2027 Electronics Engineer Apprentice - Templecombe

What you'll do

About the Role:

An Electronics Engineering Apprenticeship at Thales is a hands-on entry route into engineering, where you learn electronics design, integration, testing, and troubleshooting while working alongside qualified engineers on real programmes. The exact scope can vary by team, the role centres on building and validating electronic solutions.

What You Will Do:

• Support electronics design and development
• Assisting with circuit design activities, component selection, schematic / layout reviews, or adapting existing designs.
• Build and integrate hardware
• Working with breadboards / prototypes and progressing to production-relevant hardware (e.g., assembling modules, wiring, integrating sub-systems)
• Test and verify equipment
• Using test equipment (e.g., oscilloscopes, mustimeters, signal generators) to validate functionality against requirements, debug faults, and document results
• Troubleshoot and problem-solve
• Investigating issues found during lab testing, system integration, or trials, then helping implement fixes or process improvements.
• Document engineering work
• Writing test reports, maintaining records, updating documentation, and contributing to engineering reviews
• Work in a safety / quality-focused environment
• Following procedures, configuration control practices, and quality standards relevant to Thales and its programmes

Training

Degree Apprenticeship Programme:

You will study towards a Level 6 BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree Apprenticeship with Exeter University.

In your first year you will be given a broad theoretical and practical knowledge across all core engineering disciplines, before progressing onto increasingly advanced topics later in the course.

Years one and two provide core fundamental knowledge of engineering principles, as well as applying mathematics to engineering problems. Years three and four are spent applying your knowledge to engineering problems.

You will complete a Technical Report and Presentation in the final year: an opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills to devise an engineering solution at a professional level in an area of engineering study that aligns to your role at Thales.

By the end of the programme, you will have achieved a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering as well as a Level 6 Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree Apprenticeship.

Programme structure:

Throughout the four-year programme, you will combine university study with practical workplace experience, developing both academic knowledge and professional engineering skills.

Lectures and workshops are delivered through a series of 2-week blocks spaced throughout your degree apprenticeship

Alongside campus taught lecturers, you will have access to digital resources and discipline experts to support your studies.

What You Will Learn:

• Core electronics fundamentals (analogue / digital concepts, power, signal integrity basics, interfaces)
• Engineering processes (requirements, verification / validation, configuration management)
• Practical test methods and interpretation of measurement results
• Teamworking and professional engineering behaviours (reviews, clear reporting, traceability)

Typical environment and day-to-day.

You'll usually split time between:

• On-the-job training with engineers in labs / engineering teams (practical hardware / test work)
• Structured apprenticeship learning (college / college-equivalent coursework leading toward a qualification in engineering or electronics)

Skills and qualities that help:

• A strong interest in electronics and how systems work
• Ability to follow technical instructions and procedures
• Curiosity and persistence when debugging
• Clear communication and attention to detail (especially for test data and documentation)
• Basic competence with tools (e.g., soldering / assembly, spreadsheets / measurement logs) is beneficial

After the apprenticeship

Secure a permanent role from day one at the start of your apprenticeship.

Skills

• Communication skills
• IT skills
• Attention to detail
• Organisation skills
• Problem solving skills
• Team working
• Creative

Qualifications

• Essential: GCSE, Must include English and Maths (grade 4-9 (A-C))
• Essential: A Level, Maths and Science subject (grade B) (grade 3 A Levels at ABB)

Things to consider

Because of the work we do at Thales, all roles are subject to security requirements.

To be considered for this position, you must have the permanent right to work in the UK and be able to successfully complete and maintain UK Government security checks, including Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) screening and Security Clearance (SC), which is a government background check, before starting employment.

To be eligible for SC clearance, you will typically need to have lived in the UK continuously for the last five years. As part of the vetting process, you will be asked to provide evidence of your identity, right to work in the UK, any time spent overseas during the last five years, and your employment and/or education history.

In addition, this role supports a UK Eyes Only programme and is therefore subject to government-mandated nationality restrictions. To satisfy the security clearance requirements for access to highly sensitive information, applicants must have been British citizens from birth and must not hold any other nationality. This requirement is determined by the UK Government and is a condition of programme access rather than an employment preference.

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.

Benefits

• Holiday entitlement of 201 hours a year (plus a company day and bank holidays)
• Contributory Company Pension
• Health Care Cash Plan
• Hybrid / flexible working options
• Employee assistance programme
• Learning and development support Employee discounts and wellbeing initiatives
• Life Cover
• 80 Hours Volunteering per year (first two years)

About the employer

Together, we create the ingenious technological systems and innovations that impact and improve people's lives every single day. Even if you haven't heard the name Thales before, you've definitely benefited from our inventiveness. We reinvest 20% of our sales in Research & Development in the UK. Together we supply invention across 4 core areas: Aerospace, Space, Defence and Security, Digital Identity and Security.

Apprenticeship details

• Course: Electrical and electronic engineer (degree) (level 6), Engineering and manufacturing
• Apprenticeship level: Degree (level 6)
• Training provider: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• Expected duration: 4 Years
• Hours: 37 hours a week. Working week: Monday - Friday, 37 hours a week (8 hours Monday - Thursday, 5 hours Friday).
• Start date: 6 September 2027
• Positions available: 2
• Wage: £24,000 a year