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Airbus interview process, from the online games to the assessment centre.

Updated · Sources at the end

Airbus publishes a short process: application, a screen by HR or a recruiter, one or more interviews, then an offer. Its careers FAQ adds that some roles include technical tests, case studies or online assessments, and that a recorded video interview, where you answer written questions on camera, is reviewed by a person. For graduates and apprentices, the online assessment is a set of games from Arctic Shores, followed by an assessment centre with group exercises and interviews.

Airbus builds commercial aircraft, helicopters, and defence and space systems. In its 2025 results, published on 19 February 2026, it reported 793 aircraft delivered, revenues of €73.4 billion and 165,294 employees, and it expects about 870 deliveries in 2026. More than 50,000 of those employees work in France, where the headquarters and the main assembly lines are in and around Toulouse.

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01

Who Airbus hires

Airbus hires aerospace, systems, structures, manufacturing and quality engineers, software, data and cybersecurity staff, and a large number of production workers and technicians. Its main sites include Toulouse, Hamburg, Getafe near Madrid, Filton near Bristol and Broughton in Wales, with a large engineering and digital centre in Bangalore. In September 2026, 20 Minutes reported more than 200 open production and support jobs around Toulouse in a single campaign, alongside Airbus's own hiring in engineering, data, certification and cybersecurity. Some Defence and Space roles require a national security clearance, and a UK defence ad asks for UK nationals only, with no dual nationals.

Airbus runs one basic process for every job: a CV screen, interviews with HR and the team, then an offer. What changes by track is what comes before the interviews. Graduates and apprentices sit an online assessment and often an assessment centre, and some roles add a recorded video interview or a technical test.

  • Track · Experienced

    Experienced engineers and specialists

    Airbus says its Talent Acquisition team looks at every CV by hand, then invites you to interviews with the business team and with Talent Acquisition, in person or by video. Interviews can be HR, technical or competency based. A Toulouse engineer reported several steps in 2026, most of them on site, each lasting 20 minutes to an hour and a half.

  • Track · AGGP

    Airbus Global Graduate Programme

    A two-year programme on a permanent contract, with national rotations of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months and an international rotation of 3 or 6 months that is not guaranteed. You need a bachelor's degree, strong English and no more than three years of work since graduating. The steps are a screen, the Arctic Shores games, a virtual assessment centre with group exercises and interviews, and an offer that Airbus says can come within a week.

  • Track · Apprentice

    Apprentices, alternants and technicians

    Airbus trains its own technicians. Germany has more than 2,500 apprentices on 15 sites, the UK takes apprentices at sites such as Filton and Broughton, and France takes alternants from CAP to Bac+5. Toulouse is also hiring production staff in 2026 to raise output: fitters, cablers, systems mechanics, test assistants and quality controllers.

  • Track · India

    Software and data in Bangalore

    Candidates for software roles in India report an online test first, on Python, code snippets or SQL, then technical rounds and an HR round. A Bengaluru SDE candidate in 2025 reported two coding problems solved live, running their own test cases and talking through the code out loud.

02

What is the Airbus interview process?

The steps below combine Airbus's careers FAQ, its recruitment tips page and its graduate and apprenticeship pages, read on 5 October 2026, with candidate reports from 2025 and 2026, marked as reported. Not every candidate sits every step.

01
Application and CV screen
Online application through the Airbus careers site

Airbus says its Talent Acquisition team reads every CV manually, so tailor yours to the ad and show both technical and soft skills.

02
Online assessment
Arctic Shores games, a technical test or a case study, depending on the role

Graduates and UK apprentices get the Arctic Shores games, with three days to finish them. Software candidates in India report an online test on Python, code snippets or SQL.

Graduates, apprentices, some roles
03
Recorded video interview
Written questions answered on camera

Airbus says a person reviews every video. French alternants have a video interview evaluated by recruiters before meeting a manager.

Some roles
04
HR or recruiter interview
Phone or video, about 30 to 45 minutes reported

Your background, your motivation, your level of English and what you know about Airbus, as a Toulouse engineering apprentice reported.

05
Technical and competency interviews
With the hiring manager and the team, on site or by video

Reported as questions on your CV projects, aircraft knowledge for engineering roles, and for software roles some Python and algorithms, often with a deep dive into one project.

06
Assessment centre
Virtual or in person, a day of group exercises and interviews

A 2026 graduate candidate reported an all-day centre in three parts, starting with a scenario exercise for five or six candidates. UK apprentice centres run from January to March.

AGGP and apprentices
07
Offer and checks
Offer from HR

Airbus says AGGP offers can come within a week of the interview. UK apprentice offers come with a background check and security clearance.

03

Airbus assessment: Arctic Shores, video interview and assessment centre

From Airbus's own pages and candidate reports

Airbus says some roles include technical tests, case studies or online assessments, and that you will be told if yours does. Graduates and apprentices get the Arctic Shores games, and the steps after that differ by programme and country.

  • Arctic Shores games: Airbus sends the link to AGGP and UK apprentice applicants, with three days to finish. Prep sites report a set of short games on memory, patterns, reaction and risk. There are no right answers to learn: do them rested, in one quiet sitting, and read each instruction screen.
  • Recorded video interview: You answer written questions on camera, and Airbus says a person reviews every video. Test prep sites report HireVue with around 11 or 12 questions and a short time to prepare each answer. Prepare why Airbus, a teamwork story and a problem story, and keep each answer to one example.
  • AGGP virtual assessment centre: Airbus describes group exercises and interviews. A 2026 candidate reported a full day in three parts, starting with a scenario exercise for five or six candidates. In the group, listen, help the team decide on time and speak up with one clear idea.
  • Apprentice assessment centres: UK apprentices go from Arctic Shores to an interview or assessment centre between January and March. In Germany, the online application leads to an assessment centre interview. In France, alternants have a CV screen, a video interview and a one-to-one with the future manager.
  • Software tests in India: Candidates report an online test on Python, code snippets or SQL before the interviews. GraduatesFirst, a test prep site, also lists Aon aptitude tests, a HackerEarth coding test and hackathons for some intakes. Practise short timed problems and basic SQL joins and grouping.

Calibrd cannot rehearse the Arctic Shores games or a timed coding test. It can rehearse the video interview and the assessment centre interviews aloud, with a mock round built from the Airbus job you are applying for.

04

What Airbus screens for

Airbus names six values: customer focus, integrity, respect, creativity, reliability and teamwork. In an interview they look like this:

  • Customer focus: delivering on time, on cost and on quality
  • Integrity: speaking up when a rule or a safety step is not respected, even when it slows the work
  • Reliability: doing what you said you would, and following the procedure every time
  • Teamwork across sites, countries and languages, which Airbus sums up as We Are One
  • Respect and creativity: listening in a group exercise, and still bringing an idea of your own
05

Airbus interview questions

Candidate-reported themes

These are the themes candidates report from Airbus interviews in 2025 and 2026, across Toulouse, Hamburg, the UK and Bangalore. The questions themselves are our own practice questions written in the style candidates describe.

Behavioural & motivation

  • Why Airbus, and why aerospace?Listening for: Specificity · Connection · Research
  • Airbus names six values. Pick the one that fits how you work best and give a real example of it.Listening for: Names a real value · A real example · Links it to the job
  • Tell me about a time you spotted a quality or safety problem and raised it, even though it slowed the work down.Listening for: The pressure · Spoke up · What it saved
  • Tell me about a project where you worked with people in another team, site or country. What made it hard and what did you do?Listening for: The setup · The real difficulty · What they did
  • In a group exercise, the team is running out of time and two people disagree on the plan. What do you do?Listening for: Listens first · Moves to a decision · Brings others in

Technical

  • Practice: write a function that returns the longest run of increasing values in a list of sensor readings. Then say which test cases you would run and why.Python and algorithms: Reported for software engineers in 2026: two technical rounds, one on the CV and one with some Python and algorithms. A Bengaluru SDE candidate in 2025 reported two live coding problems with their own test cases.Listening for: Working solution · Own test cases · Talks it through
  • Practice: from a table of flights with aircraft id, departure time and arrival time, find each aircraft's total flight hours last month and the aircraft that flew the most.SQL: Reported for an SDE role in India: a coding round with four questions, two in any language and two SQL queriesListening for: Right time window · Groups and sums · Finds the top one
  • Practice: pick one project on your CV, explain the hardest technical choice in it, and say what you would change now.Your CV projects in depth: Reported across Toulouse, Bangalore and graduate interviews: questions on your background and a deep dive into one projectListening for: Their own part · One real choice · What they would change
  • Practice: design a pipeline that takes sensor data from thousands of flights a day, where some files arrive late or twice. How do you keep the data correct?Aircraft data pipelines: Practice question in the style of data engineering roles. Airbus is hiring in data governance and digital in Toulouse in 2026.Listening for: Late and duplicate data · Checks quality · Serves the users
  • Practice: explain how a wing produces lift, and why saving weight on an aircraft matters so much to an airline.Aircraft knowledge for engineers: Reported for engineering interviews: many questions about aircraft and how they work, and questions on your thesis or final year projectListening for: Explains lift · Links weight to cost · Clear for anyone
  • Practice: during a functional test on the assembly line, a hydraulic pressure reading on one system is low and you see a drip near a fitting. Walk through what you do.Hands-on troubleshooting for technicians: Practice question for technician and apprentice interviews. Airbus is hiring systems mechanics, cablers and test assistants for its Toulouse assembly lines in 2026.Listening for: Safe first · Follows the documents · Escalates and records

These are the reported themes, and your loop is role-specific. Paste the actual posting and Calibrd predicts the questions for that exact role and level.

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06

Pay

Software engineer, France€35.4K to €55.7K, reported
Software engineer, India₹1.23M to ₹2.91M, reported
Apprentice, Germanyabout €1,250 a month gross, employer listed

Airbus gives the German apprentice figure on its own page, based on the IG Metall collective agreement with a 35-hour week. The other figures are Levels.fyi reports read through search results on 5 October 2026. Airbus does not publish salary ranges on its main careers pages.

07

How to prepare for an Airbus interview

  1. Graduates: the AGGP window opens each September for a short time, so have your CV ready before it opens.
  2. Do the Arctic Shores games within the three days, rested and in one sitting.
  3. Prepare three stories for the video interview and the panels: why Airbus, a teamwork story across teams or sites, and a problem you solved.
  4. Learn the six values and have one real example for integrity and one for teamwork.
  5. For the assessment centre, practise a group task with friends: listen, help the group decide, and keep to time.
  6. Software candidates: practise short live coding problems with your own test cases, plus basic SQL.
  7. Technicians and apprentices: practise talking through a fault safely, step by step, with the documents and who you would tell.
  8. Check whether the role needs a security clearance or a set nationality before you apply, especially in Defence and Space.

This guide covers Airbus hiring for engineers, software and data staff, graduates, apprentices and production technicians, mainly in France, Germany, the UK and India. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.

Also interviewing at Boeing, Thales or Tesla? Their guides follow the same format, from the first screen to the offer.

Knowing the questions isn’t the same as answering them out loud. Run an Airbus mock: spoken answers, coached on the spot. Your first mock is free.

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08

FAQ & sources

What is Airbus' interview process?

Not every candidate sits every step. The stages, in order: Application and CV screen; Online assessment; Recorded video interview; HR or recruiter interview; Technical and competency interviews; Assessment centre; Offer and checks.

What does Airbus look for in candidates?

Airbus names six values: customer focus, integrity, respect, creativity, reliability and teamwork. Customer focus; Integrity; Reliability; Teamwork across sites, countries and languages, which Airbus sums up as We Are One.

What questions does Airbus ask in interviews?

These are the themes candidates report from Airbus interviews in 2025 and 2026, across Toulouse, Hamburg, the UK and Bangalore. Technical themes: Python and algorithms; SQL; Your CV projects in depth; Aircraft data pipelines; Aircraft knowledge for engineers; Hands-on troubleshooting for technicians.

What assessments does Airbus use before the interview?

Airbus says some roles include technical tests, case studies or online assessments, and that you will be told if yours does. Graduates and apprentices get the Arctic Shores games, and the steps after that differ by programme and country. Covered on this page: Arctic Shores games; Recorded video interview; AGGP virtual assessment centre; Apprentice assessment centres; Software tests in India.

How do I prepare for an Airbus interview?

Graduates: the AGGP window opens each September for a short time, so have your CV ready before it opens. Do the Arctic Shores games within the three days, rested and in one sitting.

Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.

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