early careers
We are always looking to welcome new talent into the Avon Protection plc family. If you want to play a part in protecting lives, delivering unparalleled protection for those who protect us, and want grow in a career where you can make a real difference, we have the opportunities for you.
Dominic
My placement at Avon Protection exposed me to real world projects, providing me with valuable experience of engineering design and taking a design idea from concept to manufacture. One project I was fortunate to work on and challenged me, was the development of the HCH-40 CPAP device for the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The knowledge I learnt on this placement not only helped me during my final year of university, but has also given me a solid foundation to begin my career as a Design Engineer at Avon Protection. I would recommend the placement experience at Avon Protection to anyone who enjoys being challenged and is looking for a career in Design Engineering.
Dominic Leatherhead
Design Engineer
Hannah
The Avon Protection plc Graduate Programme gives you real responsibilities as you work on projects that truly make a difference to our end users. You are empowered while working alongside and learning from the leaders in our field. Throughout the six-month rotations, you are given the opportunity to see the business from a variety of perspectives and really understand the industry that we work in. With our focus to innovate and protect people around the world, I'm very proud when I get to say that I work for Avon Protection.
Hannah Thraxton
Business Operations Associate
Chris
During my placement year, I had the fortune to work on the early development and introduction of the JSGPM programme (known today as the 50 series platform Air Purifying Respirator). It gave me the opportunity to work at our US sites for three months, which I found incredibly beneficial and enjoyable. My placement year gave me a solid grounding in APR development, which has helped me throughout my career at Avon Protection and, twelve years on, I'm still heavily involved with these products on a daily basis.
Chris Ferry
Respiratory Technical Manager
Early career opportunities
Graduate Programme
Unleash your potential with our Graduate Programme, through hands-on experience, real responsibilities, and mentorship.
As a growing business we are looking for graduates who want to develop the skills to become our business leaders of the future. Whatever your background, if you’re looking for a role post-University, our Graduate Programme is designed to give you the experience and opportunities you need to help shape your career path. All our graduates undertake important roles with real responsibilities, and you’ll be supported by your managers and a mentor throughout the programme.
Our Commercial Graduate Programme offers a 2-year structured programme designed to give you an understanding of the entire business before entering into your first career role. As a Graduate Trainee you will cover a range of disciplines and business areas and your placements will be tailored to fit your career aspirations. You will have the opportunity to take on an optional secondment in any one of our business locations around the world, although you will primarily be based at our head office near Bath in Melksham, Wiltshire.
Applications are currently closed for our Graduate Programme. Sign up for alerts for future programmes.
Placement scheme
Gain a year of hands-on experience as part of our Product Design and Engineering placement scheme.
Our annual student placement opportunities allow for those studying towards an Industrial Design / Product Design / Engineering degrees to take a year out after completion of their 2nd year of study to work as part of the Product Development team in our design and manufacturing facility in Melksham, Wiltshire, where they will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our Respiratory Protection business.
Over the course of the year, you will collaborate with co-workers across the UK and America to bring new product ideas from concept to fruition. Working to allocated budgets and timelines, we ensure that you gain a first-hand experience of product development, human centred design, design validation testing and manufacturing as you work with specialist teams, both across the business and externally. With roles starting between July and August, applications for each year close in Spring.
View the job specification and more information on how to apply.
Apprenticeships
Gain valuable skills and experience to learn and develop with us whilst studying towards professionally accredited qualifications.
We offer apprenticeships to provide individuals the opportunity to grow, learn and develop with us while studying towards professionally accredited qualifications across all areas of the business. Based at our headquarters in Melksham, our focus is for you to gain experience and understanding by working on real-life projects in your chosen area. We aim to recruit in line with the academic year, however in some cases opportunities may be available outside of this time frame.
To find out more, please email earlycareers@avon-protection.com.
Work Experience
If you are an enthusiastic student looking for meaningful work experience in an engineering, science or commercial job role, we offer work experience at our headquarters in Melksham.
As a work experience student, you will have the opportunity to get an exclusive tour of the facilities and learn about the job roles within your chosen department. Our work experience placements are a great place to start developing those employability skills.
Click here to download the Work Experience Form and find out more about these placements.
Internships
Our internship opportunities empower you to work on meaningful projects depending on your area of interest, providing you with real-world experience and skills.
Our intern programme is designed around you; while we often run throughout the summer months and are based at our Cadillac site, interns are welcomed to Avon Protection throughout the year and at various sites based on your needs.
Please visit Handshake to view and apply for current internship opportunities or discuss further with your University to reach out to us directly.