'We continue to grow our highly skilled workforce': Thales Group to create 200 Belfast jobs as part of 9,000-strong global recruitment drive

Thales Group is set to recruit more than 9,000 employees worldwide in 2026 — including 200 new roles in Belfast — as part of a significant global expansion across its Defence, Aerospace and Cybersecurity & Digital divisions.

The defence and technology giant plans to hire almost 3,300 people in France, 800 in the UK, 630 in North America, 530 in Australia, 520 in the Netherlands, 450 in India, 300 in Germany, 240 in Romania, 200 in Singapore and 140 in Poland.

Of the 800 UK roles, 200 will be based in Belfast across manufacturing, engineering and project management. A further 25 Future Talent positions will also be created, bringing the total number of early-career employees at the company’s Belfast Academy to 110.

Nigel MacVean, managing director of Integrated Air-space Protection Systems at Thales UK, said the expansion in Northern Ireland follows a series of major contract awards from the UK Ministry of Defence and growing demand from international customers.

He said the new work reflects rising global investment in advanced air defence and missile systems amid heightened geopolitical tensions and sustained defence spending across NATO and allied nations.

The Belfast facility, which specialises in air defence technologies including the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM), has secured long-term production programmes that provide strong visibility and stability for both its workforce and local supply chain.

The recruitment drive comes as Belfast-manufactured missiles form part of a new £500 million UK air defence package for Ukraine. The support includes an additional 1,000 LMMs built at the company’s Belfast site to help defend Ukrainian infrastructure and cities from Russia’s drone and missile attacks.

The announcement coincided with the 33rd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, co-chaired by UK Defence Secretary John Healey.

Mr MacVean told the News Letter: “Following recent contract awards from UK MOD and our international customer base, we continue to grow our highly skilled workforce.

"Out of the proposed 800 new jobs in the UK, 200 of these roles will be based in Belfast across manufacturing, engineering and project management.

"We are also hiring an additional 25 Future Talent positions, taking our Future Talent population to 110 employees, based from our Academy in Belfast. I am proud of our continued investment in Northern Ireland and delighted to see our team and Northern Ireland based supply partners growing stronger than ever.”