Software Engineering Apprentice - Level 6 Digital and Technology Solutions

location: cheadle, united kingdom
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 the major industries of aerospace, defence, 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.

start date: 07 september 2025
salary: £24,000 per annum
employee type: permanent
location: cheadle
working schedule: monday – friday, 37 hours a week (8 hours monday – thursday, 5 hours friday)

are you passionate about engineering? Do you have an inquisitive mind? 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 to offer…

• fully funded degree
• competitive salary
• real world training experience – working with a skilled and friendly team
• permanent role from day one with a career path after graduation

you will be a key member of a diverse team of software engineers, solving the complex challenges our royal navy and export customers face in keeping the world a safe and secure place. This will involve working with specialists from across the thales global business and pushing the boundaries on topics such as artificial intelligence and novel computing architectures to enhance our products.

you will be encouraged to own your development plan covering the technical and professional skills needed to meet your ambitions. You will be fully supported by your team to make this a reality. Software engineering has a varied career path and you will have opportunities to gain skills and further qualifications on topics such as architecture, design, coding and testing. You will be a valued member of a software sprint team developing solutions and will work with wider disciplines such as systems engineering to define what is needed and what is valuable to the end user.

as a software engineering apprentice you will be studying towards a bsc in digital and technology solutions, following the software engineering pathway.

this is a gold accredited programme under the tech partnership degrees. For the duration of this 4 year programme you will be given one day per week in which to attend manchester metropolitan university. For the other four days you will be working at the cheadle site, in the business, applying your university learning to real world projects and gaining a breadth of experience with your teammates.

At the end of the apprenticeship you will be working as a software engineer within the thales uk businesses.

• 104 ucas tariff points at a level (grades bcc) or an equivalent e.g. Btec dmm
• 5 gcses grade 9-4 (a-c) including english and maths

• 201 hours annual leave (plus a company day and bank holidays)
• company pension
• health care cash plan
• life insurance
• discount portal
• performance-related pay uplifts
• 80 hours volunteering (first two years)

please note, assessment centres for shortlisted candidates will be held between february - may 2026. Induction week for all graduates and apprentices will take place from monday 7 september - friday 11 september 2026.

our applications will…