A French technology group with a large UK business. It makes defence, aerospace and security systems, including cyber, and runs apprenticeships at UK sites such as Glasgow, Belfast and Reading.
Thales is a large technology group that builds systems for defence, aerospace, security and digital identity. Its products include radar, communications, air defence, cyber security and the technology behind secure bank cards and passports. Thales UK works on projects such as the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and the British Army's Watchkeeper drone, and helps modernise signalling on the London Underground.
The group's roots go back to 1893 and the Compagnie Francaise Thomson-Houston, and in 1968 it became Thomson-CSF. In June 2000 it took over the UK firm Racal Electronics, and in December 2000 it was renamed Thales. In 2019 it bought Gemalto, a digital security company. Its headquarters is in Paris, but the UK is one of its biggest national businesses. Thales says it has more than 7,000 people in the UK across 16 sites. A 2022 company announcement named UK sites in Glasgow, Belfast, London, Reading, Crawley and Somerset, and a 2026-27 graduate advert also names Belfast and Reading. Globally it employs about 80,000 people in 68 countries.
Thales describes its purpose as "Building a future we can all trust". We did not find a UK-specific mission beyond that. In its UK careers material it says it focuses on collaboration, creativity, professional growth and flexible working. One careers page lists values including customer trust, "One Team, One Thales", developing people, accountability and being agile and innovative. These are the company's own claims.
In the UK its main areas are defence, aerospace, cyber and digital. Thales says it delivers around £1.6 billion of projects a year in the UK and supports a UK supply chain of more than 21,000 jobs. Its cyber work includes protecting data and critical systems, while its defence side includes sonar, radar and naval systems, and its aerospace side includes training and simulation. These figures are company statements.
Thales is one of the most apprenticeship-friendly employers in this sector. In 2022 it announced its largest ever UK apprentice intake (126 apprentices) across Level 2 to Level 7, and a four-year cyber degree apprenticeship in Reading with QA and Northumbria University. A 2026 listing for a four-year Cyber Security Apprentice in Glasgow paid £24,000 a year and asked for four Highers at BBBB, including a maths, computing or physics subject. Its graduate page describes a two-year business programme and a three-year engineering programme with starting salaries of £30,000 to £32,000 (as at its 2025 round), fully sponsored qualifications, mentoring and 80 volunteering hours in the first two years. A Prosple listing shows 2027 graduate roles in Belfast and Reading at £34,000. Almost every role needs security clearance, which usually asks for several years of UK residency, and the right to work in the UK. Thales also says it was named in Glassdoor's Top 50 Best Places to Work for 2025, which is the company's claim.
Website: www.thalesgroup.com/en/countries/europe/united-kingdom
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE