Graduate opportunities
Our divisions have graduate opportunities available. During this time, you will learn all about the objectives, direction and challenges, whilst working on fascinating and unique projects along the way.
You will receive ongoing support from day 1, with opportunities to develop your learning through:
- work-related conferences
- internal and external events
- role-specific courses
- in-house graduate community
We will also encourage you to continue your professional development through chartered programmes and accreditations.
You'll get invaluable insights through working at Dstl and experience working on some of our most exciting projects. You will have 4 reviews throughout the duration of your programme where you can achieve pay increases. We’ll also immerse you in our incredible culture and you’ll access all of our organisational benefits.
Industrial placements
The transition from university to the workplace can be quite daunting, but we want to help you. To ease that change, we offer 1-year placements to undergraduate students part-way through their degrees.
By joining us on an industrial placement, you will instantly contribute to projects and work across a broad range of areas. You will gain experience working with teams of engineers and scientists, in support of the MOD, UK armed forces and other government departments.
We’ll involve you in a mix of practical lab-based tasks and research. Your personal development and insight to Dstl are paramount to us and we will work with you ensure that we’re maximising both of those areas.
Opportunities for our placement scheme are advertised from October each year.
Summer placements
We offer 10 to 12 week placements to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to work on some specific, technical projects over the summer break.
This is a great way for you to maximise your development throughout your university journey and a great opportunity to apply your theoretical learnings to our projects.
Summer placements are advertised each autumn for the following summer.
Apprenticeships
Dstl recruits new apprentices each year. Most apprentices will start with us in September, to coincide with the academic year. The Dstl apprenticeship schemes mix formal classroom-based study (available virtually during Covid) alongside practical hands-on training in our workshop, laboratory and office facilities.
At the end of the programmes, many of the apprentices accept permanent roles within our departments where they have the opportunity to progress further with additional training and development. Read some of their experiences.
Sponsorship opportunities
At Dstl, we have an eye for talent, so if you impress us, during either your summer or industrial placement, then we’ll dip our hands in our pockets and offer you a sponsorship opportunity. This means we will financially contribute to the remainder of your studies and you will be fast tracked to the interview stage of a graduate opportunity, when you finish your degree.