coding on a laptop

Aerospace Software Development Engineering – Level 6

Do you have a passion for coding and technology and would like to apply your skills and knowledge to the aerospace industry? This career opportunity in aerospace software development engineering may just be the right fit for you.

Career overview

As an aerospace software engineer, you will influence the way products and systems are built to accommodate for modifications as well as upgrades in the product life cycle. On this degree apprenticeship, you will gain insight on interpreting and analysing data such as code, engineering requirements and designs.

You will be expected to work both as individuals and as part of wider Engineering teams. This could include research and development teams as well as other teams from different engineering disciplines. 

Entry criteria

These entry requirements are subject to change depending on individual employers, however, a typical apprentice will have already completed at least two STEM-based subjects at A-level standard or an equivalent. These include subjects such as Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computing, Chemistry and Biology, while achieving 96 UCAS points or above.

This would be alongside 5 GCSEs at grade 4 or a grade C and above including Maths, English and Double Science.

Additionally, apprentices without Level 2 Maths and English must achieve these qualifications before taking the end-point assessment.

While the timeframe may vary the typical duration of this apprenticeship is 48 months. This can be reduced if the student has already demonstrated expertise in this discipline or has prior experience in it.

Skills you will learn on your Aerospace Software Engineering Degree Apprenticeship

  1. Degree apprentices will be able to define all stages of the software lifecycle, as well as the interactions between them.
  2. Apprentices will learn about the procedures and tools that are used to control the change and modification of software products.
  3. Develop and apply algorithms, including specification, design, and implementation.
  4. Apprentices will use the standard methodologies for software production and the toolsets that assist efficient development to apply appropriate engineering operations and toolsets.
  5. Analytic approaches (engineering mathematics): apprentices will use mathematics to reason about software properties such as safety and performance.
  6. Apply Systems Engineering principles: apprentices will learn the criteria for making architectural decisions in order to get the best possible solution for potentially competing system goals.
  7. Demonstrate knowledge of and proficiency with “Modelling & Simulation” software: apprentices will learn how to use “Modelling” toolsets to develop software more rapidly and reliably.
  8. Demonstrate an understanding of code, design, and requirements documentation by reading and interpreting software engineering data.
  9. Apprentices will apply systematic approaches to identify and reduce waste and inefficiencies in their software production activities, using business improvement strategies to ensure the optimisation of processes, resources, and budget.
  10. Apprentices will explore chances to demonstrate compliance with acceptable standards such as statutory, quality, organisational, environmental, and health and safety regulations.
Rocket taking off.

Knowledge Modules

In order to complete the apprenticeship, you must first obtain two certifications. These are the following:

  • Level 4 Diploma in Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (Development Competence)
  • Level 6 Bachelor Honours Degree (BEng or BSc) Stipulated by the employer and accredited by an Engineering Council licenced Professional Engineering Institution

For the completion and final certification of the Apprenticeship Standard, all of the qualification requirements in the foundation and development phases are required.

Conclusion

This course is a great place to start if you want to work in the engineering industry and begin to learn while you earn.

Design, development, and production of both airborne and ground-based software for test equipment, training systems and simulators are typical roles after completing your Degree apprenticeship.

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