NATO Internship - Public Diplomacy Division (PDD)
🔍 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
NATO’s Public Diplomacy efforts serve a vital function within the Alliance by communicating its purpose and priorities to audiences worldwide. In fulfilling this role, the Public Diplomacy Division (PDD) actively strengthens NATO’s public image, thereby fostering trust in and support for the Alliance. The Division also acts as coordinator for strategic communication activities across all NATO civilian and military bodies and commands.
Our three key roles
Communicating and engaging with the public.
First and foremost, the Division plays a pivotal role in engaging with multiple audiences in explaining NATO’s policies and activities to publics worldwide. The Division works to raise NATO’s profile and to bring NATO’s achievements into public knowledge and debate. We do this through:
a) People-to-people engagement, especially in Allied and partner countries
b) Mass communication, image-building and brand management
c) 24h media operations
Promoting security cooperation.
The second key role of the Division is to promote security cooperation, dialogue and partnerships with all Public Diplomacy means and tools. That way, the Division also contributes to a continuous process of international security debate and policy creation.
Coordinating NATO’s strategic communications activities.
Last but not least, the Division also acts as lead coordinator for all strategic communication activities across all NATO civilian and military bodies and harmonizes all public diplomacy and brand-related activities undertaken by other entities belonging to the NATO structure.
How the daily work will look like?
This is an excellent opportunity for interns to learn and contribute to NATO’s practices of engaging with external audiences – a wide range of organizations, both from civil society and governments, in NATO nations and beyond. The intern will be expected to learn about the key principles governing the Division, NATO policies, and the digital engagement tools the Division uses. An essential part of this internship will include the improvement/development of good writing skills and analytical thinking.
PDD’s interns will have the opportunity to work in one of the following areas:
a) Digital outreach: Web content creation
a. Creating content for NATO’s website, including research, writing, editing, photo/video sourcing, graphic design, and any other creative tasks that help NATO explain its activities to online audiences.
b. Working closely with social media colleagues to promote web content and increase engagement through fully developed user journeys.
c. Assisting with ongoing testing and quality assurance of the new NATO website.
d. Working on localisation of communication for NATO’s audiences, for example in languages other than English or using novel platforms and technologies.
e. Understanding and supporting NATO’s overall communication priorities and methods.
b) Campaigns & Brand
a. Work closely with nations and across the NATO family to build awareness campaigns that help to build support for the Alliance in innovative ways with new and diverse audiences, such as providing support in PDD’s engagement with content creators.
b. Work will all the major NATO entities to implement the NATO brand strategy, evolve and enforce the NATO Brand Identity Identity and develop, procure and distribute branded items.
c. Help procure and manage online brand management tools such as Frontify and Canva for the enterprise.
d. Support the development and execution of special projects (initiatives related to external communication which do not fit in NATO’s existing stovepipes, e.g. working with the mass entertainment and games development industries, etc.)
c) Audience Research
a. Support the delivery of NATO’s public opinion research programme: providing evidence-based insights to
1. inform and assess communication content, channel and strategy;
2. inform Information Environment Analysis products for circulation to NATO leadership and Allies.
b. Support end-to-end delivery of commissioned quantitative and qualitative research in NATO and partner nations across a of a range of NATO priority areas including terrorism, cyber security and nuclear deterrence.
c. Contribute to: open source analysis products; survey design; report drafting; public speaking and presentation delivery.
d. Strengthen cooperation with research specialists across NATO entities, national governments, and think tanks.
d) Information Environment Assessment: Open source research, data analysis, communications analysis, media analysis
a. Carrying out open source research and analysis with a range of tools on NATO’s own communication, communication by Allied and global audiences as well as analysis of information threats targeting NATO;
b. Providing situational awareness of activities in the information environment to senior leadership across different print and online media, social media, web, etc.;
c. Evaluating/assessing communications;
d. Developing actionable insights for communicators;
e. Developing new capabilities, leveraging data as a strategic resource, using machine learning and deep learning techniques to enhance and shape PDD communication.
f. Monitoring media coverage using different sources (print, social, online);
g. Alerting senior leadership of breaking news and preparing monitoring and analysis products;
h. Coordinating with different parts of the NATO enterprise, Allies, NATO partners and other stakeholders on issues of information environment assessment.
e) Press and Media
a. Assisting with the planning and execution of Press Tours to NATO HQ and abroad
b. Drafting of various media products, including messages for press conferences and interviews, web stories for the Newsroom page of the NATO website, transcripts of public remarks by senior NATO officials, etc.
c. Drafting reviews of the media environments in certain countries or of certain media outlets ahead of Secretary General’s meetings and interviews;
d. Attending relevant meetings and providing succinct written summaries;
e. Other ad-hoc tasks as required, including media operational tasks and administrative support to the wider Press and Media team.
f) Engagements Section: programmes in NATO Member and/or partner countries and related events and activities
a. Assist the relevant programme officers with the planning, implementation and monitoring of engagement programmes in NATO nations and/or partner countries and related event organizing activities;
b. Participate in and write the minutes of various task force meetings, where required;
c. Contribute to the Section’s work towards the implementation of public diplomacy communications activities;
d. Contribute to the development of Section’s products and content;
e. Assist, where appropriate, in the preparations of briefing sessions and visits to NATO HQ and abroad;
f. Further develop research on ongoing projects, i.e. public opinion updates;
g. Supporting programme officers for digital engagements, content creation (including graphic and video editing); supporting with amplification and digital outreach;
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.