France's defence industry employs more than 210000 people and expects to recruit 100000 by 2030, according to France Travail, the public employment service. Most of them, 70000, will replace workers who retire.
France Travail tells job seekers that they can do well in the industry without previous experience in defence. DefenceJobs.org data on open roles across Europe shows that both large groups and young companies recruit people from outside the industry. Still, a security check is common, and some jobs are open only to a country's own citizens or to people who have lived there for years.
Skilled workers from other industries are in demand
At 25 of Europe's largest defence companies, about 1 in 7 job postings is for factory workers such as machine operators and metalworkers. That is about as many as for software developers, Indeed Hiring Lab, the research team of the job site Indeed, reported. Welders are especially hard to find. In 2025, 21 of the 27 EU countries reported a shortage of welders and 12 a shortage of software developers, according to the European Labour Authority.
In the UK, BAE Systems is hiring welders, sheet metal workers, electricians and pipefitters for its shipyards. For welders and sheet metal workers, it accepts experience from construction, manufacturing or marine work. Each job needs trade papers, which prove a completed apprenticeship. The pay is just over £40000 a year, plus 33% extra for shift work where it applies. That is more than BAE pays a new graduate engineer, who starts on £34000 plus a £2000 welcome bonus.
In Germany, more people are moving into defence from other manufacturing industries, though the numbers are still small. Researchers at the IAB, the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, found that 3x as many people made that move in 2025 as before 2020, the news agency dpa reported. Hensoldt, the German sensor maker, has agreed with Voith, an engineering group that is restructuring, to help Voith staff move into jobs at Hensoldt. But the IAB researchers also found that defence has so far not replaced the jobs being lost in the rest of manufacturing, such as the car industry.
Career changers get trained
United Monolithic Semiconductors, a chip maker owned by Airbus and Thales, is hiring shift operators and promises to train experienced people and career changers alike, teaching them everything on the job. Dassault Aviation trains career changers for several months to assemble aircraft structures. They receive an allowance during the training, which ends with an industry qualification.
Military experience counts
In the UK, KNDS, the Franco-German maker of armoured vehicles, says it actively encourages former service personnel, reservists and cadets to join, "recognising military skills and qualifications". ARX Robotics, a German maker of unmanned ground vehicles, says a workshop and warehouse job in the UK would suit anyone who has worked in a quartermaster role, managing military stores and supplies. In France, Safran Electronics & Defense is looking for someone to run a naval optronics programme and would particularly like to hear from senior French Navy officers who are moving into industry.
Crafts and hobbies count as experience
Some jobs value skill with fine handwork, wherever it was learned. Isar Aerospace, a German rocket maker, invites goldsmiths and dental technicians to apply for a job finishing delicate parts by hand. Teledyne Qioptiq, Teledyne's defence optics business in the UK, says its assembly operator job would suit people used to detailed work by hand, such as embroidery or nail art, and promises "full training". Watchmakers find openings in defence too.
The right hobby can help too. Thales in Belgium tells applicants for a radio hardware engineering job, "Radio ham enthusiasts are definitely welcome", meaning amateur radio operators. Vrgineers in Czechia, which builds flight simulators, says the ideal candidate for its simulator manager job "is a simmer", someone who flies simulators as a hobby.
5 large groups hired more than 22000 people in 2025
Each group in the table publishes how many people it hired in 2025, and 4 of the 5 say how many they plan to hire. The figures cover each group worldwide, so they cannot be compared with the forecast for France.
| Company | Hired in 2025 | Plans to hire | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hensoldt | 1178 | 1600 in 2026 | Annual report 2025, press release |
| Leonardo | more than 6600 | 28000 from 2026 to 2030, about 5600 a year | Results 2025, industrial plan |
| MBDA | more than 2700 | 2600 in 2026 | Sustainability report 2025-2026 |
| Saab | more than 3300 | Not published | Year-end report 2025 |
| Thales | 8800 | more than 9000 in 2026 | Press release |
We will update the map of open roles in December.