2026 Mechanical Engineering Apprentice

Job Overview
Job purpose

Do you have an inquisitive mind? Do you like to know how things work and are interested in engineering? Are you looking for an employer who will sponsor you through a degree, whilst providing valuable and exciting on-the-job experience within a global, innovative and industry-leading organisation? If so, read on to see what Thales has to offer…

What The Role Has To Offer

• Earn while you learn
• Job specific training experience
• Recognised qualifications
• A support network of students currently on the programme
• Various benefits and opportunities to grow your essential skills
• Permanent role from day one
• Tuition fees for university or approved training providers are fully covered

Thales Glasgow designs a range of state-of-the-art optronics solutions for the some of the most technically advanced defence and security platforms in the world.

As a Mechanical Engineer in our Glasgow office, you will work as part of a development team and be responsible for technical contributions towards leading edge naval or vehicles based products. This is a great opportunity to work on state of the art defence equipment and develop the latest optical systems for the MoD and a wide range of export customers around the world. This position will challenge your skills and you will have the flexibility to mould the role to suit your strengths and career development interests.

Key Responsibilities

• MCAD design and development
• Environmental testing and product qualification
• Design for manufacture for mechanical designs
• Building prototypes for test and development

Apprentice Programme
As a Mechanical Engineering Apprentice you will be studying at the University of Strathclyde towards a degree in Engineering: Design & Manufacture BEng (Hons). For the duration of this 4 year programme, you will combine university studies with practical application, working within our Engineering function in Glasgow.

You will be given 1 day per week in which to focus on your studies. For the other 4 days you will be working in the business, applying your university learning in a real-life engineering environment.

Upon completion of the programme you will move into a permanent role within Thales in Glasgow.

Requirements

• 4 Highers (BBBB) including Maths

Please note that for anyone who does not achieve their Maths Highers in 2026, they will be required by the university to sit a 9 week Maths course starting in April 2026. The Thales UK offer will be conditional on Strathclyde accepting you onto the programme.

Live and work in Scotland for the duration of the programme.

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, all of our roles are subject to security restrictions.

All successful candidates must possess the permanent right to work in the UK, and will be required to go through Government security clearance at BPSS Level and to obtain full Security Clearance (SC) in line with the United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) requirements below, prior to starting with us.

This role requires Security Clearance (SC). It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. As part of the vetting process you will be asked to provide evidence of your identity, eligibility to work in the UK, time spent abroad over the last 5 years, as well as employment and / or educational history.

For further details of the evidence required to apply for security clearance please follow this link -

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This employer is part of the Disability Confident scheme. This means if you identify yourself as disabled, and meet the minimum criteria for this job, you should be offered an interview.