For the first time in its history, Portugal’s intelligence service has launched a public recruitment drive in a bid to convince more people to join its ranks.
The Intelligence System of the Portuguese Republic (SIRP) announced on Monday the launch of a nationwide campaign to hire new intelligence officers.
Billboards promoting the campaign have begun appearing in Lisbon, Porto, and Faro, alongside posters distributed in universities and public institutions across the country.
With government approval, Vítor Sereno, the recently appointed secretary-general of SIRP, initiated the move to align Portugal’s intelligence recruitment with practices already seen in other EU countries.
“This is the first public recruitment campaign, in line with what other allied countries like Germany, France and Spain do, through billboards and social media,” SIRP’s office said, noting that similar efforts abroad have produced “very positive results.”
Applications will remain open until December 2, following the creation of 54 new positions across the SIRP’s three main branches: SIS (Internal Security Intelligence Service); SIED (Strategic Defence Intelligence Service); and SIRP itself.
The range of roles on offer is diverse, from intelligence officers and legal or engineering specialists to drivers, IT professionals, logistics staff, administrative personnel and even cooks. A second phase of recruitment will focus specifically on intelligence officers and senior technical staff.
SIRP describes the campaign as “the largest recruitment process in its history,” coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the SIS and the 30th anniversary of the SIED in 2025. As it explains, many founding members of the agencies have already retired or are nearing retirement, and there is a growing need for personnel with expertise in new technologies and cyber defence to address modern security challenges.
