Senior Commercial Manager - Maritime

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

Helsing is building its commercial function to support complex, high-stakes defence campaigns across the UK. As Senior Commercial Manager, you will develop and deliver a commercial strategy aligned with Campaign Leads, Finance, and senior leadership, ensuring Helsing is positioned to win UK defence contracts. You will own commercial negotiations and processes with key partners and suppliers, drawing on deep knowledge of MoD procurement frameworks to drive sound, mission-aligned outcomes. Based in London or the Bristol area, you will work within a cross-functional team and play a central role in shaping how Helsing engages with the UK defence market. The day-to-day

Develop and own a commercial strategy that supports active UK defence campaigns, working in close partnership with Campaign Leads, Finance, and senior leadership to ensure commercial positioning is coherent and well-founded

Lead end-to-end commercial negotiations with defence partners and suppliers, structuring agreements that protect Helsing's interests and accelerate programme delivery

Manage UK defence tender processes from initiation to award, ensuring full compliance with MoD procurement frameworks and internal governance requirements

Provide commercial guidance across cross-functional teams, translating complex procurement requirements into clear, actionable advice that enables effective decision-making

Monitor the UK defence commercial landscape, identifying emerging opportunities and risks and feeding insight into Helsing's broader campaign and growth strategy

You should apply if you

Have built and led commercial strategies within the UK defence sector, with direct experience of MoD tender and contracting processes

Have held a commercial role within or alongside a UK defence procurement agency, such as DE&S or the SDA

Have led complex, multi-stakeholder commercial negotiations and can demonstrate tangible outcomes from those engagements

Can operate fluently across government and industry environments, adapting communication style and approach to suit each audience

Can translate broad campaign objectives into structured commercial plans that align finance, legal, and operational requirements

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 Maritime domain programmes and the procurement structures that surround them

Experience supporting naval or maritime defence campaigns in a commercial capacity

Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields

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