Internship as Defense System Engineer (Open also to Protected Categories, Law 68/99)
Pubblicato il 05-09-2026 - Thales in Italia
Location: Firenze, ItalyIn fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.Sesto Fiorentino is the Headquarter of Thales Italia.
It hosts two Domains: Ground Transportation Systems (GTS) and Security (SIX).
The activity of GTS domain: Security systems, telecommunications, supervision, control & management information and signalling solutions for trains, trams and metros Regarding railway solutions, Thales is the homologated supplier of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana for Axel Counters, Tunnel Security, Energy Saving, SCADA systems and Asset Management. Italy is Thales Group’s competence centre for tramway signalling solutions.
The activity of SIX domain: mission critical solutions and applications for assets and citizens security (supervision, control and information management systems) as well as cybersecurity. Thales offers solutions to protect the information systems and critical data of its civilian and military customers and helps its customers to detect and prevent cyberattacks by devising secure architectures from the design stage, overseeing these architectures and ensures that they are kept in secure working order. Italy is Thales Group’s competence centre for Airport security and operations management solutions.JOB OBJECTIVE To gain experience in the design and engineering of complex communication and security systems for defence applications, supporting bids and projects with a focus on modular, interoperable architectures and Design-to-Cost principles.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES The candidate will join the System Engineering Team to develop own skills in R&D; & Customer contexts, particularly for Defense business. Hereafter the main activities foreseen:
- Design of Modular Hardware Architectures for Tactical Networking Platforms (R&D;)
- Technical study and preliminary design of a hardware architecture for tactical networking platforms supporting defence and mission-critical communications.
- Evaluation of alternative hardware solutions, including rugged embedded computers, modular edge-computing platforms, and OpenVPX-based systems, considering scalability, reliability, maintainability, and deployment constraints across land, naval, and airborne domains including Drones application.
- Analysis of relevant defence and industry frameworks (e.g., MOSA, FMN, OpenVPX/SOSA) and their implications for hardware architecture design.
- Definition of computing, networking, storage, timing, power, and expansion requirements.
- Collaboration with the software architect to ensure hardware/software compatibility and support deployment strategy definition.
- Reference hardware architecture for subsequent platforms implementation.
- Trade-off analysis of candidate solutions.
- Recommendations supporting future product development and industrialization.
- Sonar Systems Engineering for In-Service Support (commercial projects)
- Support the engineering activities related to the in-service support of Sonar Systems deployed on Mine Counter-Measure naval units of the Italian Navy.
- Analysis of obsolescence issues affecting electronic and electrical subsystems and identification of suitable replacement or upgrade solutions.
- Assessment of interfaces, integration aspects and compatibility with existing systems and equipment.
- Review of available technical documentation and reverse engineering of legacy subsystems where required.
QUALIFICATION & EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- Master’s Degree in Engineering (Telecommunications, Electronics, Robotics,
- Automation), Physics or Mathematics.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a systems-oriented mindset.
- Good understanding of engineering principles applied to hardware/software
- systems.
- Ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders, including participation in meetings and presentations.
- Planning, reporting, and documentation skills with attention to detail.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
- Ability to work in hybrid environments (office, remote working, and
- industrial/operational sites such as laboratories or shipyards).
- Strong teamwork capabilities and ability to operate in multidisciplinary and multicultural environments.
At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working. Great journeys start here, apply now!