day Architect and implement AWS GovCloud infrastructure that meets CMMC Level 2 requirements and prepares us for certification. Create, manage, and execute on a roadmap for adopting, modifying, and deploying Helsing's infrastructure patterns and developer tooling. Work with the Core Infra and DevX teams to adopt or create what makes sense for our specific needs. Maintain Terraform and IaC tooling, manage Kubernetes workload infrastructure for builds and AI training, and co-develop Python and Rust based developer tools. Improve developer productivity by leveraging existing tools and creating new ones. Support DevOps and MLOps workflows, complete with CI/CD automation and CLI tooling. Work with vendors, partners, and service providers to integrate third-party tooling while maintaining our security and compliance requirements. As a senior member, you will help interview, onboard, and mentor new engineers. Over time, you will contribute to the growth and culture of the infrastructure teams. You should apply if you Have deep experience with AWS, including designing and operating production infrastructure at scale. Experience with AWS GovCloud, or creating compliant AWS infrastructure, is a significant plus Are proficient with Kubernetes and have familiarity with Cloud-Native Technologies, like Helm, ArgoCD, or Flux Have strong Infrastructure as Code skills, ideally with Terraform, and can design modular, maintainable infrastructure that evolves with compliance requirements Can write clean, maintainable code in Python, Rust, or similar languages to build internal tooling and automation Communicate effectively in both technical and compliance contexts and can explain architectural decisions to engineers and security posture to auditors Thrive in ambiguity and take ownership of outcomes. You don't wait for perfect requirements; you actively seek context, make pragmatic decisions, and iterate based on feedback Value operational excellence and understand that infrastructure reliability directly impacts mission success Feel that building technology in service of democratic values is meaningful work worth doing Can obtain a security clearance (Secret or Top Secret preferred) Are able to work in a hybrid environment in Washington, DC, with occasional travel to customer sites or European offices 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 summarized in a few bullet points. Nice to Have Experience with defense compliance frameworks such as CMMC Level 2, FedRAMP Moderate/High, NIST 800-171, or similar security standards Experience with MLOps platforms and infrastructure for trainin