Quality Engineering Apprentice

GKN AEROSPACE SERVICES LIMITED

Bristol (3 available locations)

Closes in 7 days (Friday 27 February 2026)

Posted on 19 February 2026

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Summary

Ready to be part of something big? As a Quality Engineering Apprentice at GKN Aerospace Bristol, you’ll help build the future of aviation, and you don’t need industry experience to get started. Every day, you’ll play a role in delivering world‑class products that keep aircraft flying safely, sustainably, and reliably.

• Wage:

  £19,506 a year

  Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

  Discounts on your favourite shops and brands; A top-tier pension scheme — we boost your savings for the future

  25 days of holiday (plus bank holidays!) to recharge and relax

• Training course: Improvement specialist (level 5)
• Hours: Monday to Friday, core hours. Half day on Fridays! Working hours TBC.

  37 hours 30 minutes a week

• Start date:

  Tuesday 1 September 2026

• Duration:

  4 years

• 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

This is your chance to explore every corner of our operations. Through a wide mix of placements across our Bristol sites, you’ll learn how we manufacture and assemble precision aircraft structures and components; and how our quality team keeps everything performing at its best.

Years 1 & 2 - Build Your Foundations:

You’ll develop core quality and engineering skills, including how to:

• Understand and apply aviation regulations, standards, and policies
• Collect, interpret, and analyse data to improve production processes
• Work with multi-functional teams to solve real engineering challenges
• Explore fabrication, welding, machining, assembly, composites, testing, and special processes
• Identify, manage, and deliver quality improvement projects
• Plan and carry out system, process, and product audits
• Analyse risks and support teams in managing them
• Spot performance gaps and help develop plans to close them
• Assist design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and operations teams with quality questions and investigations 

Years 3 & 4 - Step Up and Lead:

As your confidence grows, you’ll move into more advanced responsibilities, such as:

• Leading and contributing to continuous improvement projects
• Creating project plans and presenting them for review
• Coaching and supporting others in using quality tools
• Mapping and analysing processes and value streams
• Studying process capability and performance
• Using data to build predictive models
• Working with suppliers to improve their processes and reduce quality issues
• Supporting both steady state and new product introduction teams
• Collaborating with leadership to shape strategy and share improvements across the business

By the end of your apprenticeship, you could progress into roles such as Product Assurance Engineer or Supply Chain Quality Engineer, with potential to grow into future leadership positions.

Where you'll work

You can select which locations you want to apply for in your application on Find an apprenticeship.

This apprenticeship is available in these locations:

• GKN Aerospace Filton, Golf Course Lane, Bristol, BS34 9AU
• Western Approach Distribution Park, Severn Beach, Bristol, BS35 4GG
• Taurus Road, Patchway, Bristol, BS34 6FB

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

QUALITRAIN LIMITED

Training course

Improvement specialist (level 5)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

• Leading improvement teams: Holding team members/stakeholders to account for delivering agreed actions within an improvement project and building/maintaining appropriate stakeholder relationships inside and outside the organisation to deliver improvement project objectives
• Strategic Deployment of Continuous Improvement: Contribute to deployment of improvement strategy, participating as an active member of the improvement community
• Communication: Prepare and present concise proposals and plans. Capture and share progress through effective formats and channels. Use and handle questions effectively. Build rapport with others.
• Capability Development: Train, facilitate and critique the application of tools used by improvement practitioners including tool-selection, links between tools, how they are used within a structured method, analsysis of results and presentation of recommendations
• Project planning: Plan and manage finances, multi-stakeholder delivery and benefits realisation
• Change planning: Design reinforcement, engagement and communication strategies
• Principles and Methods for Improvement: Guide others on the selection of appropriate methods (eg. Practical Problem Solving, Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control, 8-Disciplines, Identify-Define-Optimise-Verify) to deliver improvements. Conduct gateway assessments to ensure suitability of projects to progress
• Project selection & scope: Guides others on the selection and scoping of improvement projects and the intial response to product/process performance issues. Identify, scope and prioritise improvement opportunities that map to high-level organisation objectives and key value-streams
• Process mapping & analysis: Guide others on the selection of appropriate process mapping and analysis tools. Critique improved state
• Lean tools: Identify and analyse value-streams using appropriate methods and tools to optimise flow to customer. Develop a plan for Lean deployment within the organisation including effective and relevant performance metrics
• Measurement: Guide others on the planning, analysis and interpretation of data collection & measurement studies including the design of tests to recreate failures & steps to diagnose/reduce short & long-term measurement variation
• Statistics & measures: Confirm data and fit for a range distribution models. Establish predictions. Calculate confidence intervals
• Data analysis-statistical methods: Model random behaviour and make inferences with levels of confidence. Calculate/recommend sample size. Test hypotheses for all data types. Assess input/output correlation. Generate, analyse and interpret simple and multiple predictive relationship models
• Process capability & performance: Identify data stability/distribution issues and apply appropriate strategies to enable robust Capability Analysis. Analyse life data to establish rates and patterns
• Root cause analysis: Make appropriate use of data to assess contribution of critical inputs/root cause(s) to product/process performance using appropriate graphical and statistical tools to draw and coomunicate conclusions
• Experimentation & optimisation: Guide others on the planning, analysis and interpretation of experiments. Plan,conduct, analyse and optimise both full & fractional experiments
• Data analysis – Statistical Process Control: Monitor and asses ongoing process variation and changes through chart-selection, control-limit setting, sample sizing/frequency and control-rules
• Benchmarking: Guide others on benchmarking to support all stages of improvement projects including future-state design
• Failure mode avoidance: Decompose complex systems in order to define main functions. Anaylse system interactions. Cascade knowledge through fault tree analysis. Create and assess design rules, standards & verification methods. Complete robustness studies to select appropriate control strategies and detection methods
• Sustainability & control: Guide others on control and sustainability planning including methods and tools to maintain benefits, extraction of learning, replication, sharing and consolidation of new knowledge into organisational learning

Training schedule

Training will all take place on site in Bristol.

More training information

At our Bristol sites, we design and manufacture large, complex wing structures, precision metallic components, and advanced systems for civil and military aircraft. And now, we’re inviting you to join us on this exciting journey.

You’ll earn while you learn, studying toward a Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) recognised Level 4 Quality Practitioner qualification (equivalent to HNC) and a Level 5 Improvement Specialist apprenticeship (equivalent to HND). Over 48 months, you’ll rotate across our three Bristol sites - including our £32m state‑of‑the‑art Global Technology Centre - to gain hands‑on experience with real engineering challenges and cutting‑edge technology.

We’ll teach you the tools, processes, and mindset used by quality professionals across the aerospace industry. With new technologies like hydrogen and electric propulsion emerging, this apprenticeship gives you the chance to be on the front line of next‑generation aerospace innovation.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

• English (grade Grade 4 (C) or above)
• Maths (grade Grade 4 (C) or above)
• Science (grade Grade 4 (C) or above)

Desirable qualifications

A Level in:

STEM Subjects (grade Pass)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

• Communication skills
• Organisation skills
• Problem solving skills
• Team working
• Curious
• Project work

Other requirements

Security check.

About this employer

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities. GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers. There are no limits to where you can take your career. Together as “one GKN” we’re moving our business and industry forward developing technologies that rapidly decarbonise aircraft, and innovating to help build a new generation of planes that produce zero emissions.

https://joinus.gknaerospace.com/early-careers/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Life assurance and income protection, because your wellbeing matters 24/7 support programme if you ever need to talk Virtual GP appointments for you and your close family 

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

By the end of your apprenticeship, you could progress into roles such as Product Assurance Engineer or Supply Chain Quality Engineer, with potential to grow into future leadership positions.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

QUALITRAIN LIMITED

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000011994.

Apply now

Closes in 7 days (Friday 27 February 2026)

After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.