Industrial Placement Test Software Engineer

Your impact

Are you ready to launch your career and make an impact on real-world projects from day one?

At Leonardo, we’re looking for summer placement students who want to be part of something extraordinary—shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

Our Industrial Placement Programme

Our Industrial Placement Programme offers you the chance to spend a year with us, working on meaningful projects alongside subject matter experts, within multidisciplinary teams, and across the product lifecycle. You’ll receive a salary of £26,228, with coaching and support from a dedicated team to help you achieve both your placement objectives and personal development goals.

Successful completion of a Industrial Placement with Leonardo may also lead to an offer on our Graduate Development Programme.

During your placement, we encourage you to spend at least three days each week on site to integrate with your team and maximise your learning experience.

During the programme, you will

• Develop the skills required to create software for test solutions, across a varied product portfolio.
• Explore stages of the development lifecycle, such as requirements definition through to implementation, integration test and delivery.
• Build practical experience by working on real development and production test solutions delivered to internal and external customers.
• Enhance your technical capability through a combination of on-the-job learning and formal training, aligned to business needs and your career aspirations.

As an Industrial Placement Test Software Engineer, you will

• Gain experience in aspects of the software design lifecycle, such as requirements analysis; design, coding and unit test; integrating the software with the hardware target; acceptance test and delivery to the customer.
• Contribute to the creation of high quality and robust code; documenting and recording your work products; keeping them under configuration management and providing plans and reports on progress.
• Develop an understanding of complex products through close collaboration with Hardware and Firmware engineers to solve real integration problems on test systems.
• Have opportunities to taking an active role in engineering process improvement.
• Develop software solutions to control measurement instrumentation devices and fully automate testing of a unit under test.

What you’ll bring

Entry Requirements:

• Currently studying for a Bachelor’s/Integrated Master’s degree, or higher degree, such as MSc or PhD. 
• For this role, acceptable degree disciplines include: Security, Computer Communication and Networks, Computer & Network Technology & Cyber Security.

Competencies we look for

• Be a self-motivated individual, willing to take on new challenges and drive continuous personal development.
• Strong communication skills across a variety of mediums i.e. written, verbal, digital, etc.
• The ability to develop effective working relationships with peers and stakeholders.
• Adaptable to the ever-changing demands that will be encountered within the role.
• Offer novel ideas and methods for solving technical problems, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge learned during academic studies.

Personal Attributes

• Enthusiastic and motivated
• Curious with a desire to learn
• Proactive and accountable
• Strong communicator and team player
• Adaptable and resilient
• Organised with attention to detail
• Positive and professional approach to work

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do, key contributors in shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your wellbeing matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity.
• Tailored perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.

Security Clearance

Many of our roles are subject to security and export control restrictions set by UK Government Security requirements and customer obligations.  As a result, and in line with the UK Government Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) requirements, all successful applicants will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record declaration information and employment and/or education history verification for the previous five years.

For staff operating in more sensitive posts, there is an additional range of personnel security controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV).  As part of this process, a range of factors may be considered, including an individual's background, travel history, nationality, previous nationalities held and other information relevant to the vetting assessment.

To be eligible for National Security Vetting at SC level, applicants will generally be expected to have continuously resided in the UK for the previous five years. For DV clearance, this is typically ten years.  In some circumstances, time spent overseas may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.  Additional vetting requirements may apply upon appointment.

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