Join MBDA as a Procurement Undergraduate Placement student in Stevenage or Bolton, working on a 1-year placement starting September 2027. Earn a £24,460 salary with hybrid working of 1-3 days onsite per week. This role offers hands-on experience in supply chain management, supplier relationships, and global procurement for a leading defence organisation.
Requirements
Currently studying for an undergraduate degree in Business and Management or a related discipline
Must be a British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship
Must pass HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS)
No specific professional years of experience required as this is an undergraduate placement
Skills & Responsibilities
Relationship Management: Build and manage commercial relationships with over 3,000 UK and international suppliers to deliver vital defence capabilities.
Negotiation & Contracting: Draft, amend, and negotiate terms and conditions for key sub-contract management relationships.
Risk & Value Management: Execute risk management and develop supplier strategies offering value for money.
Process Transformation: Support transformational change programmes to keep procurement processes, tools, and approaches innovative.
Potential transition routes: Students from Business, Supply Chain, or Economics degrees may bring strong analytical and communication skills, alongside meeting the undergraduate study and British citizenship requirements.
Job description
Procurement - Undergraduate Placement 2027
At MBDA, procurement isn’t just about buying—it’s about building vital partnerships that shape world-leading defence capabilities. Joining our team means working with over 3,000 suppliers across the UK and internationally, where no two projects are the same. Whether you’re helping source cutting-edge technology, negotiating with global partners, or ensuring our supply chains run seamlessly, you’ll be at the heart of delivering innovation and security that makes a real difference.
Salary: £24,460
Dynamic (hybrid) working: You can expect to be onsite 1-3 days per week.
Security clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship.
Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.
This role is scheduled to close for applications at midnight on Monday 30th November 2026 but may close earlier depending on application volumes.
What we can offer you:
1 year placement: starting September 2027, that allows you to apply your university learning to real-world projects and technologies
Perform well on your placement and you could secure a graduate role before your final year
Company bonus: based on company performance and will vary year to year
Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
Healthcare Cash Plan: provides support with everyday health related costs – including medical, dental, optical, physio and health & wellbeing
Annual Leave: 25 days plus option to purchase extra holiday
Flexi Leave: up to 15 additional days
Facilities: fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
The opportunity:
Purchasing opportunities don’t come more varied than at MBDA! As prime contractor to the UK MoD and an employer of over 5000 in the UK alone, we source a staggering and varied range of products, goods and services!
Our Procurement departments are responsible for the partnership and collaboration with over 3000 UK and international suppliers. These suppliers enable us to provide world leading defence capabilities for our home nations and their allies, so effective management of these relationships is imperative.
You will gain comprehensive hands-on exposure across our entire commercial landscape. This includes driving strategies in Category Procurement, Supply Chain Management, managing Project Procurement and leading end-to-end Sub-contracting and Services. You’ll have the opportunity to experience many different aspects of procurement such as;
Bringing in essential product parts and test equipment to the business
Managing commercial and business relationships with both UK and overseas companies, providing subsystems, systems, studies and customer support
Risk Management, working on supplier strategies that offer value for money as well as building and nurturing key customer or partner relationships
Subcontract management is an important task in this role and you’ll get the opportunity to see how to draft and amend terms and conditions as well as negotiate and manage terms for many key relationships MBDA ha
Supplier relationship management and managing supplier performance
Managing consulting services, infrastructure (i.e. telecoms, construction projects) that allow the whole business to operate
Support transformational change programmes to keep our Procurement processes, tools and approaches innovative and effective
What we’re looking for from you:
Current undergraduate studying for a degree in a Business and Management or related discipline
Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given.
MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.
We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…
We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.
Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), X (@MBDA_UK), Instagram (MBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.
