Job opportunities in the defense sector

After the 2025 edition of the Le Bourget air show, it’s time for Eurosatory, the global event for the defense sector. Two sectors of activity closely linked due to the very nature of economic actors that we find indiscriminately in one as in the other and who, in terms of employment, most often recruit for identical skills. It is in this context that the Randstad group announces having identified nearly 3,000 “employment opportunities” for professionals in both sectors. In detail, the recruitment specialist mentions 700 positions in the Occitanie region, 500 in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, as in ÃŽle-de-France or in Pays de la Loire, 300 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Paca or even 200 in Hauts-de-France. Positions that concern all profiles, from welder to systems engineer, whether on permanent, fixed-term or temporary contracts.

Concerning more specifically the defense sector, Randstad draws on a note published last March in the context of discussions on updating the military programming law (LPM). This note recalled in particular that the Observatory of professions of the defense industrial and technological base (BITD) estimated that 9 out of 10 professions were in tension, whether “in the heart of the chain” where we find the professions of welder, machinist or even maintenance technician, or in technological functions linked to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence The note also highlighted the risk of an “imminent” demographic shock which will result in the announced retirement of nearly 30% of the current workforce by 2030 in the defense sector.

Adapt training to business needs

One of the main characteristics of the defense sector is the presence of industrial players throughout – or almost – the entire national territory. The Brittany region, for example, claims 60,000 jobs linked to the defense industry. Its president, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, also presented at the end of May an action plan intended to support the sector in terms of training in order to better respond to “the needs of manufacturers”. Depending on the region, nearly 500 companies are directly affected by defense markets through the presence of major contractors such as Naval Group, Safran and Thales. The regional action plan therefore provides for the establishment of a “Defense Booster” accelerator, loans at preferential rates or even the creation of a Defense Pass allowing the granting of investment subsidies. Without forgetting the essential pillar of this plan which concerns “strengthening training by meeting the skills and recruitment needs of companies”. Last April, the Toulon Defense Event was held in the Paca region. An event during which 500 job offers were proposed, according to the organizers. All in a department (Var) which houses the main naval base in the Mediterranean and which claims 31,000 direct jobs and 13,000 indirect jobs.

A sign of the vitality of the sector in the territories, last May, the Campus of Sovereign Industry Trades and Qualifications, France Travail Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Eden cluster unveiled a partnership roadmap which intends to ride on the forecasts for 2030 from the BITD which anticipates 100,000 recruitments in the defense sector on a national scale. A roadmap which intends to strengthen the attractiveness of professions, the adaptation of skills to the needs of companies and better support recruitment as well as the security of career paths. We can also cite the presence for the 6th consecutive edition of Eurosatory of a delegation of around twenty Norman SMEs and ETIs gathered under the banner of the Normandy AéroEspace (NAE) sector which for several months has been carrying out with the Normandy region a Normandy Defense fund, unique in France, intended for regional SMEs and aimed at supporting them in strengthening their equity: the key to their investments as well as their future recruitment. Following on from Eurosatory, NAE has already confirmed its presence at the EuroNaval show which will be held next November.