DE&S Finance Apprenticeship Scheme

JOB DESCRIPTION

Quick Overview

• Starting salary £22,560.
• Based at Abbey Wood, Bristol, BS34 8JH, office attendance is required.
• Three-year apprenticeship scheme.
• Specialising in finance.
• Working towards Association of Accounting Technician (AAT) qualifications.
• Entry requirements: Five full GCSEs at grades 4-9 including Maths (minimum grade 5) and English Language.
• Start date: September 2025

Application requirements

• You must follow our CV requirements, listed below and at this link.
• This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last five years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance.
• Please read all information in this advert thoroughly before applying and save offline for future reference.

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we're here to provide for the Armed Forces, as they serve our country all over the world. We support those on the front line by providing cutting-edge equipment and technology for land, sea, air, and space. We deliver the kit the UK military needs to maintain advantage and stay protected, as they protect life at home and overseas.

Whichever area you join us in, you’ll discover new talents, pinpoint new ambitions, and find your place among a diverse team. Ready for real investment in your future?

As part of our team, you'll benefit from plenty of routes for development, access to specialist training and funding for professional qualifications, and a c. 28.97% employer pension contribution. You’ll also have access to a wide range of employee networks, including the Women’s Inclusive Network, Race & Culture Network, Pride Network, Disability Network – and many more.

Job description

We’re looking for talented and motivated apprentices to join our three-year Finance Apprenticeship Scheme and become our finance professionals of the future.

You’ll rotate through several placements focused around finance roles across different areas of DE&S. You may also have opportunities to work in other finance roles supporting the wider Ministry Of Defence (MOD) and Armed Forces.

Day to day, your placements will provide you with the opportunity to learn about all aspects of finance.

You’ll gain experience in:

• Forecasting future budgets
• Reviewing and creating accruals
• Interpreting financial and business data
• Providing financial analysis to support decision making
• Involvement in developing costing for business cases
• Tracking costs to contracts and ensuring they’re recorded correctly
• Using financial systems and business tools

Your hands on experience will be underpinned by MOD and DE&S specific training, as well as study towards achieving Association of Accounting Technician (AAT) qualifications, Levels 3 and 4, over three years. Training will be delivered by an AAT training provider.

On successful completion of your programme, you may be offered a permanent position with DE&S, that reflects the interests and skills you’ve developed throughout the programme.

Please note: Because of the classification of some of the information related to certain projects, some work-based placements may be open to Sole UK Nationals only.

Your place of work will be Abbey Wood, Bristol, BS34 8JH. You will be required to attend the office regularly, at the request of your Scheme Manager or Placement Supervisor. This attendance will be at your own expense and costs for travel or accommodation will not be reimbursed.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, we’re looking for you to demonstrate your potential to succeed in a dynamic working environment. We’re here to help you find your speciality, so, we hire for potential and train for skills.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and are dedicated to creating a great place to work that reflects the diversity of the society we serve. By bringing together different ideas, experiences, and perspectives, we can achieve our ambitions, together.

We’re proud to be a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, committed to attracting, recruiting, and retaining people with disabilities. We’re dedicated to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible and will make reasonable adjustments to support applicants with disabilities.

If you need an adjustment during the recruitment and selection process, even if you feel you do not qualify for the Disability Confident Scheme, please tell us what you need when completing your application online. Please let us know as soon as possible so that our recruitment team have adequate time to consider your request. If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments, you can contact the recruitment team at

You must hold the right to work full time in the UK and qualify for service under the Civil Service Nationality Rules without any additional immigration approvals. You must be able to evidence this at interview and it must not expire before the start of the scheme. If your right to work will expire while you are in employment, you must be able to reconfirm your right to work before it expires, without sponsorship, to maintain your employment.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last five years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating staff on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harms associated with second-hand smoke, and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Tobacco-Free Working Environment (TFWE) programme, smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) are not permitted anywhere, unless stated otherwise, in the Defence working environment. Those seeking, considering, or accepting employment should be aware of this requirement.

Qualifications

You must have or be currently studying to achieve the following qualifications by September 2025:

Essential criteria:

Five full GCSEs at grades 4-9 (or equivalent) to include Maths (minimum grade 5) and English Language

If you’re in your final academic year, you’re requested to apply with predicted grades. Evidence of the above qualifications will be required as part of your pre-employment checks before a formal offer can be made.

To be eligible for this programme, you’ll need to:

• Be at least 16-years old at the start of the scheme.
• Have left full-time education when the apprenticeship starts.

CV requirements

You must follow the CV guidance below (also available here) to enable us to better understand you as a person and assess your suitability for our scheme. We will be looking for your aspiration, engagement, and ability. If you are successful at CV sift, then you’ll be considered for the next stage of our selection process.

Personal statement – Within one document, please write a personal statement at the top of your CV, within the range of 200 to 500 words, answering the following questions:

1. Why do you want to join the scheme you’re applying for?
2. How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this scheme?
3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences helpful?

Please clearly list your qualifications, including your results or predicted grades, distinguishing between an English Language or English Literature qualification awarded. If your grades and/or personal statement are missing, we will be unable to progress your application to the next stage.

If you hold, or have studied towards, a qualification at the same level or above in the same or a similar subject, please declare this within your CV so we can assess your eligibility.

The experience fields on the application form are not assessed, so please ensure your CV is complete.

You can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools during your application to DE&S to support you in writing your CV and personal statements, however, all information that is submitted must be factually accurate. For example, you cannot use ideas and experiences of others, or AI, as your own. All presented information will be assessed at both assessment centre and interview stages.

Behaviours

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your behaviours and experience. We'll assess you against the flowing behaviours during the interview selection process:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits:

Alongside training and development, you’ll receive the following great benefits:

• £22,560 starting salary – with annual increments
• 25 days holiday a year, plus one day a year up to 30 days, eight bank holidays, and a day off for the King’s birthday
• A market-leading employer pension contribution of c. 28.97%, and recognition awards
• Flexible and hybrid working wherever possible, to support your work-life balance (though some attendance to the stated site is required)
• Use of our on-site gym, restaurant, and cafes
• A huge range of discounts including retail, sports, leisure, restaurants, gifts, days out, holidays, cinema, motoring, insurance, health care, gym memberships, and more

More information can be found below:

• Terms and Conditions:

How to apply

Application – 20th January to 17th February 2025.

Apply Before: 02/18/2025, 04:55 AM.

Please complete an online application form and attach your CV which includes a personal statement within one document. You must follow the guidance LINK on how to present your CV for this vacancy and ensure all information is captured within your CV. The experience fields on the application form are not assessed, so please ensure your CV is complete.

To apply, please visit our website via the button below.

Should you encounter any technical difficulties submitting your application please take screenshots and email us Without screenshots of the issue, we may be unable to progress your application.

Pre-Sift/Sift – February/March 2025

We’ll check that you meet all essential eligibility criteria listed in this advert. Your CV will be assessed using a numerical scoring system against your aspiration, engagement and ability. For guidance on writing a CV for DE&S apprenticeships, please click here.

Assessment Centre – April 2025

The highest scoring candidates will be invited to an assessment centre in Abbey Wood, Bristol. We’ll assess you through team exercises, an interview, and a presentation, aligned to our behaviours above. There will be no reimbursement for any travel expenses (where incurred) for the assessment centre.

Provisional Offer – May 2025

Once all interviews have taken place, we’ll make provisional offers to the successful candidates and begin your pre-employment checks. Please be aware these checks can take several months to complete, however, we’ll remain in contact throughout the process.

Formal Offer

Following successful completion of all pre-employment checks, you can expect to receive a formal offer and contract one month before the scheme expected start date.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact:

Name: DES Entry Talent Recruitment Team

Email :

ABOUT US

Join an integral part of the UK's Defence and play your part in the procurement and in-service support of all our armed forces’ equipment, from fighter jets, armoured vehicles and aircraft carriers, to clothing, food, and ammunition. If you have the pride, passion and commitment to be part of an exciting organisation at the forefront of supporting our country's armed forces to deliver on operations at home and abroad, then apply online now!

ABOUT THE TEAM

Protecting and driving value. In Finance and Accounting, we pride ourselves on accuracy and efficiency, harnessing our expertise and sound judgement at every step. We track and provide the right financial information to support effective decision making across our organisation – to ensure we’re securing the best value for the taxpayer.

Please see the MOD Privacy notice which informs how we will use your personal data, explains your rights and gives you information you are entitled to under Data Protection legislation.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. Please click here to find out more.

DE&S/SDA and MOD Main internal applicants will need to apply through MyHR Internal Career Portal via the DE&S/SDA jobs tile. This can be found on the MyHR home page.