This programme has been designed to support people who have had a career break or are trying to transfer their skills in to a new sector or one they used to work in. We know that any gap in work experience or a move away from a sector or skill set makes it very hard to return or join through standard recruitment channels.

The roles in this programme tend to run on a 12 week work placement with a view to securing a permanent role at the end of that period. Although it’s not guaranteed, 96% of our candidates who join the programme go on to secure permanent roles with their host organisation.

As a candidate working with STEM Returners you have access to free CV writing and Interview coaching and if you are successful in securing the role you’ll get access to coaching and mentoring programme to help you thrive in the role.

If you meet the criteria for this role but are unsure if you are eligible for the programme, we encourage you to make an application.

We are looking for talented Scientists and Engineers with experience in research and collaboration to join us at Leonardo in Luton working on complex problems in the field of Electronic Warfare. Leonardo is a global leader in defence electronics and delivers mission-critical systems for situational awareness, electronic warfare and surveillance across land, sea and air. Our Electronic Warfare line of business is uniquely positioned as one of the world’s top developers of electronic surveillance and countermeasure systems as well as being a core member of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), developing Tempest, the next generation fighter aircraft that will replace the RAF’s Typhoon.

As a science-focussed Systems Engineer, with an academic background in mathematics, physics or similar fields you will bridge the gap between the theoretically possible and the practically implementable in real systems.

You do not need a background in engineering, our Systems Engineers come from a variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines and many of our engineers at Leonardo have PhDs/EngDs from a diverse range of research domains across STEM.

We are not expecting you to have domain knowledge of electronic warfare systems, or significant experience in engineering. What we are looking for are scientists and engineers looking to build their technical knowledge through training, team working, and one-to-one mentoring.

We will support you in your technical and professional development whatever your background, and provide challenging technical work to allow you to excel. Our working environment is fast-paced but relaxed. We value the expertise of our engineers and work to ensure they have the autonomy and confidence to make decisions themselves or as a team. We put trust in all our engineers to ensure they remain in control of their work and future career prospects.

We are recruiting for a number of roles from a variety of backgrounds and skillsets. Based upon your skills and foundation knowledge, we will assess where your knowledge and skills would best fit and discuss options with you.

Due to the nature of our work, you must be capable of achieving a minimum of SC security clearance and will require access to caveated information such as UK eyes only. Please see the UK National Security Vetting site for more details.

Dependent on the work and project the roles may require office-based working, at our site in Luton  and you must have five years UK residency as a minimum to apply.