Head of Early Careers & Skills Academy

• Job Title: Head of Early Careers & Skills Academy (Air Sector)

Location: Samlesbury; Lancashire.

• Salary: Circa £80,000 depending on experience, plus executive benefits

What You’Ll Be Doing:

• Lead the Early Careers population, collaborating across teams to deliver programmes that enable impactful contribution through the supply of future talent and skills for the Air sector
• Drive transformation change by developing and implementing a clear Early Careers strategy, including Education Outreach and DEI objectives to support talent pipeline growth
• Work with senior Air Sector stakeholders to modernise Early Careers programmes, embedding digital effectiveness and enabling the delivery of sustainable workforce planning
• Leadership and management of apprenticeships, graduate programmes, education services, manufacturing skills training, learning technology, and project delivery
• Shape and evolve the Academy strategy using education and industry best practice
• Ensure safe and effective operation of the Academy’s facilities, technology, people, and suppliers to meet demand requirements
• Provide insights on long-term industry trends to inform Early Careers strategy and continuous improvement
• Inspiring people leader championing an inclusive, engaging and transformative learning and work environment

Your Skills And Experiences:

• Experience driving strategic development, transformation, and technology projects in an Education & Skills environment
• Experience leading large, cross-functional, and geographically dispersed teams from operational and development perspectives
• Leadership and management of apprenticeships, graduate programmes, education services, skills training, learning technology, and project delivery
• Experience analysing and interpreting data to inform trends, generate insights, and support continuous improvement
• Knowledge of UK Apprenticeship funding, regulatory frameworks, and legislative requirements

Benefits

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts - you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.

The Early Careers & Skills Team

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a team of approximately five direct reports and oversee around 100 Early Careers colleagues indirectly. Working in collaboration with the Air Sector and Shared Services teams, you will help shape Early Careers programmes across the business. You will build ties in the community to support talent attraction and enhance the company’s reputation. Acting as a senior interface to Line of Business and Sector Leaders, you will ensure programme delivery aligns with business requirements. Based at the Academy for Skills & Knowledge in Samlesbury, you will lead the Early Careers population and support the evolution of training programmes to meet the changing needs of the business, driving transformation change across the organisation.

Why Bae Systems?

This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity of thought, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome people from all backgrounds and want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.

Closing Date: 24th October 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. 

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