Robotics Senior Digital Designer
Helsing · Barcelona, Spain · 29d ago
Who we are
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.
The role
Based in Barcelona, this role sits at the intersection of aesthetic vision and engineering rigour, leading all surface design activities across the full product development cycle for Helsing's robotics portfolio. You will take ownership from concept creation through to serial production, ensuring every surface decision reflects Helsing's Design DNA while meeting technical and manufacturing requirements. Working across industrial design, engineering, and supplier teams, you will translate digital intent into tangible, high-quality robotic and drone systems, bridging strategic design thinking with hands-on execution to deliver products that perform in the real world
• Lead the development and validation of Class A surfaces across multiple concurrent projects, from early sketch phases to tooling release and production ramp-up, ensuring every output meets aesthetic, functional, and manufacturing requirements.
• Serve as the primary point of expertise for surface and design solutions, providing guidance on visual continuity and manufacturability to cross-functional teams including industrial designers, engineers, tooling specialists, and suppliers.
• Drive real-world testing, mockup evaluations, and tactile reviews, ensuring digital designs translate accurately into high-quality, production-ready products.
• Collaborate daily with product teams, engineering, marketing, and project leadership to resolve technical challenges and maintain seamless alignment between design intent and production realities.
• Manage timelines and prioritise deliverables across projects at varying maturity levels, balancing design quality, cost-efficiency, and time-to-market without compromising on detail-level excellence.
The day-to-day
• Lead the development and validation of Class A surfaces across multiple concurrent projects, from early sketch phases to tooling release and production ramp-up, ensuring every output meets aesthetic, functional, and manufacturing requirements.
• Serve as the primary point of expertise for surface and design solutions, providing guidance on visual continuity and manufacturability to cross-functional teams including industrial designers, engineers, tooling specialists, and suppliers.
• Drive real-world testing, mockup evaluations, and tactile reviews, ensuring digital designs translate accurately into high-quality, production-ready products.
• Collaborate daily with product teams, engineering, marketing, and project leadership to resolve technical challenges and maintain seamless alignment between design intent and production realities.
• Manage timelines and prioritise deliverables across projects at varying maturity levels, balancing design quality, cost-efficiency, and time-to-market without compromising on detail-level excellence.
You should apply if you
• Have built and delivered Class A surfaces for complex products from concept to mass production, with hands-on expertise in tools such as Alias, ICEM Surf, Maya, Blender, or CATIA.
• Bring deep knowledge of manufacturing processes, materials, and design-for-manufacturing principles, with a track record of optimising designs for performance, cost, and scalability.
• Have led surface and design workstreams across global, cross-functional teams, managing stakeholders and resolving competing priorities with clarity and sound judgement.
• Can articulate design intent and technical requirements clearly to diverse audiences, from industrial designers to suppliers, engineers, and senior leadership.
• Have worked in the robotics domain and can move comfortably between strategic design decisions and detailed technical surfacing work.
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.
Nice to Have
- Familiarity with visualisation tools such as VRED, KeyShot, or Blender, and experience using rapid prototyping techniques including 3D printing to validate surfaces and concepts efficiently.
- Background working in agile or lean development environments, including start-up settings, across sectors such as automotive, consumer electronics, defence, or transportation.
Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields
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Helsing’s work is important. You’ll be directly contributing to the protection of democratic countries while balancing both ethical and geopolitical concerns
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Competitive salary and VSOP options
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Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation
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Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance
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Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)
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Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances
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Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers
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Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work
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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.