diff --git a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.hpp b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.hpp
index 40abbc0041..aa350cc822 100644
--- a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.hpp
+++ b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.hpp
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ class MultiThreadedExecutor : public executor::Executor
 
   RCLCPP_PUBLIC
   MultiThreadedExecutor(
-    const executor::ExecutorArgs & args = rclcpp::executor::create_default_executor_arguments());
+    const executor::ExecutorArgs & args = rclcpp::executor::create_default_executor_arguments(),
+    size_t number_of_threads = 0);
 
   RCLCPP_PUBLIC
   virtual ~MultiThreadedExecutor();
diff --git a/rclcpp/src/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.cpp b/rclcpp/src/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.cpp
index b31fbe7e0c..d129f6104d 100644
--- a/rclcpp/src/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.cpp
+++ b/rclcpp/src/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.cpp
@@ -23,10 +23,12 @@
 
 using rclcpp::executors::MultiThreadedExecutor;
 
-MultiThreadedExecutor::MultiThreadedExecutor(const rclcpp::executor::ExecutorArgs & args)
+MultiThreadedExecutor::MultiThreadedExecutor(
+  const rclcpp::executor::ExecutorArgs & args,
+  size_t number_of_threads)
 : executor::Executor(args)
 {
-  number_of_threads_ = std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
+  number_of_threads_ = number_of_threads ? number_of_threads : std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
   if (number_of_threads_ == 0) {
     number_of_threads_ = 1;
   }