Accelerate graduate Review
at BAE Systems
Graduate Scheme
Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Barrow-in-Furness
Review Submitted: November 2025
Overall Rating
4.5 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4.8/5
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Overview of the Role
4.4/5
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Experience & Company Culture
4/5
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Recommendations & Advice
Overview of the Role
Overall, how would you describe your experience at BAE Systems?
I have enjoyed my time on the grad scheme, it has allowed me to develop the skillset I need to exit into a permenant role and work towards becoming a chartered engineer. If you advocate for yourself there will be opportunities for you to seize to drive your career in your desired direction.
What are the main responsibilities of the role and which elements of the role do you enjoy the most?
Mechanical design and system engineering on the platform.
Advance the system maturity and support my team.
Engage with stakeholders- lead and attend workshops.
Advance the system maturity and support my team.
Engage with stakeholders- lead and attend workshops.
To what extent does your role give you the opportunity to contribute meaningfully and feel valued by your team?
5/5
I do feel valued by my team and I have been given a great opportunuty to lead on a new design concept's development. This new design will have a significant positive impact on the system.
How does your compensation package - including perks & benefits - fairly remunerate you for the work you do?
5/5
Competitive salary and a relocation package is available for graduates moving to the area.
There is also access to:
share incentive
medical and/or dental cover
Green car
Cycle to work
And other schemes which can be opted into.
There is also access to:
share incentive
medical and/or dental cover
Green car
Cycle to work
And other schemes which can be opted into.
How well do you feel the role is preparing you for your future career?
5/5
BAE systems has much greater job stability than most other graduate engineering roles. Combined with good promotion opportunities and schemes, it is viable for a long term career.
There is an emphasis on networking and additionally graduates are able to take on stretch opportunities which will allow them to persue learning or experience that wouldnt usually fall within their roll.
Given the size and scale of the company it's possible to completely change career direction/role/function even while staying within the same business unit.
There is an emphasis on networking and additionally graduates are able to take on stretch opportunities which will allow them to persue learning or experience that wouldnt usually fall within their roll.
Given the size and scale of the company it's possible to completely change career direction/role/function even while staying within the same business unit.
How would you rate the extent to which you were developing new or existing skills through formal training and your day-to-day role?
4/5
There are many training courses available to employees, including those ran by accreddited engineering bodies. The company will fund engineers to persue chartership or higher education (masters degree).
Day to day learning may vary on work rotation as some teams are on site full time and others only 4 days a month, this is also dependent on the competancy of manager/trainer (although my experience has been positive).
Day to day learning may vary on work rotation as some teams are on site full time and others only 4 days a month, this is also dependent on the competancy of manager/trainer (although my experience has been positive).
Experience & Company Culture
How is the support you receive?
4/5
The support is good, are lots of support resources available to graduates eg:
Early careers team
Mentors
Pesonal effective modules and career coaching
Buddy program
Line manager support.
The only negative is thst it can be difficult to prove you are high performing/ exceeds expectations because as an engineer you are evaluated against standard behaviours and milestones which may not encompass what you have been doing in your role, or fall outside of the scope of your role so there would be no way to demonstrate high performance in that skill or behaviour.
Early careers team
Mentors
Pesonal effective modules and career coaching
Buddy program
Line manager support.
The only negative is thst it can be difficult to prove you are high performing/ exceeds expectations because as an engineer you are evaluated against standard behaviours and milestones which may not encompass what you have been doing in your role, or fall outside of the scope of your role so there would be no way to demonstrate high performance in that skill or behaviour.
How is your work-life balance?
5/5
There are flexible working hours and both overtime and time-off-in-luie avaible. I have also been hybrid working which has been extremely valuable to me as it meant I didnt have to immediately relocate to fulfill my role.
What is the organisational culture, values and general atmosphere like?
5/5
There is a drive for wellbeing and a healthy work life that is clear from the work environment and ways of working. Almost everyone I have engaged with has been extremely welcoming and positive.
How would you rate BAE Systems initiatives when it comes to equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility?
4/5
There are support services and inclusion resources and resource groups available.
Embrace - supporting cultural and ethnic diversity
Enabled - supporting disabled cimmunity
EngINeering - inclusion
EncourAGE - muitigenerational workforce
MindSet - supporting mental health and wellbeing
OutLink - supporting gender and sexual diversity
VetNet- supporting military community
Embrace - supporting cultural and ethnic diversity
Enabled - supporting disabled cimmunity
EngINeering - inclusion
EncourAGE - muitigenerational workforce
MindSet - supporting mental health and wellbeing
OutLink - supporting gender and sexual diversity
VetNet- supporting military community
How would you rate BAE Systems CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives?
4/5
BAE systems are making significant investment in the local community to revive and grow Barrow such as the portland walk project and university of cumbria support.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
Yes
Why?
It is a good job, due to the size of the business it's likly you will ba able to find a role that suits you.
There is additional job security as contracts have been agreed reaching out decades into the future so its very much a growing business.
There is additional job security as contracts have been agreed reaching out decades into the future so its very much a growing business.
How well did the role match your expectations based on the recruitment process?
4/5
The role I am currently in doesn't match what my initial expectations were. I thought I would be involved more hollistically in the engineering lifecycle but as the programs lifecycle is a number of decades thats not the case, I hadn't fully appreciated the scale of the program or company. This is not a bad thing as there are opportunities to get involved with each stage or switch if you are unhappy with your role, personally I have found that I am more interested in the design phase than I initially thought and I'm happy in my current role.
When considering the recruitment & onboarding process, have you any specific tips or advice you would give to others applying to BAE Systems?
Try to network and build connections but its most important to relax, as a new start it's likely you will be both nervous and keen to get involved. Due to the scale of the company and clearance needed to fulfill your role you will have an onboarding period to bring you up to speed with the business, so just take your time and try to build connections. You will not need to worry about immediately performing, there wont be unfair expectations. There is a lot to tak in so just take your time to get upto speed with your role/system and ways of working.
