Associate Design Draftsperson L3 Apprentice - Manchester

Role: Associate Design Draughtsperson Apprenticeship, within UK Radio Structures Design Team
Unit: BT Networks
Location: HQ BT Manchester, this is a field role with travel across the UK

About the role: The Associate Design Draughtsperson is a specialist role in a national team. The role includes planning and design for the installation of radio equipment on BT owned masts, towers and poles, as well as the design and maintenance of the BT high tower and rooftop estate.
Radio structures are used to support BT’s Core and Access Networks. They have a diverse nature ranging from the BT Tower in London, to small steel poles in more remote spots of the country like the Isle of Skye.
Radio plays an important role as it provides services to our customers in more rural areas who may not have access to our fibre broadband. It also provides the infrastructure for our EE mobile network as well as supporting other 3rd party operators.

Why this role matters: The radio network is an integral part of BT’s network, for both our own internal use and for 3rd party customers. For example, it enables the emergency service network and military traffic control.
Designers are required to utilise their specialist knowledge, skills and abilities to create accurate and innovative design solutions, which are essential to maximise the capacity across the network. This drives revenue and enables BT to become the provider of choice for its customers.

What you’ll be doing: You are responsible for design, planning, and drawing work on all BT Tower and radio sites. These are vital connections to ensure our rigging engineers have the right detail and information to be able to install both BT and customer equipment across BT’s estate as well as clear structural faults.

You’ll work to tight schedules, delivering our customer design works to forecasted completion times in line with Service and Working Agreements. You’ll prioritise to help Engineering Services and other areas of the business meet and manage expectations.

As a radio structures design office apprentice, you’ll learn about

• Maintenance of the radio station record system
• Structural integrity of radio structures
• Safety audit of our radio structures, including climbing and surveying them
• Steelwork design drawings and national design office support for BT Technology and our customers
• Radio structures planning permission drawings for local authorities

Don’t worry if this is all new. You’re not expected to join us with any prior experience in this. We’ll teach you everything you need to know.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week Mon-Fri 0800-1600 or 0900-1700 can be flexible

Full UK Driving licence required

The apprentice training course: You will undertake an Engineering Design Technician Level 3 apprenticeship. This will be with T3 (Training Provider)

Start date: September 2025

Duration: Your apprenticeship scheme will last 30 months, that’s 27 months on programme then 3 months in End Point Assessment. 20% of your working hours will be dedicated to studying.

The qualifications you’ll need: Five GCSE’s grade 4 or higher (A-C in old grades) including English & Maths.

The skills you’ll need:

• Growth mindset
• Analytical thinking
• Proactivity
• Emotional intelligence

Salary: £21,840

After this apprenticeship: The UK Radio Structures Design Office is a brilliant part of BT; it’s a mixture of internal and external customer work and is very rewarding. As well as on-the-job training, you’ll be put through a structured learning programme where you will gain a BTEC diploma as well as an NVQ qualification. As you gain the technical knowledge and competence required, opportunities to progress into our structural specialist team through succession may be something available over time.
It might be a bit daunting at first, but don’t worry – we’ll give you plenty of training to help with the techniques and build your confidence.

About BT Group

BT Group is the global powerhouse behind EE, BT, Plusnet, and Openreach.
We value diversity and celebrate difference. We’ll encourage you to be yourself, whatever your background. As Allison Kirkby, our CEO, says ‘The future of tech must be diverse and inclusive for everyone to benefit. Inclusion by design is the key to our strategy and will help us drive productivity, innovation, and growth for the UK and beyond’. Whichever brand you’re working for, we’re all playing for the same team. And we all enjoy the rewards of being part of something bigger: the opportunities to explore new experiences, pursue different dreams, climb challenging career ladders and try out different ways of working.
We’re always looking ahead. We don’t just sell broadband, networks, security, but thousands of clever things you’ve never heard of; in our Martlesham labs where we’re inventing the technologies of the future.

We’re always looking ahead. We don’t just sell broadband, and networks, and security, and thousands of clever things you’ve never heard of; in our Martlesham labs, we’re inventing the technologies of the future.
Four brands. One team, 105,300 strong. Together, we’re connecting the world. Come and play your part in building the BT Group of the future, one that will be net zero by 2031 and edit your work on the final page. We look forward to receiving your application!

Don't meet every single requirement?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate. We can explore this with you at the telephone interview stage.

Internal candidates will need to agree to the Terms & Conditions (including salary) of this Apprentice Role.

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