This is the third edition of our monthly series. Rather than guessing at the NI jobs market, we count what's actually live on NIjobsearch and tell you who's hiring, where, and in what kind of work. Every number below comes from our own listings on 2 November 2026, with listings past their closing date left out. Jobs open and close daily, so treat the counts as a snapshot, not a forecast. If you missed the last edition, read Who's hiring in Northern Ireland: October 2026.
This month at a glance: 413 live jobs from 114 named employers and recruiters (plus listings where the employer isn't shown). Belfast has 168 of them. The rest are spread across 45 other towns and villages, from Banbridge and Larne to Omagh and Enniskillen. October's edition counted 350 jobs, though we've since added more job sources, so the two totals aren't a perfect like-for-like.
Where the Jobs Are
Belfast is still the biggest single market, but a lot of the work is outside it. These are the towns with the most live roles:
| Town | Live jobs | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Belfast | 168 | Finance, tech, legal, retail, sales |
| Newtownabbey | 29 | Construction, facilities, engineering, freight |
| Banbridge | 19 | Manufacturing, engineering, head-office roles |
| Lisburn | 16 | Accounts, driving, support work, rental |
| Larne | 14 | Production, electrical and mechanical engineering |
| Bangor | 14 | Vehicle trades, production, hospitality, design engineering |
| Omagh | 12 | Restaurants, retail, graduate trainee |
| Ballymena | 12 | Accounts, HGV and vehicle trades, retail |
| Newry | 11 | Retail, warehouse, physiotherapy, admin |
| Derry~Londonderry | 11 | Accounts, gas and facilities engineering, retail |
Banbridge is the surprise this month, and Newtownabbey has grown to second place. Both are down to a few employers hiring in bulk (more on that below). Larne again has a run of production and engineering roles, which suits tradespeople who'd rather not commute into Belfast.
The Busiest Sectors
- Operations (125 jobs): still the biggest group by some distance. Delivery driving, warehouse work, logistics and site operations.
- Sales (50): retail supervisors and managers, restaurant team members, account management and telesales.
- Finance (47): accountants, bookkeepers, risk and control roles, mostly in Belfast.
- Manufacturing (38) and IT (36): production and fabrication on one side, software and cloud roles in Belfast on the other.
- Engineering (28), hospitality (19), healthcare (16) and construction (16) round out the top groups.
Driving, warehouse and delivery work is the biggest single driver of the Operations count this month, and several retailers are adding Christmas staff. Our Christmas jobs guide covers who takes seasonal workers and when to apply.
Employers Hiring Right Now
These employers have several live roles in NI this month. Click through to see every open job for each one.
Alternative Heat: 20 roles, mostly in Banbridge
The biggest single employer on the site this month. Eighteen of its 20 roles are in Banbridge and two are in Newtownabbey. They range from fabricators and welders, general operatives and a night-shift supervisor to a CAD technician, a quality manager, a procurement manager and senior head-office roles including a chief technology officer. Salaries aren't listed on the adverts.
See the Alternative Heat roles →Construction and facilities: DG Partnership in Newtownabbey
DG Partnership has 11 roles in Newtownabbey, including a site manager, a bid manager, a pre-construction manager, a civils site engineer and a refrigeration FM technician (listed at £40,000–£43,000). Brook Street also has 16 roles across NI, from a transport planner in Belfast to HGV mechanics in Ballymena and Ballyclare.
DG Partnership · Brook StreetEngineering and production: Randstad Inhouse Services
Randstad RIS has 10 roles, mostly in Larne: welder/fabricator, electrician, mechanical fitter, production operative and forklift driver. Listed pay is shown as hourly ranges, for example £19–£25 an hour for the welder/fabricator role. Manpower has 9 more, from a die maintenance technician in Carrickfergus to a facilities technician in Derry~Londonderry.
Randstad Inhouse Services · ManpowerRetail, restaurants and optical: across the country
KFC has 16 roles in Larne, Armagh, Omagh, Carrickfergus, Belfast, Ballymena and Magherafelt. ASDA has 10, from service colleagues at £13 an hour to team leaders and department managers. Superdrug has 9 (including Christmas sales assistants at £10–£13 an hour), Vision Express has 6 and Savers has 3. Browse the lot on our retail jobs page.
KFC · ASDA · Superdrug · Vision ExpressLaw, advisory and banking in Belfast
A&O Shearman has 6 Belfast roles, from corporate and disputes associates to a Salesforce product owner. Keoghs LLP has 3 solicitor roles, and Deloitte has Belfast roles including an AWS platform engineer. A run of Citi technology and risk roles is also advertised through eFinancialCareers. Our guide to getting a job at Kainos, Allstate or Citi explains how those hiring processes work.
A&O Shearman · Keoghs LLP · DeloitteDelivery driving in County Down
Hiring People has 20 delivery and courier driver listings across Annalong, Dundrum, Castlewellan, Rathfriland and Downpatrick, with many of the adverts repeated for different towns. Some quote day rates of £175–£200 with a van provided; as always, read the full advert and check the terms (employed or self-employed) before you apply.
See the Hiring People roles →Care and health
Optimum Care Group is recruiting healthcare assistants, a bank staff nurse and catering staff in Lurgan and Belfast. ascert has three roles in Lisburn, including a human resources manager (listed at £46,142). Our nursing jobs page collects the nursing roles in one place.
Optimum Care GroupRecruiters with the most NI roles
Many NI jobs are advertised through agencies. Besides Brook Street, Randstad and Manpower (above), Total Assist Recruitment has 6 roles and Hays has 5. Some Reed listings don't name the employer at all, which is why we don't count them as employers here. You can browse every employer and agency on our companies page.
How to Use This
Look beyond Belfast. Nearly six in ten of this month's jobs are outside the city, and competition is often lower. If you're flexible on location, the town pages above are the quickest way in.
Trades and driving are the easiest door in. Fabrication, electrical and mechanical roles in Banbridge and Larne, and driving work across the whole country, make up a big share of what's live. See every one on our driving and warehouse jobs page.
Set up a job alert. Bulk-hiring roles fill fast. Set up a free alert on the NIjobsearch homepage and you'll get a daily email with new jobs that match your search.
We'll publish the next edition in early December, with updated counts.
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