NATO Internship - Defence Investment Division (DI)
🔍 Belgium
INFO-SESSION ON THE VACANCY AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS
NATO is organising an info-session webinar on the recruitment process for this programme which will take place on 11/06/2025 at 4pm CET (Brussels time).
This will be the opportunity for applicants and professionals to gain more insight into
the steps of the recruitment process and to have the opportunity to ask questions to
Talent Acquisition Service. Some interns and/or former interns will also share their experience of the programme with the audience.
Please register using the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HdnqpN5hSDaM-t7JB8lAuQ
The Defence Investment Division facilitates and coordinates the development and adoption of cutting-edge, innovative and interoperable capabilities, critical to ensuring the Alliance’s ability to undertake the full spectrum of missions and operations.
Key lines of effort include:
• leading the development of major complex capability programmes in the land, maritime, air and space domains - including on Air and Missile Defence, Alliance Future Surveillance and Control capability (follow on to AWACS), Air Command and Control (Air C2), Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) assets, space capabilities and other critical Consultation, Command & Control (C3) networks – and in doing so addressing all policy, political-military, technical and practical aspects;
• driving work to accelerate the growth of NATO’s defence industrial capacity and production, and developing actions to protect our defence-critical supply chains;
• accelerating NATO’s space evolution by transforming Alliance’s engagement with the commercial space sector and exploring cooperation and investment opportunities for novel space capabilities;
• In the context of NATO's deterrence and defence, leading on NATO's Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) policy, IAMD capability development and delivery, related complex armament programs, as well as engagement and cooperation with selected partners on IAMD;
• leading NATO’s policy in the aviation domain; in particular, through the engagement with international aviation organizations and institutions at both policy and technical levels, to foster civil-military coordination in support of NATO air missions conducted by manned and unmanned aircraft;
• pursuing interoperability through prioritised standardisation efforts, developing with Allies new approaches to operational challenges, supported by a commitment to operational experimentation and innovation;
• maintaining the Alliance’s technological edge through exploring and driving adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies, with a particular focus on autonomous systems;
• facilitating multinational cooperation in capability development through a series of specific initiatives tackling critical capability requirements;
• understanding, adapting to, and pro-actively addressing climate change;
• informing and responding to the Alliance’s evolving capability needs through the NATO Defence Planning;
• providing oversight to NATO Agencies involved in capability development and delivery (in particular NATO Communication and Information Agency and NATO Support and Procurement Agency); and
• ensuring coherence of efforts through coordination with a range of key stakeholders within NATO including the Strategic Commands and externally with NATO Partners and relevant international and regional organisations including the EU, as well as with industry and academia.
The Division is comprised of three Directorates and a Liaison Office:
The Strategy Directorate is responsible for ensuring the overall coherence of the capability deliverables through policies, plans and links with external stakeholders. It consists of two sections and a Unit: the Policy, Plans & Partnerships Section, the Capability Delivery Section and the Multinational Capability Cooperation Unit.
The Armament and Aerospace Capabilities Directorate (A&A Cap) supports consensus decision making at NATO Headquarters on a wide range of joint, land, air & space, and maritime capabilities required for the full range of the Alliance’s missions. To that end, it provides relevant advice to NATO Committees and the Organization’s senior management. It comprises three sections and a unit: the Aerospace Capabilities Section, the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Section and the Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Land and Maritime Section, and the Space Unit.
The NATO Digital Staff (NDS) is an integrated staff composed of members of the International Military Staff (IMS) and International Staff (IS) reporting to and advising the North Atlantic Council on all Consultation, Command & Control (C3) and Digital Transformation matters such as implementation of Digital transformation, data management and related emerging and disruptive technologies. It functionally operates under the coordinated executive management authority of the Director General of the IMS and the Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment.
The Office of the Secretary General’s Liaison Officer (O/SGLO) works closely with all NATO Agencies, International Staff, International Military Staff and Strategic Commands in support of the division’s overall mission. The O/SGLO advice spans capability-related, political, legal and resource topics.
How the daily work will look like?
The interns will support the Division through conceptual and administrative work related to its areas of expertise, including the organisation of meetings and workshops, drafting papers and attending senior policy committee meetings on a broad range of political and defence related issues and providing written summaries, thereby ensuring visibility and coherence of work going forward. The selected interns will have the opportunity to develop their stakeholder management and project management skills, together with gaining a solid network in the organization.
Learning elements during the internship:
What do we offer?
• 6-month traineeship at NATO Headquarters, in Brussels, starting in March / September 2026.
• Full-time traineeship (38 hours a week).
• Monthly grant of €1,286.09 and a travel reimbursement upon joining and leaving the organisation.
• Teleworking subject to business requirements.
• Rich programme of activities, attending regular events and participating in meetings with several stakeholders.
• NATO HQ Staff Centre which promotes employee well-being and fosters a healthy work environment (click here for more info, special membership price for NATO interns)
Selection Criteria
Please note that you can apply for up to three (3) different NATO HQ Internship Programme vacancies!
Apply until 22 June 2025, at 23.59, Brussels time
Essential:
The candidate must:
- be a national of a NATO member state,
- be at least 21 years old,
- have at least two years of university level studies OR equivalent education OR be currently a student OR a recent graduate (degree obtained no longer than 12 months ago),
- have proficiency in one of the two official NATO languages (English/French).
Desirable:
The following criteria will be considered an advantage:
- Bachelor's degree or in the final stage of a Master’s degree relevant to the requested area of expertise,
- elementary knowledge of the second official NATO language (English/French),
- be an advanced user of IT tools including Microsoft Office, SharePoint;
- previous experience with other international organizations, national administration, research or industry.
Competencies required:
The candidate must demonstrate the following competencies:
- Achievement: Works to meet standards.
- Analytical thinking: Breaks down problems and sees basic relationships.
- Clarity and accuracy: Shows general concern for order and clarity, and checks own work.
- Customer service orientation: Responds appropriately, maintains clear communication.
- Empathy: Listens actively.
- Flexibility: Acts with flexibility.
- Initiative: Reacts to short-term opportunities or problems.
- Organizational awareness: Understands the organization’s structure.
- Teamwork: Cooperates, shares information and knowledge freely, offering support and cooperation.
Our Values:
NATO is committed to diversity and inclusion, and strives to provide equal access to employment, advancement and retention, independent of gender, age, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, cultural background, sexual orientation, and disability. NATO welcomes applications of nationals from all member Nations, and strongly encourages women, and those living with disability to apply (please click here for more information).
NATO is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible working environment, where all candidates living with disabilities can fully participate in the recruitment and selection process. If you require reasonable accommodation, please inform us during your selection process. Candidates will be required to provide documented medical evidence to support their request for accommodation.
Special Notice:
In order for the Internship Office to assess your eligibility for the Internship Programme, please attach the following documents:
- Copy of university qualifications you have completed and/or
- Proof of ongoing studies with the dates clearly mentioned if you are still studying.
We prefer that these documents are in one of the NATO official language (English or French). If you don’t have these documents in English or French, please attach a self translation.
Please ensure that all information is complete and accurate before submitting your application.
Please note that the application cannot be updated after the relevant deadline.
The pool of candidates will be available to all NATO IS / IMS Divisions, Offices and NATO Bodies in case there is a need for a similar profile.
Due to the broad interest in NATO and the large number of potential candidates, telephone or e-mail enquiries cannot be dealt with.
Read more about the Internship Programme, including terms and conditions, and what we offer at our website (please click here).
Kindly note that NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.