2027 AI Engineer Apprentice - AI and Data Science Graduate Level Apprenticeship

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Turn your curiosity into a career. If you're passionate about artificial intelligence, eager to learn, and looking for a degree apprenticeship that combines academic study with exciting on-the-job experience, we'd love to hear from you.

About the Role

As an AI Engineer Apprentice, you will develop the technical knowledge, practical skills and professional behaviours needed to design, build, test and deploy dependable AI-enabled solutions.

Working as part of our AI and engineering community, you will contribute to live projects across the machine learning lifecycle, collaborating with software, data, systems and domain specialists to turn needs into secure, maintainable solutions.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Preparing, exploring and validating data for machine learning use cases
• Developing and evaluating machine learning models and AI-enabled software components
• Writing clean, tested and documented code using appropriate engineering tools and practices
• Supporting model integration, deployment, monitoring and performance improvement
• Contributing to technical reviews, experiments and structured problem solving
• Working with experienced engineers and researchers on live projects

What You Will Learn

Throughout the apprenticeship, you will gain experience and knowledge in:

• Professional engineering behaviours, teamwork and industry best practice
• Programming, software engineering, version control and automated testing
• Data preparation, feature engineering and data quality techniques
• Machine learning methods, model selection, training and evaluation
• Deployment patterns, MLOps, monitoring and lifecycle management
• Cloud, compute and development tools used to deliver AI solutions
• Responsible AI, security, privacy, safety and regulatory considerations
• Structured approaches to troubleshooting, experimentation and continuous improvement

Degree Apprenticeship Programme

You will study towards an AI and Data Science Graduate Level Apprenticeship qualification with Glasgow Caledonian University, developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to build and apply artificial intelligence responsibly in an engineering environment.

The programme is delivered through a blended learning approach, combining:

• On campus study
• Live virtual lectures
• Online learning resources
• Self-directed study

Programme structure:

The BSc (Hons) AI and Data Science (Graduate Apprenticeship) will equip you with the knowledge and skills required to succeed in your role within Thales. Providing a strong foundation across data and AI, this programme will help you to learn how to manage, explore, analyse, understand and visualise data, alongside technical skills such as software development and machine learning.

Delivered over 4 years, you will achieve:

• Year 1: Certificate of Higher Education in Computing
• Year 2: Diploma of Higher Education in Computing
• Year 4: BSc (Hons) AI and Data Science (Graduate Apprenticeship)

Entry Requirements

To apply, you will need:

Highers

• 96 UCAS points
• Four Highers (BBCC) including Maths or Computing
• A foundation apprenticeship will be equal to one Higher at B
• A modern apprenticeship SCQF Level 6 in a relevant discipline will be equal to two Highers at B

Benefits

• Competitive salary of £24,000 per annum
• Performance-related pay uplifts
• 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)

Thales Apprentice Recruitment Process

1. Apply Online - submit your application online
2. Upload Your CV
3. Check your emails for the invitation to apply – this will come from recruiting@jobalerts.thalesgroup.com
4. Complete Your Application – follow the link provided in the email to complete your application. You can apply for one primary role and up to 3 additional roles.
5. Complete Online Tests - undertake the online assessments designed to evaluate your suitability for the role.
6. Virtual Assessment Centre - candidates who progress from the online assessment stage will attend a virtual assessment centre, which will include group exercises, and competency-based interviews.
7. Job Offer – successful candidates who perform well throughout the recruitment process will receive a job offer from Thales.

Please note, assessment centres for shortlisted candidates will be held between February - May 2027. Induction week for all Apprentices will take place from Monday 6 September - Friday 10 September 2027.

Please note that roles may close earlier than the advertised deadline if we receive a high number of applications. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid missing out on this opportunity.

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.

Thales is an equal opportunities employer and diversity, and inclusion are integral to the success of Thales.

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role.

1e127ede32d8f816eacfb0aed73cee11