Saab is hiring an investment and acquisitions manager in Poland as the Orka programme ramps up

It is a job advertisement rather than a press release, but it says more about the group's plans than most conferences. Three months after signing the largest contract in the history of the Polish Navy, Saab is building a structure in Poland for spending money, not only for selling.

What the role covers

The position runs investment projects from evaluation and planning through execution and implementation to handover and operational continuity, and includes managing the company's asset portfolio. It also acts as the interface for delivery projects in which the Polish company works as a subcontractor.

Saab is asking for around ten years of experience in project and programme management, including investment, acquisition and business development work, along with an understanding of capital investment processes, financial analysis and risk assessment. Fluent Polish and English are required, as is a personnel security clearance or the ability to obtain one, together with a clear criminal record certificate from the Polish National Criminal Register. The advertisement also mentions working with the compliance and security functions on audits conducted by the police and other authorities.

The role involves frequent travel across Poland and regular international trips, mainly within Europe.

What it signals

The list of duties describes an industrial build-up rather than a sales office. Due diligence, negotiations and post-acquisition integration appear in job adverts when a company is preparing to buy plants, companies or assets.

For Polish industry that matters for two reasons. First, it suggests part of the value of the Orka contract may stay in the country as durable assets rather than only as subcontracted orders. Second, if Saab acquires Polish companies or takes control of production facilities, it changes the ownership map in a sector so far built on state-owned companies and privately held family firms.

The background: Poland's largest naval contract

On 29 June 2026 in Gdynia, Poland's Armaments Agency signed a contract with Saab for three A26-type submarines under the Orka programme. The value corresponds to around SEK 47 billion and deliveries are to be completed during 2038. The agreement also covers a weapons package and long-term training, maintenance and support.

The signing took place in the presence of both countries' prime ministers and defence ministers, alongside a separate contract to lease the Swedish A17-class submarine HMS Södermanland as a stop-gap. Training of Polish crews in Sweden began in August 2026, and Polish personnel are to take part in testing and evaluation of HMS Blekinge and HMS Skåne to accelerate operational readiness.

Maintenance, MRO and a shared Baltic base

Saab has committed to building maintenance, repair and overhaul capability in Poland in close cooperation with Polish industry. That element decides whether the country is left with competencies once deliveries end, or only with submarines.

Mats Wicksell, head of Saab Kockums' business area, told the Polish Press Agency that the company wants to create a shared service base on the Baltic, of benefit to both nations, giving more flexibility in planning overhauls and greater resilience. Such a facility would mean technology transfer, shorter turnaround times for the boats and less dependence on foreign yards in a crisis.

Polish suppliers

Saab states that it already has trusted suppliers in Poland delivering components for the Swedish A26 programme, and preliminary agreements with several Polish companies on their participation in Orka.

Saab's CEO Micael Johansson has previously said the company intends to increase capacity by building submarines in more than one location, with part of the work carried out at a Polish yard. That is an answer to questions about the schedule, as Saab is building A26 boats for the Swedish Navy in parallel, with HMS Blekinge and HMS Skåne due to enter service in 2031 and 2033.

Why Gdynia

Listing Gdynia as an alternative base for the new manager is not accidental. It is where the bulk of the Polish fleet is stationed, where the Orka contract was signed, and where PGZ Stocznia Wojenna runs the Miecznik and Ratownik programmes and is the natural partner for building submarine support facilities.

If Saab does establish an MRO base in Poland and acquires or builds production facilities, the Tricity will gain a second centre of naval competence alongside the PGZ programmes, this time with foreign capital. The job advertisement is the first public sign that this stage is beginning.