Summer Placement Supportability Engineer

Leonardo; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 13,000 - 20,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave pro rata

Pension up to 15%

Mental health support

Free online courses

Job summary

Leonardo is offering a Summer Placement as a Supportability Engineer in Edinburgh. You will work on real‑world projects from day one, gaining hands-on experience across reliability, maintainability and testability analyses, with mentoring from experienced engineers.

The program runs from 1 June to 27 August 2027 and encourages you to spend at least three days on site each week to maximise learning and integrate with your team, while developing your design and data analysis skills.

Qualifications

• Currently studying Aerospace, Electronics or Mechanical Engineering or related disciplines
• Strong communication skills, written and verbal
• Ability to solve technical problems
• Computer literacy (MS Office)
• Appreciation of the lifecycle of a product and electronic product design
• A passion for reliability and root cause analysis

Responsibilities

• Assist with Reliability, Maintainability and Testability (RMT) analyses and reporting
• Contribute to real ongoing projects and learn supportability processes and tools
• Work with experienced engineers for training, mentoring and guidance
• Support design and development activities to satisfy customer specifications

Skills

Strong communication

Problem solving

MS Office

Lifecycle understanding

Reliability analysis

Education

Pursuing Aerospace, Electronics or Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Job Description:

Your impact

Are you ready to make an impact and gain hands‑on experience working on real‑world projects from day one?

At

The programme will run from 1st June to 27th August 2027.

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 as a Summer Placement Supportability Engineer

Supportability Engineers are integral to a product’s lifecycle: from concept and initial design, through production, and into in-service support.

They analyse and report on the Reliability, Maintainability and Testability (RMT) of a product and advise on design and development in order to satisfy customer specifications. Supportability Engineering are the experts in Root Cause Analysis and are integral during production when manufacturing defects are observed.

As a Summer Placement Supportability Engineer, you will contribute to a real ongoing project within the department alongside experienced engineers who will provide training, mentoring and guidance. You will be exposed to real‑world engineering and learn about the use of Supportability processes and tools.

In Edinburgh, Supportability Engineering are directly involved with:

• IRCM (Infra‑Red Counter Measures) Systems
• Laser Target Designator and Laser Ranging Systems
• Eurofighter Typhoon Radar
• SAAB Gripen Radar
• Surveillance AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Radars
• The Global Combat Air Programme

Examples of summer placement projects include:

• Physics of Failure & Finite Element Analysis – an evaluation of Ansys Sherlock in addition to experience of other tools within Ansys suite
• Electronics Reliability Analysis - Evaluating Radar PCAs for Reliability, Maintainability, and Testability
• Lead Free & Materials Science – design, development and production support and interaction with engineers in a variety of functions and roles
• Data Analytics – producing reports using analysis from Production and Field Defect Data

What you’ll bring

Entry Requirements

Currently studying Aerospace, Electronics or Mechanical Engineering or related disciplines

Competencies we look for:

• Strong communication skills, written and verbal
• Ability to solve technical problems
• Computer literacy (MS Office)
• Appreciation of the lifecycle of a product and electronic product design
• A passion for reliability and root cause analysis

Personal attributes:

• Self‑motivated, enthusiastic, and able to use initiative
• Analytical with an eye for data
• Outgoing with a willingness to ask questions
• Collaborative and flexible in approach

Security Clearance

At Leonardo, 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:

Why join us

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

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that supports your wellbeing, learning and development, and work–life balance:

• Time to recharge: Our employees are entitled 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays. As a Summer Placement student you will receive this allowance pro rata.
• Secure your future: 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 (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity)
• Never stop learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn learning.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit:

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 customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.