Senior RF Engineer Hardware Engineering Washington, DC

Helsing develops artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities to protect and defend democracies. We are growing our US operations, cultivating an ambitious and committed team of mission‑driven professionals to apply their skills to solve challenging problems.

AI-driven, autonomous systems cannot replace human decision making. To keep the human in the loop, communication to remote unmanned vehicles is crucial. As an RF Engineer for Communications and Networking, you will work in one of the most contested domains of the modern battlefield: the electromagnetic spectrum.

You will design, develop, and deploy advanced datalink systems for UAS‑to‑ground and UAS‑to‑UAS communications, including point‑to‑point and mesh network architectures. Your work will ensure robust, encrypted communications links for UAS operating in non‑cooperative and contested environments, directly supporting mission‑critical operations for U.S. customers.

You will own radio communication end‑to‑end as part of new product design and iterations on existing systems. You make pragmatic decisions when to integrate available solutions and when to develop new capabilities that shape the contested environment of the frontline RF space. Working closely with systems engineers, avionics teams, and customer‑facing program managers, you will be the key to ensuring that the right decision can be made at the right time.

• Design and develop UAS‑to‑ground and UAS‑to‑UAS datalink architectures, including point‑to‑point and mesh network topologies for resilient communications
• Develop robust, encrypted communication links for UAS operating in non‑cooperative, contested, and denied environments
• Integrate tactical C2 networks with UAS platforms, including systems such as IBCS (Integrated Battle Command System), Tactical Scalable Mesh (TSM), and other military communication standards
• Stay on top of the market and ever‑changing battlefield situations to identify existing, promising, or missing RF solutions
• Test, validate, and integrate radio systems into newly developed and existing products, working against customer and internal requirements to build reliable radio solutions
• Obtain U.S. FCC spectrum approvals and manage frequency coordination for testing and operational use in U.S. regulatory environments
• Collaborate with governmental bodies to get permissions for licensed bands and power outputs to test and demonstrate modern radio systems in regulated RF domains
• Design and implement Software Defined Radio (SDR) solutions, working with RF front‑ends, modem implementations, and application interfaces
• Conduct RF link‑budget analysis and performance modeling to ensure datalink reliability across operational ranges and environments
• Work with external partners to access specialized equipment and build up internal lab capabilities for commonly executed tests
• Shape discussions inside the company as a go‑to expert for radio communications and serve as a technical authority for U.S. customer engagements

• Hold a degree in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, RF Engineering, or a related field
• Have several years of experience designing and deploying military datalinks, mesh networks, or tactical communications systems
• Possess deep knowledge of military and civil communication technologies, including Software Defined Radios, data links, air‑to‑air and air‑to‑ground communications, mesh networking protocols (e.g., MANET), network management, and secure communications
• Have experience integrating UAS with tactical C2 networks and understand military communication architectures and interoperability standards
• Demonstrate strong understanding of how radio technology works and where its limitations lie
• Have…