Europe's Bet on Itself: A Look at the Background of Top 100+ R&D Defense Leaders in Europe
Europe's arming up — but it’s doing so with its own talent.
We analyzed the leadership teams of 30 European Defense DeepTech companies in areas like R&D, Product, Technology, Engineering, and AI. We picked these functions to understand how these start-ups are building their most critical and sensitive teams. We uncovered key trends in the academic and professional roots of Europe’s Defense DeepTech leaders.
Europe is Arming Up
At the end of March, UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced £400M of investment for the country's defense tech sector, alongside a commitment to allocate at least 10% of the Ministry of Defense's equipment budget to new and emerging technologies like drones and AI. Meanwhile, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's unveiling of Germany’s 'Bazooka' military buildup, pledging €500B over 12 years for infrastructure and defense, with some estimates suggesting €200B dedicated solely to defense.
In this environment, Defense Tech has shifted from a largely overlooked sector into one of the hottest investment areas within DeepTech.
However, given that deals are tied to national security and European sovereignty, companies must be extremely selective when building their leadership teams. Considering the limited European DeepTech talent pool and the confidentiality surrounding many projects, we aimed to understand what the current talent pool looks like at a leadership level in R&D functions.
Who are the Founders?
First of all, let’s look at the Founders behind these start-ups. We found an average of 2.3 founders per company, ranging from 1 to 4, with 92.6% being Europeans.
Who was not from Europe?
Mikhail Kokorich - A “Serbian” serial entrepreneur who founded Destinus, specialising in autonomous flight systems.
Jeremy Turpin – An American engineer and co-founder of ALL.SPACE, a company developing satellite communication platforms
Zachary Yerushalmi – An American DeepTech founder and investor who co-founded Living Optics, which is at the forefront of hyperspectral imaging technology.
Robin Wang – Originally from New Zealand and a graduate of Oxford, he co-founded Living Optics alongside Yerushalmi.
Angie Ma – Born in China and educated in London, she is an angel investor and co-founder of Faculty AI, a company creating safe AI systems to achieve exceptional performance.
Examining the professional backgrounds of all Founders, we found:
An average of 10.8 years of professional experience. Some launched their company after completing their studies or within a few years of graduating.
32.4% previously worked at companies primarily focused on defense or developing technologies with potential defense applications (e.g., satellite imaging, drones, AI, or robotics).
29.4% have prior experience in key institutions, including governments, military forces, and intergovernmental organizations.
61.8% of the founders hold executive positions in the company, with the majority (38.2%) as CEO, followed by senior scientific roles (17.6%), such as Chief Scientist Officer, Chief Engineering Officer, or Chief Technology Officer. Only 4.4% held other roles such as CFO, COO, or CSO - a common trend in DeepTech companies serving other industries, where commercial and business-focused roles are often neglected.
So, only about 1/3 of Founders have previous Defense Tech, Military, or Government experience? We find that surprisingly low in contrast to e.g. the Battery Tech space, where 83%+ had prior experience in battery and energy industries. That tells us two things:
There obviously aren’t many Defense Tech scale-ups in Europe that could have spawned new generations of founders (yet);
The nascent space is attracting talent from other industries - a positive sign that top talent is spotting the opportunity in the sector.
Exploring the Background of R&D Leadership
Origin, Place of Studies, Country of Residence
We identified over 100 R&D leaders in the sample group of 30 companies we looked at. Unsurprisingly, 92.% are male. The vast majority have European roots, both geographically and educationally:
93% of leaders originate from a European country, and 94.4% completed their higher education at a European university, where the hotspots were Nordic universities (19.7%), followed by the UK’s Golden Triangle (17.6%), and then Paris (11.2%) and Germany (9.2%).
95.1% of the leadership talent had already built their career within Europe before stepping into their current roles.
90.1% had previously worked for European companies. In contrast, only 7% had U.S. firms as their most recent employer.
59.5% came from a firm that shares the same national affiliation as their current employer.
57.7% are from Western Europe (including the UK and Ireland), 19.7% from Northern Europe, and just 7% come from outside Europe. These 7% non-European leaders spent only 4.4 years studying and working on the continent—shorter than expected, especially given the assumption that these firms might favor local talent or long-term European residents for strategic and regulatory reasons.
Additionally, if you look at where companies hired their leaders, there is a clear westward lean, even though our sample group of companies included Defense Tech start-ups founded in countries like Greece and Croatia, as well as Founders from Italy and Romania.
Where did these Leaders previously work?
If there are no Defense Tech scale-ups to hunt from, where do these R&D leaders originate from?
Well, indeed, only 16.2% of our sample had prior Defense Tech experience in a start-up or scale-up environment.
22.5% came from corporates in the defense industry, companies like Airbus, Thales, Parrot, or BAE Systems.
37.3% came from sectors closely related to defense, such as space research and manufacturing, aviation and aerospace, or satellite imagery.
62.7% had prior start-up/scale-up experience in other hardware/software sectors.
Another 27.4% came directly from corporate backgrounds with no exposure to start-ups at all.
And 9.9% came directly from research institutions, government work, or military forces.
Aside from the usual talent hubs, Northern cities like Aalborg, Vilnius, and Odense deserve special mention as defense hubs where talent previously worked before joining these start-ups.
These R&D leaders also turn out to be highly experienced:
17.4 years on average of work experience
Academic-heavy profiles with min. 5 years of studies in STEM fields.
88% completed a STEM degree, 51% hold a Master’s degree, and 22.5% hold PhDs.
The European Defense Tech sector is clearly finding creative ways to source talent. Rather than importing talent from abroad with prior Defense Tech experience, it’s creating its own supply. Aside from the above trends, we also found examples of individuals coming directly from consulting, manufacturing or telcos.
We also looked at tenure (3.5 years) and churn rate (30.3% overall), which both look normal - and even good! - to us, considering the early-stage nature of these companies.
What’s clear is that there is a preference for previous start-up exposure, there is no compromise on the quality and experience of that talent, and despite the diverse backgrounds of incoming leaders, they tend to stick around once they land.
Conclusion: Europe’s Bet on Itself
As the U.S. grows more protectionist and transatlantic ties continue to weaken, European defense and sovereignty have become urgent priorities. Just as Europe is prioritizing regional companies and strategic autonomy1, its startups are also leaning heavily on homegrown talent to fuel innovation and scale.
Our research shows that most leaders in product, engineering, AI, R&D, and technology roles have academic and professional roots in Europe. Rather than importing talent with prior defense experience from abroad, these companies are cultivating and betting on regional talent, even if that talent lacks direct defense-sector backgrounds. What they prioritise the most is start-up experience without any compromise on professional or academic credentials.
It’s an interesting time to be building in this space as both politics and technological trends are rapidly changing the world we live in. Being early in a space comes with risks but also advantages. In the coming years, it will still be “easy” to make a switch into Defense Tech from other fields - once the sector matures and develops its own talent pipelines, that will be less the case.
If you’re an experienced R&D leader curious about Defense Tech, but operating in other sectors, perhaps this is a good moment to consider exploring a switch.
Europe's arming up — but it’s doing so with its own talent.
If you wish to access our exclusive data file with over 100 leaders in product, engineering, AI, R&D, and technology at 30 European Defense DeepTech companies, simply drop a message in the comments, and we’ll send it to you. 📥
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