Are you ready to apply your studies to real-world engineering challenges and gain hands-on experience from day one?
At Leonardo, we're looking for summer placement students who are curious about how complex systems work, enjoy solving problems and want to gain experience working on projects that make a real-world difference. You'll have the opportunity to apply what you've learned at university, develop your technical and professional skills, and gain valuable insight into engineering in industry.
We have several exciting opportunities for Summer Placement Systems Engineering within our Customer Support and Service Solutions (CS3) line of business. CS3 operates across the UK, developing and delivering innovative support solutions and services that help our customers keep critical capabilities available wherever and whenever they are needed.
Our nine-week Summer Placement is designed to give you meaningful experience within a relatively short period. You will typically work on a defined project or investigation focused on a real CS3 engineering challenge, giving you the opportunity to explore a problem, work with engineers and stakeholders, develop and evaluate ideas, and communicate your findings and recommendations.
Projects are likely to support the development of CS3's engineering capability and could involve areas such as new technologies, data and information, engineering methods and tools, or new approaches to how we design and deliver support solutions. You will work as part of a team throughout your placement, whether undertaking a defined investigation or contributing to a broader range of ongoing engineering activities.
You won't be expected to know everything when you join. Throughout your placement, you'll work alongside experienced engineers and subject matter experts who will help you understand the context behind your project and provide technical guidance. You'll also receive coaching and support from your team and our dedicated CS3 Early Careers Manager. You will also have opportunities to engage with other early careers colleagues and the wider engineering community, helping you gain an understanding of the different career opportunities available within Leonardo.
As your understanding and confidence grow, you'll have the opportunity to take ownership of elements of your project, explore ideas and apply what you've learned at university in a practical engineering environment. There will also be opportunities to get involved in STEM activities with local schools.
Our aim is for a Summer Placement to be the start of your journey with us. Successful placements may lead to opportunities to return for future placements or, where appropriate, join our Graduate Programme after completing your studies.
This is a nine-week placement based at our Luton site. Leonardo also operates a Custom (hybrid) working model that allows employees to split their time between attending the workplace and working remotely, subject to the needs of the placement, project and team.
Your exact activities will depend on your placement project or the team you join, but you could:
The exact activities will vary depending on the team and area you join, giving you the opportunity to develop a broad understanding of Systems Engineering while building your technical knowledge and practical experience.
You will need:
We are also looking for people who can demonstrate some of the following through their studies, university projects, work experience, extracurricular activities or other experiences:
You do not need previous experience of the defence or aerospace industry. We are interested in your potential, your approach to problem solving and your willingness to learn. This is not an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to apply even if you don't yet have experience in all of the areas above. We recognise that a Summer Placement is an opportunity to develop your skills and experience. A positive attitude, curiosity and a willingness to learn are some of the most important qualities we're looking for.
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.
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.
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.
We are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people, communities and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.
Start your extraordinary career – apply now!
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It is easily detectable when AI is being used in the process and this isn’t favoured as we want to learn about your authentic self. Our Early Careers Team and Hiring Managers review applications received and there is no AI algorithms involved in candidate selection.
