Industrial Placement Mechanical 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 industrial placement students who want to be part of something extraordinary—shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

Our placements are designed to help you apply your studies in a practical setting, develop your technical skills, and gain valuable insight into how our business operates.

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.

As an Industrial Placement Mechanical Engineer you will

• Be enthusiastic with a desire to develop in the Mechanical Engineering Function
• Be creative with ideas and recommendations based on sound engineering principals
• Be team orientated in the working environment with a high degree of personal integrity
• Be able to challenge ideas, proposed solutions and people in a constructive, positive manner
• Be mindful of the Business environment
• Be aware of the importance of cost and schedule
• Be ethical in their approach to all their undertakings and adhering to core company values

During your placement, you will be exposed to tools, technologies and processes. You will be introduced to the software development processes and utilise state-of-the-art methods, technology and tools. You will also gain experience on one or more aspects of the software development lifecycle, which could include; applied research, requirements analysis, design, implementation, integration, and test.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Contribute to Mechanical design and development
• Work within the integrated project team, providing accurate mechanical engineering output and assisting in the provision of technical information to ensure informed decision-making
• Support and facilitate reviews
• Liaison with other engineering functions for example systems, electrical, quality and production to ensure product & customer requirements are fully satisfied
• Perform ‘hands on’ mechanical design and development using 3D CAD or Analysis software
• Deliver design solutions against requirements, within budget and timescales
• Create documentation in line with BS8888, including appropriate use of GD&T, to support manufacture, test and inspection of Mechanical item
• Manage design documentation through the company PDM system

What you’ll bring

Entry Requirements:

All of our Industrial Placement roles require you to be currently undertaking a minimum of a Bachelor's level degree such as Mechanical Engineering, Aero-Mechanical Engineering, Mechtronics or Electro-Mechanical.

The successful candidate should have the following skills and experience:

• 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
• Appreciate the principals of Mechanical engineering design
• Ability to problem solve and engage in concurrent engineering
• Some knowledge of using CAD and Analysis tools
• Customer focused
• Appreciate DFx, mechanical production processes and techniques

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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