2027 Industrial Process Engineer Apprentice - Templecombe

THALES UK LIMITED

Templecombe (BA8 0DH)

Closes on Wednesday 17 February 2027

Posted on 8 October 2026


Summary

Are you passionate about engineering? Do you have an inquisitive mind? 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 on offer.

Wage

£24,000 a year

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

  • Competitive salary of £24,000 per annum
    Performance-related pay uplifts
Training course
Manufacturing engineer (degree) (level 6)
Hours
Monday – Thursday, 37 hours a week (9.25 hours Monday – Thursday).

37 hours a week

Start date

Monday 6 September 2027

Duration

5 years

Positions available

1

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

About the Role

The role will develop your engineering skills to become a confident, positive and flexible industrial process engineer with well-honed technical knowledge gained from both the academic commitments and on the job training. You will be part of a team that provides manufacturing solutions in support of our customers’ requirements. This will provide many opportunities to experience the various aspects of engineering such as, defining and optimising manufacturing documentation, tools and workflows for manufacturing, performing manufacturing readiness reviews, contributing to the technological innovation to reduce costs and workflows, whilst guaranteeing the feasibility and reproducibility of the process.

What You Will Learn

Throughout the apprenticeship, you will gain experience and knowledge in:

  • Develop an understanding of the required behaviours and codes of practice of a professional engineer
  • Understanding complex systems by working on different tasks on on-going projects
  • Assessing Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of products by reviewing the product maturity with project teams to identify and minimise risk
  • Define, set up, prepare and optimise manufacturing processes and tooling for a defined area or product line
  • Contribute to Health, Safety and Environment processes
  • Define and optimise manufacturing documentation, tools, workflows for manufacturing and inspection based on the information supplied by upstream R&D engineering departments
  • Contribute to the technological innovation to reduce costs and workflows, whilst guaranteeing the feasibility and reproducibility of the process
  • Attend Material Review Boards and Configuration Control Boards on behalf of manufacturing, actively manage failures and changes
  • Implement test & control plans for manufacturing equipment

Where you'll work

Ocean House
Throop Road
Templecombe
BA8 0DH

Training

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

Training provider

YEOVIL COLLEGE

Training course

Manufacturing engineer (degree) (level 6)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Translate conceptual ideas or technical requirements into developmental outcomes, operational designs, or specifications for manufacturing projects or programmes of work.
  • Select, use and apply approved problem-solving methods to solve problems and determine solutions or actions.
  • Collate, store, use and present data and supporting documentation.
  • Interpret and produce technical documentation such as schematic and circuit diagrams, engineering drawings or 3D CAD models, simulation models, engineering reports, test reports, fault reports or data analytics.
  • Observe, record and draw accurate and auditable conclusions from data evidence.
  • Manage assigned projects or programmes of work, taking into account factors such as planning, safety, quality, cost, performance and sustainability.
  • Apply processes for project or programme management such as escalation, audit or risk management and risk mitigation.
  • Comply with statutory and organisational safety and security standards and requirements, supporting safety risk assessments and mitigate any risks identified within the design, manufacture, development or test activity.
  • Identify and use manufacturing processes, resources and technologies to turn the materials, components or other commodities into a finished product or system.
  • Apply quality management and assurance processes to identify and rectify faults, inaccuracies, discrepancies or unexpected results during the manufacturing engineering process.
  • Carry out pre operations checks of engineering manufacturing systems and equipment before use.
  • Manage continuous improvement activities using techniques such as Six Sigma, 5s, Kaizen, Lean, Kanban, Statistical Process Control or Value Stream Mapping.
  • Create, maintain and review project documentation. Record and action any non-conformities.
  • Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
  • Communicate in writing for example technical reports, documents and presentations.
  • Collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders. Manage differing and competing interests with stakeholders.
  • Identify and complete opportunities for personal and professional development including keeping up to date with current and emerging technology.
  • Apply and promote policies and practices to support equity, diversity and inclusion.
  • Consider management of change (MOC) requirements when undertaking manufacturing projects or programmes of work.
  • Comply with environmental and sustainability legislation, regulations and standards associated with the manufacturing engineering environment. Uses resources efficiently, for example waste minimisation.
  • Ensure equipment is managed and maintained.
  • Optimise processes and procedures, such as relating to safety, efficiency, performance, productivity and sustainability.
  • Ensure that all systems or equipment has been correctly configured, checked and tested for safe operation, efficiency and reliability.
  • Translate conceptual ideas or technical requirements into developmental outcomes, operational designs, or specifications for manufacturing projects or programmes of work.
  • Select, use and apply approved problem-solving methods to solve problems and determine solutions or actions.
  • Collate, store, use and present data and supporting documentation.
  • Interpret and produce technical documentation such as schematic and circuit diagrams, engineering drawings or 3D CAD models, simulation models, engineering reports, test reports, fault reports or data analytics.
  • Observe, record and draw accurate and auditable conclusions from data evidence.
  • Manage assigned projects or programmes of work, taking into account factors such as planning, safety, quality, cost, performance and sustainability.
  • Apply processes for project or programme management such as escalation, audit or risk management and risk mitigation.
  • Comply with statutory and organisational safety and security standards and requirements, supporting safety risk assessments and mitigate any risks identified within the design, manufacture, development or test activity.
  • Identify and use manufacturing processes, resources and technologies to turn the materials, components or other commodities into a finished product or system.
  • Apply quality management and assurance processes to identify and rectify faults, inaccuracies, discrepancies or unexpected results during the manufacturing engineering process.
  • Carry out pre operations checks of engineering manufacturing systems and equipment before use.
  • Manage continuous improvement activities using techniques such as Six Sigma, 5s, Kaizen, Lean, Kanban, Statistical Process Control or Value Stream Mapping.
  • Create, maintain and review project documentation. Record and action any non-conformities.
  • Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
  • Communicate in writing for example technical reports, documents and presentations.
  • Collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders. Manage differing and competing interests with stakeholders.
  • Identify and complete opportunities for personal and professional development including keeping up to date with current and emerging technology.
  • Apply and promote policies and practices to support equity, diversity and inclusion.
  • Consider management of change (MOC) requirements when undertaking manufacturing projects or programmes of work.
  • Comply with environmental and sustainability legislation, regulations and standards associated with the manufacturing engineering environment. Uses resources efficiently, for example waste minimisation.
  • Ensure equipment is managed and maintained.
  • Optimise processes and procedures, such as relating to safety, efficiency, performance, productivity and sustainability.
  • Ensure that all systems or equipment has been correctly configured, checked and tested for safe operation, efficiency and reliability.

Training schedule

Apprenticeship Programme

You will study towards a Level 6 Manufacturing Engineer with Yeovil College

Manufacturing Engineers help take products from design to manufacture, ensuring that they are launched on time, at cost and to the right quality. This programme will provide a strong foundation across mechanical, electrical, digital, materials, product design and advanced manufacturing.

This is a 5-year programme delivered via an in-person delivery model on campus. Over the first 4 years you will attend college on a day release basis to complete your academic studies and will embed your learning in the workplace through your day job. Year 5 will be 100% work-based and will focus on the completion of your End Point Assessment.

At the end of the programme, you will have achieved a BEng in Engineering, as well as a Level 6 Manufacturing Engineer Apprenticeship and will roll-off the scheme into an Industrial Process Engineer position in our Underwater Systems business.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

subjects to include Maths and English (grade 5x 9-4 or A*-C)

A Level in:

  • additional STEM subject (grade 4 (C) or above)
  • x2 including Maths (grade 4 (C) or above)

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
  • Number skills
  • Team working

Other requirements

To be considered for this position, you must have the permanent right to work in the UK and be able to successfully complete and maintain UK Government security checks, including Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) screening and Security Clearance (SC), which is a government background check, before starting employment.

To be eligible for SC clearance, you will typically need to have lived in the UK continuously for the last five years. As part of the vetting process, you will be asked to provide evidence of your identity, right to work in the UK, any time spent overseas during the last five years, and your employment and/or education history. 

In addition, this role supports a UK Eyes Only programme and is therefore subject to government-mandated nationality restrictions. To satisfy the security clearance requirements for access to highly sensitive information, applicants must have been British citizens from birth and must not hold any other nationality. This requirement is determined by the UK Government and is a condition of programme access rather than an employment preference.

For further details of the evidence required to apply for security clearance please follow this link - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels.

About this employer

Together, we create the ingenious technological systems and innovations that impact and improve people's lives every single day. Even if you haven't heard the name Thales before, you've definitely benefited from our inventiveness. We reinvest 20% of our sales in Research & Development in the UK. Together we supply invention across 4 core areas: Aerospace, Space, Defence and Security, Digital Identity and Security.

https://careers.thalesgroup.com/global/en/search-results (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

  • Holiday entitlement of 201 hours a year (plus a company day and bank holidays)
  • Contributory Company Pension
  • Health Care Cash Plan
  • Hybrid/flexible working options
  • Employee assistance programme
  • Learning and development support
  • Employee discounts and wellbeing initiatives
  • Life Cover
  • 80 Hours Volunteering per year (first two years)

Disability Confident

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

Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).

Secure a permanent role from day one at the start of your apprenticeship.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

THALES UK LIMITED

THALES UK LIMITED Thales Future Talent Team

futuretalent@uk.thalesgroup.com

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000058147.

Apply now

Closes on Wednesday 17 February 2027

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