Are you ready to make an impact and gain hands-on experience working 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 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.
Leonardo’s Summer Placement Programme offers you a paid opportunity (£25,000) to develop your current skillset in an innovative and practical environment that can lead to a place on our award-winning Graduate Development programme.
Come and join one of our multi-disciplinary integrated project teams, in Edinburgh and contribute to the solving of real-life engineering problems on state-of-the-art avionics sensor systems, such as: the radar for the Typhoon fighter jet; the radar for the SAAB Gripen fighter; one of our family of Surveillance AESA Radars (Active Electronically Scanned Array); an IRCM (Infra–Red Counter Measures) system; or perhaps on one of our laser target designator or laser ranging systems.
We have created a programme across our UK sites that not only increases your technical skills, but gives you the opportunity to work on meaningful real-life projects, alongside experienced engineers and graduates across our business.
You will receive coaching and support to achieve your personal goals and work in multidisciplinary teams to gain as much experience across the product lifecycle from your time in industry as possible. Our ultimate aim is to see you through your undergrad years and successful placements may result in an offer to return for further placements or for an offer on our Graduate Development programme.
The programme will run from 1st June 2027 to 27th August 2027.
Particular emphasis will be placed on learning practical skills that may not be easily gained or experienced in the academic environment of a university.
Our Summer Placement roles require a minimum of a predicted 2:2 grade in a relevant degree discipline e.g. Software Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics or Electronic Engineering (BSc (Hon) / BEng (Hon) / MEng) to have the opportunity to experience a 13 week paid industrial placement working as a Software Engineer within Leonardo.
Competencies we look for:
A full statement of courses and projects studied at university and corresponding grades/marks/percentage should be included in your CV.
Applications are also welcomed from candidates who have completed a first degree and are looking to gain industrial experience prior to commencing a relevant higher degree (i.e. PhD, MSc).
Personal Attributes:
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.
