AI Engineer Apprentice - Machine Learning

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

2027 AI Engineer Apprentice - Level 6 Machine Learning

Start Date: 06 September 2027

Salary: £24,000 per annum

Employee type: Permanent

Location: Crawley

Working Schedule: Monday – Friday, 37 hours a week (8 hours Monday – Thursday, 5 hours Friday)

Turn your curiosity into a career. If you're passionate about artificial intelligence, eager to learn, and looking for a degree apprenticeship that combines academic study with exciting on-the-job experience, we'd love to hear from you.

Benefits of the programme:

• Earn a salary while studying for your qualification
• Gain hands-on experience in a real AI and engineering environment
• Receive job-specific training and development
• Achieve a recognised Level 6 qualification
• Secure a permanent role from the start of your apprenticeship
• Have your tuition fees fully paid

About the Role

As an AI Engineer Apprentice, you will develop the technical knowledge, practical skills and professional behaviours needed to design, build, test and deploy dependable AI-enabled solutions.

Working as part of our AI and engineering community, you will contribute to live projects across the machine learning lifecycle, collaborating with software, data, systems and domain specialists to turn needs into secure, maintainable solutions.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Preparing, exploring and validating data for machine learning use cases
• Developing and evaluating machine learning models and AI-enabled software components
• Writing clean, tested and documented code using appropriate engineering tools and practices
• Supporting model integration, deployment, monitoring and performance improvement
• Contributing to technical reviews, experiments and structured problem solving
• Working with experienced engineers and researchers on live projects

What You Will Learn

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

• Professional engineering behaviours, teamwork and industry best practice
• Programming, software engineering, version control and automated testing
• Data preparation, feature engineering and data quality techniques
• Machine learning methods, model selection, training and evaluation
• Deployment patterns, MLOps, monitoring and lifecycle management
• Cloud, compute and development tools used to deliver AI solutions
• Responsible AI, security, privacy, safety and regulatory considerations
• Structured approaches to troubleshooting, experimentation and continuous improvement

Apprenticeship Programme

You will study towards a Level 6 AI Engineer apprenticeship with QA, developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to build and apply artificial intelligence responsibly in an engineering environment.

The programme is delivered through a virtual learning model, combining:

• Live virtual lectures (28 days)
• Online learning resources
• Self-directed study

This programme will take you through the AI lifecycle, from design and build, through to deployment and governance – providing a strong foundation for your role within Thales. The programme includes the Microsoft certified Azure AI Engineer Associate qualification, in addition to the Level 6 Machine Learning Engineer Apprenticeship qualification.

Entry Requirements

To apply, you will need:

A Levels

• Three A Levels Grade B or above in Maths
• At least one relevant subject (Physics, Computer Science, Software, ICT)
• Or a Level 4/5 apprenticeship in a similar subject

GCSEs

• Minimum of five GCSEs at Grade 9-4 (A-C), including English and Maths

Please note Computer Science graduates are not eligible due to funding restrictions.

 Benefits

• Competitive salary of £24,000 per annum
• Performance-related pay uplifts
• 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)

Thales Apprentice Recruitment Process

1.      Apply Online - submit your application online to register your interest.  You only need to register for one role as you will have the opportunity to apply for additional roles at the full application stage.

2.      Upload Your CV

3.      Check your emails for the invitation to apply – this will come from [email protected]

4.      Complete Your Application – follow the link provided in the email to complete your application.  You can apply for one primary role and up to 3 additional roles.

5.      Complete Online Tests - undertake the online assessments designed to evaluate your suitability for the role.

6.      Virtual Assessment Centre - candidates who progress from the online assessment stage will attend a virtual assessment centre, which will include group exercises, and competency-based interviews.

7.      Job Offer – successful candidates who perform well throughout the recruitment process will receive a job offer from Thales.

For further information about our Future Talent recruitment process, including hints and tips, or to connect with a member of the Future Talent Team, a Graduate, or an Apprentice, please visit Thales Future Talent - Connectr.

Please note, assessment centres for shortlisted candidates will be held between February - May 2027.  Induction week for all Graduate and Apprentices will take place from Monday 6 September - Friday 10 September 2027.

Closing date: Our applications will close at 11.59pm on Wednesday 17 February 2027, this is the only time we will be accepting applications this year. Please note, we will be in contact by the end of February 2027 with details of next steps.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ROLES MAY CLOSE EARLIER THAN THE ADVERTISED DEADLINE IF WE RECEIVE A HIGH NUMER OF APPLICATIONS.  WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO APPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID MISSING OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Because of the work we do at Thales, all roles are subject to security 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.

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.

Thales is an equal opportunities employer and diversity, and inclusion are integral to the success of Thales.

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.
 

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.

Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!