The National Youth Service (NYS) is recruiting 250 Cadet Officers and 500 Privates across a wide range of technical and professional fields, with successful applicants set to undergo nine months of paramilitary training before deployment.
The positions are permanent and pensionable, and applications close on March 18, 2025.
In an advertisement published in the MyGov publication of March 3, 2026, NYS announced vacancies for Specialist Officers (Cadets) in disciplines including engineering, health services, ICT, agriculture, finance, supply chain management, communications, and project management.
Among the advertised positions are Structural Engineer, Civil Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Architect, Hydrologist, Veterinary Officer, ICT Officer, Registered Community Health Nurse, Clinical Officer, Laboratory Technologist and General Officer Cadet.
The Service stated that “the prospective candidates willing to join the National Youth Service MUST meet the following General, Academic and Professional qualifications,” including being a Kenyan citizen, aged between 18 and 28 years, medically fit, and having no criminal record.
Cadets must possess a Bachelor’s degree with a minimum KCSE grade of C (plus), while diploma holders require at least a C (minus).
For Privates, the NYS is targeting 500 positions in areas such as Drivers, Plant Operators, Masons, Electricians, Carpenters, Plumbers, Motor Vehicle Mechanics, Welders, Agriculture, Secretaries and General Duty.
Applicants for Private positions must have a minimum KCSE grade of D (plus), have “undergone the initial NYS Paramilitary Training,” and possess relevant trade test, craft or diploma certificates. The Service emphasized that Privates “MUST have NYS Discharge Certificate.”
All successful candidates will be required to undergo “NYS Paramilitary training for nine (9) months at NYS Training College.”
The terms of service are listed as “Permanent & Pensionable,” with salary and allowances as existing in the NYS salary Scale, and medical cover under the “SHA Scheme of Civil Servants.”
Applicants are required to download and complete the Application for Employment Form PSC.2 (Revised 2016) from the Public Service Commission website.
Completed forms may be submitted via email, post addressed to the Commandant General at NYS Headquarters, or hand-delivered to the Registry at the headquarters in Nairobi.
The notice, signed by Commandant General James K. Tambur, MBS, underscores the Service’s continued expansion and its call for qualified young Kenyans to join its ranks in strengthening national development and service delivery.
