Learning and development

Beginning your lifelong learning journey

 

Working at BAE Systems brings immense opportunity. A long and fulfilling career, with first-class training and lifelong development available to all, with all the support to help make it happen.
 
The scale at which we operate generates endless opportunities to work across diverse roles, specialisms, cultures and countries. Achieving our growth ambitions needs everyone to own their role and find their unique place. This is a place to be curious, build your network, feel empowered and motivated by your team, sharing in our purpose to protect what matters and create a safer future. 

 

As many of our team can demonstrate, it’s possible to have multiple careers throughout your time here. There’s always the opportunity to retrain or reskill, whether through a formal programme or exploring our on demand virtual learning platform where you can explore tailored resources aligned to each of our functions.  

 

Our resources are accessible at any time and from any device and consider inclusive learning styles by offering these through a variety of platforms such as videos, books, guides and structured virtual learning programmes through our digital learning platform, Spark.

 

Our learning portfolio

There are four key areas of learning which make up our Learning Portfolio. Everyone here will have specific learning needs associated with each of these areas during the course of their career with us. 

Core skills

the skills we all require to be effective in our roles and to support the business.

Leadership learning

the skills required to lead and inspire high-performing teams.

Functional learning

the technical knowledge and skills specific to your role and function.

Business Integrity Training 

the essential training we all must complete, to ensure we operate to the highest standards of business conduct.

The role of your people manager

Establishing your learning needs will be dependent on a number of factors, including – but by no means limited to – your role, projects you work on, your strengths and development areas and, of course, your future aspirations and career goals. 

 

Your learning plan will be developed in partnership with your people manager, who will take an active role in ensuring your development continues throughout your career with us.
 

Learning beyond your role

We also provide the opportunity to get involved in projects outside of your primary remit. We encourage you to seek a stretch project in which you’ll gain different experiences. With our huge portfolio of products and our multinational presence, there are opportunities to get involved in something different around every corner. Additionally, we encourage involvement in community projects, STEM initiatives and our employee resource groups, which all provide valuable learning and development experiences that you may not have access to in your day-to-day role.

 

To ensure we retain our talented people to maintain our future focused critical skills, we offer a blend of sponsorship, additional support in career development planning and a portfolio of high potential development programmes.
 

Our talent management framework

Our mission is to build a strong pipeline of diverse, adaptable, and inspirational talent that will lead and grow our future business.

 

We believe that everyone has talent, and at the heart of our talent management approach our ambition is to be recognised as the leading employer in the defence and security sector for valuing diversity and inclusion.

 

Accelerated development will be offered to those who have the aspiration, ability, and performance to fulfil leadership and technical roles that are critical to our future success. We will identify those employees who have high potential. 
 

Internal mobility

There are endless opportunities to grow at BAE Systems, and we will build upon the diversity of your experience through supporting your movement across our organisation.


Our mission is to support our colleagues reach their full potential and so you’ll always find something new that will continue to inspire and provide an exciting and varied career that continues to play a crucial role in creating a secure tomorrow for generations to come.  

Leadership and management development


Our Leadership Management portfolio offers rich structured programmes and frameworks on a number of relevant topics, including executive education programmes, leadership presence & impact, and team effectiveness.
 
Through this, we develop leaders of tomorrow who will:

  • Lead and inspire high performing teams and individuals

  • Drive the strategy and challenge the status quo, to deliver superior value and innovation for our customers

  • Lead with excellence, creating an inclusive and high-performance culture, in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment

  • Identify new opportunities to rapidly grow our business, actively encouraging creative ways of working and enterprise collaboration

Lifelong learning is a reality at BAE Systems, and we’re proud to be a diverse, inclusive, and supportive employer, helping everyone build a career to be proud of, delivering our purpose of protecting those who protect us all.