An Italian aerospace, defence and security group with a major UK business, Leonardo UK. It offers cyber security graduate and apprenticeship routes.
Leonardo is an Italian company that makes helicopters, aircraft, defence electronics and space systems, and it also has a cyber security division. In the UK its business is run through Leonardo UK, a wholly owned subsidiary, and the UK is one of its main production bases alongside Italy, Poland and the US. Its UK helicopter business descends from AgustaWestland.
The group traces back to Finmeccanica, set up in 1948, and took the Leonardo name on 1 January 2017. Its headquarters is in Rome. Globally it has roughly 180 sites and 60,500 employees (2024). In July 2025 it acquired the cyber security firm Axiomatics. In the UK, Leonardo's own locations page lists Yeovil (about 3,300 staff, helicopters), Edinburgh (about 2,000, radars and countermeasures), Luton (about 1,000, electronic warfare), Basildon (just over 600, thermal imaging, radar and communications), Southampton (about 400, infrared detectors), and Bristol (240 staff, the UK headquarters of its Security and Information Systems division, focused mainly on cyber security). Other sites include London, Lincoln, Newcastle and Elstree. Lincoln also runs a training academy for cyber and electromagnetic specialists.
We did not find a formal mission statement in the sources we read.
Leonardo UK's cyber work covers protective monitoring (watching networks for signs of attack), incident response investigations and support for clients' IT infrastructure and services. The wider company builds helicopters such as the AW159 and AW101, surveillance radar, electronic warfare systems that protect aircraft, and satellite and space systems.
Early-careers routes are well documented. The cyber early careers page describes a graduate programme and apprenticeships, with day release to college and support from work-based assessors for apprentices. Leonardo's early-careers FAQ says apprenticeships last 2 to 5.5 years depending on the type, and graduate programmes last 12 months for Cyber Security and Business Support, 18 months for Electronic Engineering and 24 months for Helicopter. Apprenticeship applications typically open from November to March, and graduate assessment starts in January and can run until August. Graduates are given a buddy, and the selection process includes a questionnaire, four recorded video answers and a virtual interview. Leonardo says people, not AI algorithms, review applications.
Because the work is defence-related, you must be able to get security clearance, typically Security Check (SC) for graduates. Graduates need five years of permanent UK residency, apprentices need to have lived in the UK for the past five years, and Leonardo says it cannot sponsor visas for early-careers roles. Salary was not on the pages we read; the FAQ points to ukearlycareers@leonardo.com. Check each vacancy.
Website: uk.leonardo.com
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