Berlin, 16 December 2025
STARK, one of Europe’s fastest-growing defence technology companies, has appointed Jan-Patrick Helmsen as Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Martin Rost as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Helmsen and Rost join STARK’s Management Board and will play a key role in the company’s next phase of growth.
As CSO, Jan-Patrick Helmsen brings more than two decades of military and entrepreneurial expertise in the defence sector. Following his career as an army officer in the German Armed Forces, Helmsen spent ten years at Rheinmetall, most recently serving as CEO of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH, the company’s fastest-growing and most profitable business division, with revenues exceeding EUR 2.5 billion. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Helmsen held various senior roles at Rheinmetall and was a key contributor to the company’s strong expansion strategy. In his new role as CSO of STARK, Helmsen will assume responsibility for global sales, market development, and new business fields from January 2026.
Martin Rost most recently served as Senior Vice President at the leading European technology company Zalando, where he was responsible for managing and scaling the company’s largest business unit, comprising more than 2,000 employees across 27 markets, over 4,000 suppliers, and approximately EUR 10 billion in revenue. After more than 16 years at Zalando — a period that saw the company grow from a small startup into a European DAX 40 corporation — Rost will, as COO of STARK, lead the scaling of operational processes and production across sites in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. His experience will be critical in enabling STARK to transition new technologies rapidly and reliably into mass production of unmanned systems while simultaneously strengthening the resilience of supply chains and manufacturing.
Uwe Horstmann, CEO of STARK, says:
“We are delighted to welcome Jan-Patrick and Martin to STARK. With them, we gain two outstanding leaders with deep expertise in strategic growth and operational excellence. Most importantly, we share the conviction that Europe must rapidly build its own capabilities for credible deterrence. I am very pleased that both are now becoming part of STARK’s mission.”
Jan-Patrick Helmsen, CSO of STARK, says:
“Since my time as a soldier, I have been driven by a clear motivation: safeguarding our democracy, protecting our allies, and strengthening our defences. At the heart of this has always been the soldier. In the event of a crisis, it is the soldier who carries the political decision, and they deserve the best possible support. In this period of significant geopolitical and security upheaval, I am pleased to become part of STARK. For me, the dynamic team combines speed, cutting-edge technology and operational relevance. With STARK, we can rapidly integrate modern technologies into highly networked combat operations and make them available to our soldiers on the battlefield as quickly as possible. Operational effectiveness will be increased many times over. That is what I am committed to.”
Martin Rost, COO of STARK, says:
“I am very pleased to be joining STARK at such an exciting and pivotal time. The task of fundamentally strengthening Europe’s defence capability through home-grown companies has never been more important. Over 16 years at Zalando, I was able to help build a firm that achieved a leading position in its markets from Europe, for Europe. STARK is in a uniquely strong position to make a decisive contribution to credible deterrence through highly scalable, resilient production capacities distributed across our continent. Our highest priority is to play our part in European security as a reliable partner.”
