2024 Systems Engineering Apprentice: Thales

Thales people provide armed forces customers with operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defence mission systems solutions at land, sea, and air. Our platforms extend across the battlespace including Above and Sonar, Electronic Combat, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, Security and Space.

Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Systems Engineering Apprentice

Level 6 Applied Professional Engineering Degree Apprenticeship (Technical Support)

Are you looking for an employer who will sponsor you through a degree, whilst providing valuable and exciting on-the-job experience within a global, innovative and industry-leading organisation? If so, read on to see what Thales has on offer.

The role will develop your engineering skills to become a confident, positive and flexible engineer with well-honed technical knowledge gained from the academic commitments, supporting the team to deliver systems and equipment solutions to deadlines and within budget, including participating in systems requirements and design work, project reviews, system test and possibly site and platform visits for surveys, installations or trials.

As a Systems Engineering Apprentice you will develop the key skills and experience in the following:

• Develop an understanding of the required behaviours and codes of practice of a professional engineer
• Understanding complex systems by working on different roles and tasks on on-going projects
• Familiarity with the Systems Engineering Lifecycle and activities
• Familiarity with System Engineering tools and methods for requirements capture, requirements management and system design
• An understanding of systems test activities including Integration, Validation, Verification & Qualification (IVVQ) and the associated processes and tools
• A methodical and structured approach to problem investigation

The Programme:

Through our degree apprenticeship you’ll be making the most of your talents, getting to understand engineering from the ground up; and doing so with the help of one of the biggest and best names in the industry.

As a Systems Engineering Apprentice you will be enrolled onto the Level 6 Applied Professional Engineering Programme at Warwick University, following the Product Design and Development pathway. Delivered via a blended learning model, this programme combines the best of both with on campus delivery (6 block weeks per year) plus virtual coaching and online resources.

The first two years on programme will be common across all pathways and will provide a broad engineering skill set including mechanical, electrical, electronic, materials and design, plus computational. In Year 3 and Year 4 learners will move to their specialist pathway. For the duration of this 4 year programme you will combine university studies with practical application, working within our Systems function in Crawley.

Who we’re looking for:

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who are motivated, committed and keen to learn. You will be a self-starter who is able to manage their time, show initiative and has a genuine interest in engineering and Thales. Successful candidates will show self-discipline and an aspiration to achieve a degree qualification.

You will also need:

• Candidates will need a minimum of 112 UCAS tariff points at A Level including a grade B in Maths and at least 1 further STEM subject (Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Electronics) or an equivalent e.g. BTEC DMM.
• They will also require 5 GCSEs grade A-C (9-4) including English and Maths.
• Right to Work in the UK for the duration of the 4 year programme.

Please note that applicants who already hold a relevant degree will not be eligible for this programme.

Please note, assessment centres for shortlisted candidates will be held between February and May 2024. Induction week for all Graduate and Apprentices will run from Monday 2 September until Friday 6 September 2024.

Closing date: Our applications will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 11 February 2024, this is the only time we will be accepting applications this year. Please note we will be in contact by the end of February 2024 with details of next steps.

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales many of our roles are subject to security restrictions and, as a result, you may be limited to what you can work on within our business in relation to your place of birth and/or nationality.

As standard, all successful candidates must possess the permanent right to work in the UK, and will be required to go through Government security clearance at BPSS Level prior to starting with us and then to obtain full Security Clearance (SC) in line with the United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) requirements. 

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years.  In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.  As part of the vetting process you will be asked to provide evidence of your identity, eligibility to work in the UK, time spent abroad over the last 5 years, as well as employment and / or educational history.

For further details of the evidence required to apply for security clearance please follow this link - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels.

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment,if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

Great journeys start here, apply now!