Thales Accelerates Global Expansion: 8,000 New Jobs and Next-Gen Learning Initiatives to Power Future Growth

Thales Accelerates Global Expansion: 8,000 New Jobs and Next-Gen Learning Initiatives to Power Future Growth

(IN BRIEF) In 2025, Thales will recruit 8,000 new employees globally to support its rapid expansion in Defence, Aerospace, and Cyber & Digital sectors. Approximately 40% of the hires will be in engineering roles, with 25% in industrial roles, while over 4,000 employees will benefit from internal mobility. The recruitment effort follows a strong hiring record over the past few years, and will span multiple regions including France, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, Australia, Central Europe, India, Germany, Africa, and the Middle East. Additionally, Thales continues to invest in employee development through its “Learning company” programme, which now includes over 35 academies and advanced training tools. The Group is also committed to promoting science among youth, enhancing gender balance, and increasing inclusion of people with disabilities.

(PRESS RELEASE) LA DÉFENSE, 3-Apr-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Thales, a global frontrunner in advanced technologies for Defence, Aerospace, and Cyber & Digital, is set to boost its workforce by recruiting 8,000 people worldwide in 2025. This recruitment drive is a response to strong growth across its three main business segments and will see about 40% of the new roles in engineering—spanning software and systems engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data—while roughly 25% will fill industrial positions such as technicians, operators, and industrial engineers. Simultaneously, over 4,000 employees will be offered opportunities for internal mobility across functions and regions.

In a climate marked by complex geopolitical challenges, a resurgence in air traffic, and ever-increasing global connectivity, Thales continues its robust expansion trajectory. Between 2022 and 2024, the Group welcomed more than 30,000 new hires—9,000 of whom joined the Defence sector—and facilitated over 8,000 internal mobility moves in 2023-2024, maintaining a streak of at least 5,000 annual hires for ten consecutive years.

In 2025, Thales will recruit across all its operational regions, including approximately 3,000 new roles in France, over 1,000 in the United Kingdom, 500 in the Netherlands, 400 in the United States, 400 in Australia, 300 in Central Europe, 250 in India, 200 in Germany, and 150 in Africa and the Middle East.

Beyond recruitment, Thales is dedicated to continuous skills development through its “Learning company” programme, which has seen 72,000 employees participate in training activities in 2024. The Group now boasts 13 Domain Academies and 18 Functional Academies, and aims to expand to more than 35 academies by the end of 2025, leveraging modern tools like simulation, virtual reality, and a shared competency management system.

Thales also reinforces its commitment to societal impact by engaging with over 150,000 young people across 600+ events globally in 2024. In France, the Group plans to host more than 3,000 interns and apprentices in 2025, with a quarter transitioning to permanent or fixed-term contracts, alongside nearly 1,500 observation internships for middle and high school students. Additionally, enhancing gender balance and inclusion remains a priority; while women comprised 30% of new hires in 2024 and over 60% of executive committees featured at least four women, Thales is targeting a 75% representation by 2026. A new Group-wide agreement also underscores the inclusion of people with disabilities, as demonstrated by an employment rate of nearly 7% in France.

Clément de Villepin, Senior Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Thales, summed up the initiative: “To support the Group’s growth and performance, recruitment and internal mobility are essential, but we must go further. Giving our teams the opportunity to continuously develop their skills and encouraging them to pass on their expertise to colleagues is both the spirit and the ambition of our ‘Learning company’ programme. Our goal is to support the professional growth of our people and maintain Thales’s expertise at the highest level.”

Interested candidates can learn more and apply online at Thales careers.

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SOURCE: Thales