Trainee Production Planner

Job Title:                     Trainee Production Planner

Location:                     Plymouth, Devon + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation:           £33,843 + Benefits

Role Type:                   Full time / Permanent

Role ID:                        SF72291

Start your career shaping the engineering schedules that support the Royal Navy

At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Trainee Production Planner at our Devonport Royal Dockyard site.

The role

As a Trainee Production Planner, you’ll join our Naval Nuclear business and support delivery across major submarine programmes. This is an exciting opportunity to begin a long‑term career in defence, engineering, production planning or project controls, contributing to work that directly maintains the Royal Navy’s operational capability.

Day-to-day, you’ll be part of our established but developing Operational Planning Team, working during a time of significant transformation and gaining exposure to world‑class engineering and project delivery environments. You’ll learn how production tasks are developed, scheduled and released, building a broad foundation in engineering workflow management. 

• Support the enablement of work authorisations, including material kitting and preparing kit lists before work instructions are issued.
• Print and collate drawings and documentation within work instruction packs, ensuring completeness and accuracy.
• Support the integration and breakout of customer requirements into work authorisations in line with project plans.
• Enable the timely release of production tasks through effective planning and coordination.
• Build understanding of submarine maintenance and production operations while working closely with planning, engineering and production teams.

As this is a trainee position, the successful candidate will undertake an NVQ Level 3 in Project Engineering. This will commence after an initial embedding period within the business (typically around six months). The qualification takes a minimum of eighteen months to complete and is achieved through structured work‑based assessments and practical experience.

This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with 4 days in the office/onsite and 1 day working from home.

Essential experience of the Trainee Production Planner

• Engineering experience or a strong interest in engineering environments.
• SAP/ERP experience desirable but not essential.
• Excellent Microsoft Office skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder‑engagement skills.
• Highly motivated, keen to progress and willing to learn; previous project experience beneficial.

Qualifications for the Trainee Production Planner

• NVQ Level 2 in an Engineering discipline or equivalent (relevant experience considered).
• GCSEs (A–C) in Maths and English.

• Any additional engineering, production planning or project control training - Desirable

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 19/03/2026

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