Software Engineer - Undergraduate Placement 2027

The Software team at MBDA deliver software for the next generation of weapons in an ever evolving environment - to support those on the battlefield.

Salary: £24,460

Dynamic working: 4-5 days per week on-site due to workload classification

Security clearance : British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship. Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

This role is scheduled to close for applications at midnight on Monday 4th January 2027 but may close earlier depending on application volumes.

What we can offer you:

• 1 year placement: Starting September 2027, that allows you to apply your university learning to real-world projects and technologies
• Perform well on your placement and you could secure a graduate role before your final year
• Company bonus: Based on company performance and will vary year to year
• Pension: Maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Overtime: Opportunity for paid overtime
• Annual Leave: 25 days plus option to purchase extra holiday
• Flexi Leave: up to 15 additional days
• Facilities: fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
• Healthcare Cash Plan: provides support with everyday health related costs – including medical, dental, optical, physio and health & wellbeing

The opportunity: Our teams provide high integrity real time software products running on our munitions, weapon systems, software infrastructures (i.e. DevOps) and production test software to support functional test & manufacturing. We use a variety of programming languages, software tools and software lifecycle methodologies to achieve this.

You will get exposure to some aspects of a software development lifecycle and develop some of the skills necessary to become a well-rounded software engineer.

• Work closely with other teams in a variety of development stages within our weapons systems including both embedded and front end software development on a range of platforms, such as Windows and Linux, utilising primarily C, C++ with potential for ADA and some scope for C# and Python dependant on the specific group and team.
• Learn about the functional and technical robustness of project deliverables
• The importance of technical documentation.
• Work with other departments within the company, learning a general overview of the business.

Most undergraduate roles will be working in C/C++ with the possibility of working with a variety of verification environments, from host based testing to system integration.

What we're looking for from you: Current undergraduate working towards a degree in degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or relevant Engineering field (incl. Aeronautical/Aerospace, Mathematics, Physics)

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given. MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), X (@MBDA_UK), Instagram (MBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.