Systems Engineer Intern

Job Description:

Your impact

Do you want to work on real-time projects alongside leading scientists and engineers within a globally renowned company?

At Leonardo, we’re looking for industrial placement students who want to be part of something extraordinary—shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety. 

Leonardo’s Industrial Placement Programme offers you a paid placement to develop your knowledge and skills in our innovative and practical environment. In addition to working with our highly skilled engineers and business professionals, successful completion of an Industrial Placement can often lead to an offer for a permanent graduate position and securing your place on our industry leading Graduate Development Programme.

This programme is remunerated £26,228 per annum.

A 6 month – 1 year Industrial Placement Programme

Our Industrial Placement Programme is designed to offer you the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills you require to become an engineering or business professional of the future. On our programme you will engage with challenging and exciting project work, and deliver innovative business or technical solutions as part of a team of subject matter experts. Throughout the programme you will receive coaching and support from your team to achieve your objectives as well as your personal development goals. You will gain a wide array of experience on your placement that you can apply to your academic studies and future career.

At Leonardo we value individuals who continuously demonstrate a dedication to their personal development. We are looking for highly motivated individuals who are willing to take on a challenge to complete a placement, and we will demand a high degree of customer focus and work performance from you in order to meet our operational challenges. If you are willing to commit to giving your best performance, you will find Leonardo a very rewarding place to work!

Successful completion of an Industrial Placement with Leonardo may also lead to an offer on our Graduate Development Programme. 

During your placement, we encourage you to spend at least three days each week on site to integrate with your team and maximise your learning experience. 

What you’ll do

Systems Engineers are involved in all aspects of design and development; from initial product design through to in-service support.

They look at the big picture, determine how the system needs to operate and collaborate to produce the required overall operational behaviours. They also dive into the deepest level of detail – taking the system piece-by-piece and defining its design to the finest point. Our Systems Engineers can also actively engage in R&D, developing new concepts and conducting fundamental research into our future technologies.

As a Industrial Placement Systems Engineer, you will work on real engineering problems within either the Radar or the Advanced Targeting business area. You will have the opportunity to be involved in supporting a wide range of tasks across multiple projects/products, such as:

• The radar for the Typhoon fighter jet
• The radar for the SAAB Gripen fighter
• Our family of Surveillance AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radars
• An IRCM (Infra-Red Counter Measures) system
• Our laser target designator or laser ranging systems

Core activities within Systems Engineering include:

• Requirements capture, design documentation, verification and validation.
• Algorithm design and test.
• Performance modelling; building physics-based models to test our designs through computer simulation.
• Data analysis; end-to-end systems analysis using synthetic and ‘real world’ data.
• Applied research; from product improvements to blue-sky thinking.

You will work with an experienced engineer who will provide day-to-day guidance and on-the-job training. You will be introduced to systems engineering processes, methods, technology and tools, with particular emphasis placed on learning practical skills that may not be easily gained or experienced in the academic environment of a university.

What you’ll bring

All of our Industrial Placement roles require a minimum predicted 2:1 in relevant degree discipline such as Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, or other STEM subject degrees. This should be a minimum of a Bachelors level degree.

• Be a self-motivated individual, willing to take on new challenges and drive continuous personal development
• Strong communication skills across a variety of mediums i.e. written, verbal, digital, etc.
• The ability to develop effective working relationships with peers and stakeholders
• Adaptable to the ever-changing demands that will be encountered within the role
• Offer novel ideas and methods for solving technical problems, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge learned during academic studies

In addition to this, we would be interested in hearing from you if you have experience in:

• Coding/programming.
• Relevant project work and/or placements in industry.
• Solving problems as part of a team
• Applying your science and technology knowledge to solve a real-world problem

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all of the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

Security Clearance 

Many of our roles are subject to security and export control restrictions set by UK Government Security requirements and customer obligations.  As a result, and in line with the UK Government Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) requirements, all successful applicants will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record declaration information and employment and/or education history verification for the previous five years. 

For staff operating in more sensitive posts, there is an additional range of personnel security controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV).  As part of this process, a range of factors may be considered, including an individual's background, travel history, nationality, previous nationalities held and other information relevant to the vetting assessment. 

To be eligible for National Security Vetting at SC level, applicants will generally be expected to have continuously resided in the UK for the previous five years. For DV clearance, this is typically ten years.  In some circumstances, time spent overseas may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.  Additional vetting requirements may apply upon appointment. 

For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting 

Why join us 

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do, our teams are key contributors in shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.  

We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year. 

• Secure your future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution. 

• Your wellbeing matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity. 

• Tailored perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more. 

For a full list of our company benefits please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/company-benefits  

We are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people, communities and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know. 

Start your extraordinary career – apply now!

Primary Location:

GB - Edinburgh

Contract Type:

Fixed term

Hybrid Working:

Hybrid