IT Consultant Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship 2027

Salary: £23,000 plus a £3000 joining bonus.

Duration: 4 years

Location: Bolton

Learning provider: Manchester Metropolitan University

Due to the need to attend your MBDA site and the training provider as required for your apprenticeship, applicants need to ensure their home or rental location is appropriate, travel arrangements are manageable and travel time is minimised as required for your role.

The qualification: You'll complete a Digital and Technology Solutions apprenticeship with IT Consultant pathway. Your final award will be a BSc (Hons) in Digital and Technology Solutions.

Find out more details on the course here: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/study/apprenticeships/courses/digital-technology-solutions

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 Friday 22nd January 2027 but may close earlier depending on application volumes.

What we can offer you:

• Fully funded qualification starting September 2027
• Paid travel expenses to and from your place of study
• Annual pay reviews
• Healthcare Cash Plan: provides support with everyday health related costs – including medical, dental, optical, physio and health & wellbeing.
• 25 days annual leave (plus holiday purchase) and up to 15 days flexi leave
• Study leave during exam periods

Programme structure - your work at MBDA:

Start your career in the digital world by designing, delivering, supporting, maintaining and protecting the digital technology and solutions for the MBDA ecosystem. We are evolving the way our products and services are designed and delivered to our customers, and we need you to help us!

Our solutions are developed and deployed in accordance with the international group business needs, our product partnership initiatives and the national security standards. We need individuals who want to develop their skills across the whole digital information systems and information technology enterprise as well as building a specialism in one of our delivery and operational domains.

This programme is a fantastic opportunity for you to join a growing digital systems team and gain hands on experience within the information technology and information systems sector with a major defence contractor. It will give you experience of projects developing or enhancing business solutions as well an understanding of operational and service delivery. We'll support those with the aptitude and passion for all things technology based and allow hands on experience within Infrastructure, AI, Cloud and Application environments.

Solution delivery at MBDA is typically a mix of ‘waterfall’ and ‘agile’ project methodologies meaning you’ll have the opportunity to compare and contrast different styles of solution development and begin to learn how to select the best approach to meet the requirements. Typically you will be involved with and contribute to solution analysis and requirements elicitation; systems and solution design including liaising with technology and service providers; project/task management including release and test management.

Our operational teams cover everything from user engagement through to cyber security threat protection, detection and recovery. We use ITIL standards for our operational management and comply with standards such as the national government Cyber Security Essentials Plus scheme, ISO27001, and you will have the opportunity to develop an understanding of and begin to apply those in practise. In this area you would be involved in the delivery of services for the enterprise covering applications, infrastructure and desktop ecosystem including performance monitoring and capacity management.

In addition to study and experience in each of our main digital domains and disciplines, you will follow the specialist path IT Consultant. An IT consultant bridges the gap between users and technology: they reinvent the digital world of the future. They require a broad set of skills in business analysis, solutions development, software engineering, network infrastructure, data analyst and cyber security. They use their consulting skills to get to the root of a problem and advise internal clients on how to best utilise technology to meet their business objectives, overcome problems and increase productivity. They provide strategic guidance and training to clients, about digital and technology solutions. They facilitate changing business processes, improved structure, and efficiency through enhancements to digital and technology solutions. They design, build and install innovative customer experiences using the latest technologies as well as tried and test solutions.

During your first and second year, you'll experience all of the key areas of the Digital Excellence function: Enterprise Architecture and Consultancy; Digital solutions and Delivery Management; Cyber Security; Networking and Digital Infrastructure;. In the third and fourth year you will concentrate on your specialist path ultimately leading to the project chosen as part of your final assessment working with the relevant Digital Excellence team.

The academic portion of this apprenticeship consists of one virtual study day per week with the University. At the start and end of every module you'll be onsite at the university and this is typically 3 days at the beginning of the module and 3 at the end. The remainder of your working week you'll be working in the Digital Excellence function; depending on the placement you are completing this could be mean you'll need to be onsite at MBDA for the remainder of the week.

What we’re looking for from you:

This role has specific qualification and subject criteria so please make sure you carefully check your eligibility against this criteria before applying otherwise your application will not be considered. If you are currently studying and expect to meet these requirements by the start date you are welcome to apply.

GCSEs:

A minimum of 5 GCSEs at minimum grade 4.

This must include:

• English Language
• Mathematics
• Any Science or Technology subject

After GCSEs:

Following your GCSE's you must have completed one of the following qualification routes, equivalent to a minimum of 120 UCAS Tariff points:

• A levels: Three A levels totalling 120 UCAS Tariff points, including A level Mathematics OR Computing/Computer Science, with no individual grade below C.
• T level: T Level in Engineering or Computing with a minimum Merit grade.
• BTEC: A single Level 3 Extended Diploma in Maths, Science, IT OR Engineering at a minimum grade of DDM. Those applying with Science, IT or Engineering subject must provide evidence of completing a Further Maths module.

Please note: We look at entry criteria based on your top three full A Levels or equivalent qualifications (BTEC/T Level). We do not include UCAS points gained from an Extended Project Qualification. Additionally, as an employer we set our own entry criteria based on the requirements of this role. This means that the criteria above may differ from the university.

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.