BAE Systems goes on hiring spree as wars push up sales
BAE Systems is going on a recruitment drive, bulking out with fresh talent from across the country as its orders fly up off the back of war.
The defence giant is planning to hire 1,400 apprentices and 1,300 graduates in 2024 across all of its UK businesses, including air, land, navel and intelligence.
Some 99 of the digital intelligence roles will be based in London, Guildford and Chelmsford, with a few naval jobs also available in the capital.
But most of the roles will be based in the northwest of England with almost 1,000 jobs in the firm’s submarine business to be filled.
BAE chief executive, Charles Woodburn, said the mass employment will help to “grow the talent we need to deliver vital national defence and security programmes, including future fighter jets, nuclear-powered submarines and low earth orbit satellites.”.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and more recently, the Israeli war with Hamas in Gaza, defence firms like Babcock and BAE have seen their order books pad out.
BAE shares have risen over 27 per cent in the past year:
Apprentices and graduates in training currently make up more than 10 per cent of BAE’s 40,000-strong UK workforce.
The minister for higher education, apprenticeships and skills, Robert Halfon, said: “We need big employers on side in our efforts to build a skills and apprenticeships nation.
“Apprenticeships provide a ladder of opportunity for people to get in-demand skills and really push on in their careers, and these roles offered by a top apprenticeship employer will transform lives and boost growth right around the UK.”
Government ministers have been urging investors to support the British defence sector over the last year. In the summer, former City minister Andrew Griffith slammed UK investors’ decision to move away from the country’s top defence firms.