Software Engineer in Cheadle

Location: Cheadle, United Kingdom

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Hybrid working arrangement: 3 days per week on site (based on full time hours)

Working hours: Full time hours (37 per week)

We’re looking for an enthusiastic software engineer with strong software development skills and a passion for working in a team to deliver solutions to complex engineering problems. This is a unique opportunity for you to create software that delivers a state‑of‑the‑art sonar capability for UK and international navies. Our systems are developed for a wide range of significant defence projects, including the latest autonomous Mine Countermeasures solutions, Royal Navy submarines, Merlin helicopters, the latest frigates and the Hunt Class Mine Countermeasures vessel.

Core Benefits:

• Performance‑related bonus
• Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00
• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) plus opportunity to buy up to 40 hours/year (pro rata)
• 24 hours volunteering paid for
• Private healthcare (grade dependent)
• Pension scheme
• Life cover
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app
• Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers
• Gym membership discounts

You can read about some of our other benefits here: UK benefits | Thales Group

Under Water Systems (UWS):

We provide advanced underwater sensing and decision‑support capabilities, working in close partnership with navies around the world to enhance safety and security. Our work spans Mine Countermeasures, Anti‑Submarine Warfare, Services, and Future Capabilities.

Main Responsibilities:

• Make a key contribution to your agile software development team and champion agile best practices
• Implement state‑of‑the‑art sonar solutions to allow our Royal Navy operators to undertake complex tasks in the most efficient way
• Remove the complexity of sharing data between bespoke systems to enable a digital revolution for our Royal Navy
• Hold yourself and your team accountable to the high standards that give Thales the reputation as a company that embodies engineering excellence
• Work with customer support functions to enable new capability to be deployed efficiently

Ideal Experience & Skills:

• Degree or equivalent in a relevant subject e.g. Software Engineering, Computer Science, Maths, Physics or Engineering.
• Experience of contemporary SW development technologies on large scale systems
• Experience of LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) development
• Experience working in an Agile or DevOps team with an iterative approach to software development
• Able to travel to other sites both in the UK and overseas when needed

Security Clearance Requirement:

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires you to be a UK National and achieve Security Clearance (SC) without any caveats. It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. If approved by the MOD, a dual national from a non‑ITAR country may be considered. To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last five years. In some circumstances, a minimum of three years’ residence in the UK over the last five years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.

Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance: UKSV website.

Equal Opportunities:

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role.