During your first two years, apprentices train in our Academy environment, this is where you learn all about electrical theory, cabling and wiring infrastructure. You will then go on to individually produce around 20 small projects, where you will be involved in designing, installing, repairing and maintaining electrical systems.

A Draughtsperson will be involved in producing engineering designs and drawings for components, structures, piping, control & instrumentation systems, and electrical systems used in industrial and commercial construction.  The first part of your training will be spent in the award-winning skills academy whilst also attending a local college on day release. Once you’ve met the required learning, you will undertake focused professional placements across the business where you will gain knowledge of the challenges we face, problem solving, and safety requirements.

As a Mechanical Maintenance Apprentice, you will learn the basics of hand tools then move onto learning the operations of various machines such as milling machines, pillar drill and lathes.  You will pick up a variety of skills including setting up rigs, maintenance and set up of basic pipe fittings, and making crank sets and frost coils. Other tasks will include disassembling and reassembling equipment such as vacuum pumps.

As a Mechatronic Maintenance technician at AWE, your role will include servicing, repairing and installing various Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, Hydraulic and Programmable Logic Control (PLC) systems, all of which are commonly used onsite to support the Machine Tools department and Trials & Test Technology Centre.

Precision Machining is the manufacturing of components on various machines. During the first part of your training as a precision machining apprentice you will learn basic machining and hand fitting skills through a series of supervised machining tasks, in which you will manufacture a number of useful engineering tools.

As a Quality Inspector at AWE your role will include inspection of various mechanical and electrical components that are used within a production or trials environment, working to process following written procedures and using your knowledge and experience to interpret requirements directly from drawings. As a Quality apprentice you will initially be based within the onsite training facility, where you will develop your basic knowledge and core skills, before progressing on to the onsite aspect of your training.

Control and Instrumentation (C&I) is one of only two ‘critical trades’ at AWE. That’s because C&I is vital to the success of our mission, to keep the nation safe and secure. Put simply, C&I engineers enable a wide range of different automated processes to run. C&I engineers create, simplify and automate processes. We deal with systems that measure and control all kinds of things – from the flow of water, to the temperature of a furnace. Our goal is to make sure complex processes can take place at the simple press of a button.

Technical Authors are the specialists who generate written instructions on how to perform all kinds of technical tasks in a safe, controlled way.  At AWE the role of a Technical Author involves producing documentation that explains how to safely build, support and service the UK’s nuclear deterrent.  To enable you to understand the technology you will be writing about, you will spend three years studying Control and Instrumentation (C&I).  C&I is one of only two ‘critical trades’ at AWE and is vital to the success of our mission.  Put simply, C&I engineers enable a wide range of different automated processes to run.

As a Business Administrator at AWE your role will include inputting visit details to enable visitors to access site, raising purchase requisitions, diary and inbox management, booking of meeting rooms and allocation of keys, control of classified documents and many other transactional administration tasks to support all areas of AWE.  As an apprentice you will initially be based within the award-winning Apprentice Skills Academy. This is where you will develop your basic knowledge and core skills, before progressing on to the onsite aspect of your training.

An Information Communication Technician (ICT) provides support to customers, helping them to be productive when using technology to do their own jobs, by using tools to problem solve and troubleshoot non-routine problems. ICT technicians configure and maintain the systems which provide the infrastructure services to our customers when they need it, rectifying issues to ensure the organisation’s productivity.  As part of your apprenticeship, you will move through several placements across the company from Networking and Cyber Security to Coding and Servers.

As a project controls apprentice your role will include supporting the four key areas of business management- Cost Engineering, Planning, Estimating and Project Controls whilst rotating through various programmes around the business, you will gain an understanding of:

• Projects Structures – WBS, CBS, OBS
• Schedule Development – Schedule Quality, Cost and Duration estimating, interactive planning sessions
• Baseline Management – Creating and Maintaining Baselines
• Performance Measurement and Analysis
• Business Rhythm – Month End Reporting and Analysis
• Cost Forecasting
• Variance Analysis

Experimental Physics at AWE involves the study of unusual materials in extreme conditions. You will spend the first few weeks of your apprenticeship in the AWE’s Skills Academy before moving out into placements within the business.  Placements range from working with high power lasers to diagnosing high explosives. During your placements you will undertake and complete various laboratory-based projects which will enable you to develop a complete set of skills and knowledge required to work successfully at AWE.

High Performance Computing at AWE provides the supercomputing hardware and software that enables the modelling and simulation capabilities to support AWE’s scientific and engineering programs. As a High Performance Computing (HPC) apprentice, you will spend the first few weeks of your apprenticeship in the AWE’s Skills Academy before moving out into placements within the business.

Metrology is a vital skill to improve and verify the quality of products and components. It concerns all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. As a Level 3 Advanced Metrology Technician apprentice you will be on the first step to a career as a Principal Quality Engineer at AWE. The apprenticeship is a 3-year course comprising of approximately 20% study and 80% workplace activity. You will apply your interpretation and understanding of core measurement principles and practices and apply these within a production or trials environment. You will identify measurement needs, plan and perform measurement tasks using tools, equipment, instrumentation and software programmes.