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Undergraduate Placements
10 month placements that develop your skills

Undergraduate Placements Overview

Do you want to kick-start your career, gain industry experience, and start building the skills to help you succeed in business or engineering? You could be perfect for our undergraduate placement. It’s open to university students in the penultimate year of their studies and will help you discover where your career could take you.  

Over 10 months, you’ll work on exciting live projects in our business, engineering, software and manufacturing areas, applying the skills you learn at university to the real world. Depending on your placement, you’ll either focus on one specialist area or split your time into two five-month placements to experience different departments within your function.

You’ll get plenty of support with a ‘buddy’ to help you settle in, on-the-job training, and our mentor scheme. Your experience can also count towards professional qualifications and often leads to a graduate offer for when you finish university.

Starting September, you'll earn £20,000 per year (pro rated across your 10 month placement); you'll also be eligible for our company bonus scheme.

Applications for our September 2025 programme are now OPEN! Take a look at what you could be a part of by using our job search - applications close on the 19th December so be sure to apply as soon as you can.

8 reasons why you should consider a placement with us:

1: It will enhance what you are studying at Uni

1: It will enhance what you are studying at Uni

You'll be able to put into practice, the theory you are learning in your degree.

2: It could lead to a graduate role with us

2: It could lead to a graduate role with us

If you enjoy your placement and you'd like to come back to us once you've graduated, you could be made an offer for our graduate programme at the end of your placement!

3: You'll develop more than just your technical skills

3: You'll develop more than just your technical skills

Networking, working with a range of functions, working to deadlines - all of these are great additional skills you'll develop whilst completing your placement

 

4: It's a great community

4: It's a great community

With more than 300 graduates, undergraduates and summer placements joining on a yearly basis, you'll have a great community to join. You may find somene that has an exact same hobby as you - or someone that teaches you a new one!

5: We've some great working practices

5: We've some great working practices

You'll benefit from our flexible working practices, which means you control when you start and finish work - depending on your role this could also mean working from home for some days each week (if you'd like to!)

6: It's a great way to try an Industry

6: It's a great way to try an Industry

Not only will you learn a lot about the sort of the role you could be doing when you graduate, you can also learn a lot about the Industry that you are interested in working in before deciding if it's for you.

7: It's great for a confidence boost!

7: It's great for a confidence boost!

You'll discover your strengths, experience new situations, and get feedback from those around you - you'll feel a lot more confident by the end of the placement.

8: You'll build a great network

8: You'll build a great network

You'll build great networks within your own team, but also the wider teams that you'll work with.

Spotlight on our Functions

Take a look at some of the functions that support our undergraduate placements:

 

Aerodynamics

Locations: Bristol

Commercial

Locations: Stevenage

Change Management

Locations: Stevenage

Computer Vision and AI

Locations: Bristol

Customer Support and Services

Locations: Stevenage

Electronics Engineering

Locations: Stevenage and Bolton

Electro Optics Seekers and Systems

Locations: Stevenage and Bristol

Finance

Locations: Stevenage

Future Battlespace Solutions

Locations: Stevenage

Guidance Control and Navigation

Locations: Bristol

Human Factors

Locations: Stevenage or Bristol

Manufacturing

Locations: Bolton

Mechanical Engineering

Locations: Stevenage or Bolton

Procurement

Locations: Stevenage, Bolton and Bristol

Project Management

Locations: Stevenage or Bristol

Seekers

Locations: Stevenage

Simulation and modelling

Locations: Stevenage and Bristol

Software Engineeering

Locations: Stevenage and Bristol

Systems Design Engineering

Locations: Stevenage and Bristol

Weapon Systems Engineering

Locations: Bristol

Not sure which of our roles to apply to?

See which functions are a match for your degree using our handy matcher

If there is more than one function that you are interested in, you can apply for up to 3 roles with us.

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Entry criteria & application process

Our entry criteria

You'll need to be studying towards an undergraduate degree in a relevant area (as listed on our job adverts) and be on track to graduate with a minimum 2.2 classifiction.

Our application process: 1. Submit an application

Our application form contains a few factual questions, some questions relating to the role you have applied for and a section for you to tell us all about you! 

2. Online assessment - Part One

Next in our process is part one of our online strengths assessment, completely tailored to our business and early careers schemes. After completing our assessment you'll receive a personalised report. If you've applied for more than one role with us, you'll only need to complete this assessment once.

3. Online assessment - Part Two

Part two of our online assessments include three video recorded tasks which are authentic work scenario based activities which you could be doing on your programme - we refer to these as job simulations.

4. Internal review

Hiring managers and members of the recruitment team assess your application and assessment results and if successful, you'll be shortlisted for our assessment centres.

5. Assessment centre

Our strength based assessment centre is a half day virtual experience! You’ll get to work on a range of tasks, meet current programme members and people from the department you have applied for. All candidates receive feedback on their performance. 

6. Offer

We’ll call you within three weeks of your assessment day to talk through your feedback and the finer details of your offer, as well as next steps.

AI in our application process

At MBDA, we believe in the power of technology to enhance our work and the potential of our future talent.

We understand that candidates may use tools to improve their applications. At MBDA, we emphasize the importance of using this technology ethically and responsibly. Innovation and integrity are two of our values at MBDA.

Use AI to Enhance, Not Replace:

  • Drafting and Editing: Let AI help you organize and polish your application, but ensure your personal voice and experiences shine through to show us your authentic self.
  • Research and Preparation: Use AI to gather insights about our company and the role, demonstrating your understanding and alignment with our values.

Avoid Misuse:

  • Originality is Key: Submitting AI-generated content without personalization can be easily spotted. Authenticity and honesty are crucial.
  • Final Review: Always conduct a thorough manual review to ensure your application reflects your true self and adheres to context-specific nuances.

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