Summer Placement Supportability Engineer

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 from1st June to 28th August 2026.

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

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC). 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.

Be part of something bigger - apply now