2026 Finance Apprentice – Level 2 Accountant Assistant, with progression onto Level 3 Assistant Accountant and Level 4 Professional Accountant

2026 Finance Apprentice Level 2 Accountant Assistant with progression onto Level 3 Assistant Accountant and Level 4 Professional Accountant

Start Date: 07 September 2026

Salary: 24000 per annum

Location: Crawley

Employee type: Permanent

Working Schedule: Monday Friday 37 hours a week (8 hours Monday Thursday 5 hours Friday)

Are you an individual who is proactive with a passion for getting into the detail We have an exciting opportunity to join our corporate team based in Crawley. This role is a rare chance for a highly motivated individual to take on a role that has excellent career progression opportunities within Thales.

What the role has to offer:

• Earn while you learn
• Job specific training experience
• Recognised qualifications
• Permanent role from day one
• Tuition fees for university or approved training providers are fully covered
• Great opportunity to gain experience and further your career in Finance
• Operate in a visible role with an opportunity to add value from the early stages

We have an exciting opportunity to join a Finance Apprenticeship within our UK business. We have opportunities within Corporate and our Thales UK business lines.

You can expect to be involved in a wide range of activities gaining significant exposure to the business and building a broad professional network. Key responsibilities will vary depending on which team you are sitting within but may include:

• Learn about Thales Finance processes and tools used and help with process documentation
• Learn about timesheets and labour bookings - why we do them and how it works and then support the resolution of timesheet queries
• Learn about travel and expense and support the resolution of expense queries using Concur
• Learn about the P2P (Procure to Pay) process and support the resolution of supplier invoice queries and work with our TBSS team (shared services finance team procurement and quality teams)
• Help to develop and add content for our finance intranet pages
• Working with the Digi Ops teams to develop and implement forms and dashboards
• Help to manage access to Customer Portals
• Help track data quality and assist the businesses in improving their metrics
• Help with data cleanse activities to improve our data quality metrics
• Supporting projects in maintaining forecast invoicing dates and improving cash forecasting
• Ad hoc tasks reporting and analysis as required by the UK finance process team

Apprentice Programme

Apprentices will start by enrolling onto a Level 2 Accountant Assistant Apprenticeship with our award-winning training partner The Apprentice Academy. Delivered via a virtual delivery model over 15 months the apprenticeship will introduce you to day-to-day accounting activities and will help you to build the competence to deliver these successfully. On completion of the programme you will achieve an AAT Level 2 Diploma in Accounting.

On completion of the Level 2 you will be supported to progress onto the Level 3 Assistant Accountant Apprenticeship (18 months) and the Level 4 Professional Accountant Apprenticeship (17 months) to achieve your AAT qualifications.

Requirements:

• 5 GCSEs 9-4 (A-C) including English and Maths

Benefits

• 201 hours annual leave (plus a company day and bank holidays)
• Company Pension
• Health Care Cash Plan
• Life Insurance
• Discount Portal
• Performance-related pay uplifts
• 80 Hours Volunteering (first two years)

Please note assessment centres for shortlisted candidates will be held between February - May 2026. Induction week for all Graduates and Apprentices will take place from Monday 7 September - Friday 11 September 2026.

Closing date: Our applications will close at 11.59pm on Thursday 12 February 2026 this is the only time we will be accepting applications this year. Please note we will be in contact by the end of February 2026 with details of next steps.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ROLES MAY CLOSE EARLIER THAN THE ADVERTISED DEADLINE IF WE RECEIVE A HIGH NUMER OF APPLICATIONS. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO APPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID MISSING OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Recruitment Process:

For further information on our Future Talent recruitment process including hints and tips or to speak to a member of the Future Talent Team a Graduate or Apprentice please visit Thales Future Talent - Connectr.

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales all our roles are subject to security restrictions.

All successful candidates must possess the permanent right to work in the UK andwill be required to go through Government security clearance at BPSS Level and to obtain full SecurityClearance (SC) in line with the United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) requirements below prior to starting with us.

This role requires Security Clearance (SC). It would be advantageous if currently held however if not currently held it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo achieve and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.

To be eligible for full SC you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. As part of the vetting process you will be asked to provide evidence of your identity eligibility to work in the UK time spent abroad over the last 5 years as well as employment and / or educational history.

For further details of the evidence required to apply for security clearance please follow this link - is an equal opportunities employer and diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of Thales.

In line with Thales Baseline Security requirements candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles or the Early Careers Teamfor graduate and apprentice roles.

Great journeys start here apply now!