The family-owned British maker of ejection seats, based at Higher Denham in Buckinghamshire, with an in-house apprenticeship scheme and a Level 3 mechanical engineering apprenticeship.
Martin-Baker designs and makes ejection seats, the equipment that fires a pilot clear of an aircraft in an emergency. The company says its seats have saved more than 7,700 lives since 1946. Its range includes seats for the F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, helicopter crew seats, and related safety equipment such as the US18E seat for the F-16 Block 70/72 and the KR18A seat for South Korea's KF-21 Boramae, along with maintenance, testing, training and pyrotechnics services.
The company was formed on 17 August 1934 by James Martin and Captain Valentine Baker, who started out building aircraft. Baker died in 1942 testing a prototype, and Martin then turned the firm's attention to pilot safety. The first live ejection test took place in 1946 from a Gloster Meteor, and the company developed zero-zero ejection (working at zero height and zero speed) in 1961. Its tagline is "Saving lives since 1946", which fits its mission of protecting aircrew, and its footer says "Engineering for Life".
Martin-Baker's headquarters are at Higher Denham in Buckinghamshire, near Uxbridge. It also owns Chalgrove Airfield in Oxfordshire, where seats are tested, and has sites in France, Italy and the United States. It is a private, family-run business, led since 1979 by the twin sons of the late Sir James Martin. That is why it describes itself as independent rather than part of a larger group.
In 2019 Martin-Baker was named Employer of the Year at the Uxbridge College awards. Natalie Drake, a senior HR adviser, said the company was very proud of its apprenticeship scheme. The company says it trains to very high standards, pushes learners beyond the minimum and rewards apprentices according to performance. These are the company's own words from 2019, so ask current apprentices how it feels now. Its website lists an Early Careers page and a Training and Development Centre, but their contents could not be read.
The clearest route is a Level 3 mechanical engineering apprenticeship, studied at Uxbridge College. In 2019 the company had 15 apprentices on Level 3 and Level 4 mechanical engineering courses, which it said was more than any other mechanical engineering employer at the college. A Find an Apprenticeship listing for a Level 3 Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship near Uxbridge closed on 12 January 2026. The advert's pay, length and entry requirements could not be read, so check the Martin-Baker website. We did not find a graduate scheme.
Website: martin-baker.com
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