Apprentice Assembly Technician
ABER ELECTRONICS LIMITED
Colchester (CO7 6HR)
Closes in 9 days (Saturday 5 September 2026)
Posted on 26 August 2026
Contents
Summary
This is a great opportunity to become a member of a growing company with plenty of scope to work upwards into other roles such as test, development and design. The candidate will start learning all aspects of the manufacturing process including PCB assembly, antenna assembly, box building, machining enclosures and more.
- Wage
-
£15,600 to £24,784.50, depending on your age
National Minimum Wage
- Training course
- Engineering and manufacturing support technician (level 3)
- Hours
-
Monday to Thursday 8:00 - 18:00 with 30 minute lunch, plus 2x 15-minute tea breaks each day.
37 hours 30 minutes a week
- Start date
-
Monday 7 September 2026
- Duration
-
3 years 6 months
- Positions available
-
2
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
Role responsibilities include:
- Soldering PCBs to a high standard including fitting some fine pitch parts, this is mostly surface mount technology but not always.
- Checking for quality of own and other’s work.
- Building units that require PCBs, cable assemblies and some mechanical assembly.
- Building cable assemblies to a pre designed specification.
- Checking kits are correct and ready for assembly.
- Carrying out PCB reworks when instructed by the test department.
- Basic Multimeter testing of assembled PCBs, cables etc.
- Maintaining or referencing the company information database.
- Maintaining the companies ISO9001:2015 Quality Documentation.
Where you'll work
Gun Hill Trading Estate
Ipswich Road, Dedham
Colchester
CO7 6HR
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
COLCHESTER INSTITUTE
Training course
Engineering and manufacturing support technician (level 3)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Follow health and safety regulations, standards, and guidance.
- Follow procedures in line with environmental and sustainability regulations, standards, and guidance. For example, segregation of resources for reuse, recycling and disposal.
- Comply with engineering standards and regulations. For example, British Standards (BS), International Organisation for Standardisation standards (ISO). European Norm (EN).
- Analyse engineering and manufacturing data and information to support technical outputs. For example, read and interpret text, data, engineering drawings, work instructions, method statements, operation manuals.
- Apply scientific, technical or engineering principles.
- Apply problem solving techniques to solutions for identified technical problems.
- Organise, plan and prioritise workflow and scheduling of work with stakeholders.
- Identify, organise and use resources to complete tasks, considering cost, quality, safety, security and environmental impact.
- Produce job specific technical outputs. For example, engineering drawings, quality control management, computer control programming, business improvement, adverse incident reports, technical investigations, equipment appraisals and specifications.
- Provide support and guidance for handover of work to stakeholders. For example, checklists, product or process status, access to supporting documents.
- Record information - paper based or electronic. For example, energy usage, equipment service records, test results, handover documents, checklists.
- Follow standard operating procedures.
- Follow manufacturer's instructions. For example, safe instructions for use of products, processes and machinery.
- Apply quality assurance and control principles and practices. For example, conduct physical checks, take samples, inspections or tests.
- Apply continuous improvement techniques.
- Apply team working principles.
- Communicate in writing with others for example, stakeholders, colleagues, and managers.
- Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
- Use information and digital technology. Comply with GDPR and cyber security regulations and policies.
- Carry out and record learning and development activities.
- Apply equity, diversity and inclusion procedures.
- Follow health and safety regulations, standards, and guidance.
- Follow procedures in line with environmental and sustainability regulations, standards, and guidance. For example, segregation of resources for reuse, recycling and disposal.
- Comply with engineering standards and regulations. For example, British Standards (BS), International Organisation for Standardisation standards (ISO). European Norm (EN).
- Analyse engineering and manufacturing data and information to support technical outputs. For example, read and interpret text, data, engineering drawings, work instructions, method statements, operation manuals.
- Apply scientific, technical or engineering principles.
- Apply problem solving techniques to solutions for identified technical problems.
- Organise, plan and prioritise workflow and scheduling of work with stakeholders.
- Identify, organise and use resources to complete tasks, considering cost, quality, safety, security and environmental impact.
- Produce job specific technical outputs. For example, engineering drawings, quality control management, computer control programming, business improvement, adverse incident reports, technical investigations, equipment appraisals and specifications.
- Provide support and guidance for handover of work to stakeholders. For example, checklists, product or process status, access to supporting documents.
- Record information - paper based or electronic. For example, energy usage, equipment service records, test results, handover documents, checklists.
- Follow standard operating procedures.
- Follow manufacturer's instructions. For example, safe instructions for use of products, processes and machinery.
- Apply quality assurance and control principles and practices. For example, conduct physical checks, take samples, inspections or tests.
- Apply continuous improvement techniques.
- Apply team working principles.
- Communicate in writing with others for example, stakeholders, colleagues, and managers.
- Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
- Use information and digital technology. Comply with GDPR and cyber security regulations and policies.
- Carry out and record learning and development activities.
- Apply equity, diversity and inclusion procedures.
Training schedule
- The apprentice will be working towards the Level 3 Engineering and Manufacturing Support Technician Apprenticeship Standard.
- Qualifications include the EAL Level 3 Diploma in Engineering and manufacturing support technologies.
More training information
- This is a 4-year apprenticeship with college attendance required one day per week.
- All college attendance will be at Colchester Institute at our Colchester Campus one day per week.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Problem solving skills
- Team working
- Initiative
- Can do attitute
- Enthusiastic
- Good listener
- Interest in electronics/tech
- Ability to work alone
- Awareness of high quality work
- Ability to focus on tasks
Other requirements
- It is important to remember that ABER Electronics generates a lot of their own Intellectual Property, it is important to recognise this and not to share technical information outside of the company.
- Sometimes there are products in the company that are not for public awareness, again discretion is expected by the clients of these products.
- ABER will give the candidates a great base in engineering specialising in RF Electronics, this will be very beneficial to them as these are rare skills.
About this employer
Aber Electronics is an OEM where we design and manufacture RF equipment used in medical, broadcast, defence and surveillance industries.
We specialise in microwave amplifiers and antennas but also have a range of other products including downconverters and filters.
Our customer base was predominantly UK based but has now spread across Europe, USA, Australia and Asia.
The company was founded in 2010 and has rapidly grown with 9 employees on site and others working remotely in sales and technical roles.
After this apprenticeship
Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).
- Potential to work up through the company’s departments, through production, into test and eventually research and development for those with the right skills.
- Potential for offsite visits to customers premises and or operational locations for the purposes of rf surveying, repairing equipment or customer training.
- ABER will give the candidates a great base in engineering, specialising in RF Electronics, this will be very beneficial to them as these are rare sought-after skills.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
COLCHESTER INSTITUTE
Colchester Institute - Apprenticeships Team
ci.apprenticeships@colchester.ac.uk
01206712043
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000049717.
Apply now
Closes in 9 days (Saturday 5 September 2026)
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.