Thales scales India engineering teams as part of 9,000-plus global hiring plan

Adding to the list of global defence and aerospace majors scaling up engineering and R&D talent in India, French multinational Thales has announced plans to hire more than 9,000 employees worldwide in 2026, including around 450 roles in India.

The India hiring will focus on specialists in hardware, software and systems at its Engineering Competence Centres in Bengaluru and Noida.

Alongside external hiring, Thales is also opening up more than 3,500 internal mobility opportunities globally.

Around 40% of these roles are in engineering functions such as software, systems, cybersecurity, AI and data, while 25% are in industry roles including technicians, operators and engineers. The company has consistently added at least 8,000 employees every

year worldwide to support growth.

Thales has been present in India since 1953 and currently employs around 2,300 people, along with multiple joint ventures. Its India footprint spans Noida, which houses its headquarters and cyber and digital centre; Bengaluru, which focuses on hardware, software and systems for civil and defence programmes; Delhi; Gurugram, home to its avionics MRO facility; and Mumbai. The company contributes to India’s defence, aerospace and digital ecosystem by sharing advanced technology and engineering expertise.

Globally, Thales invests more than €4 billion annually in research and development, with a strong focus on AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies and cloud computing. In 2024, the company reported sales of €20.6 billion and employed over 83,000 people across 68 countries.

Thales’ expansion mirrors a broader trend among global defence, aerospace and deep-tech companies increasing their India workforce.

RTX, which includes Raytheon, Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, plans to add around 1,000 employees in India, a 14% increase from its current base of 7,000. The company is also setting up a new manufacturing facility in Bengaluru that will employ over 2,200 people by 2026, with hiring already ramping up through 2024 and 2025.

Safran is also scaling up aggressively, aiming to double its India workforce every two years. It is setting up a new MRO facility in Hyderabad with over 250 employees initially, scalable up to 1,100, and plans to triple its India revenue to €3 billion by 2030.

AMD, meanwhile, is planning to hire around 3,000 engineers for semiconductor, AI and machine learning roles at its Bengaluru design centre by 2028.

According to a CIEL HR Services report, defence tech hiring in India has nearly doubled over the past three years, rising from around 3,500 roles in 2022 to nearly 7,000 by January 2026. Close to 60% of the skill demand is now concentrated in radar, RF and secure communication technologies.

At the same time, some firms have seen workforce reductions driven by automation and global restructuring.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has reduced its workforce by around 24% over the past decade despite a strong order book of nearly ₹79,000 crore, largely due to automation. Other defence PSUs such as Bharat Dynamics and Garden Reach Shipbuilders have also seen headcount reductions in recent years.

Boeing has announced global cuts affecting its defence supply chain, with potential implications for India operations over the medium term.

Overall, the renewed hiring push by global defence and aerospace majors aligns with India’s expanding defence and high-tech manufacturing ecosystem, and could have wider implications for startups, venture funding and policy initiatives such as indigenisation under the Make in India programme.