Engineering Apprentice

A 4-year Level 3 Engineering Apprenticeship at Greencore, blending hands-on maintenance training with study at MGTS. Develop practical engineering skills, support production, and learn to keep machinery running in a fast-paced food manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Keep our food safe by following health, safety, and engineering standards.
• Maintain and optimise machinery to keep production running smoothly.
• Carry out planned and reactive maintenance.
• Support machinery changeovers and set-ups.
• Drive improvements through audits and performance reviews, read and interpret task related information and data (e.g., work instructions, SOPs, quality control documentation, Service Level Agreements, specifications, engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information).
• Plan work and identify and organise resources to complete tasks.
• Identify hazards and control measures to mitigate risks.
• Comply with food safety, health and safety, and environment and sustainability regulations and procedures.
• Select, check the condition of, and safely use maintenance tools and equipment; store tools and complete or arrange maintenance of tools/equipment including calibration where required.
• Follow standard operating procedures and quality procedures.
• Follow site isolation and lock off procedures (lockout, tagout) and re-instatement of equipment with system checks and handover.
• Apply mechanical and fluid power system maintenance practices and techniques (e.g., check levels, wear, pressure, sensors, lubrication, component replacement, calibration).
• Apply electrical and control maintenance practices and techniques (e.g., use of electrical testing equipment, panel risk assessment, fault finding, thermographic surveys, protection settings).
• Apply reliability engineering techniques to prevent or reduce failures (e.g., condition monitoring, oil sampling, thermography, vibration analysis, ultrasound).
• Install and configure instrumentation/process control systems and electrical systems (e.g., distribution boards, motors).
• Assemble, position, and fix equipment or components; complete commissioning checks; disconnect and remove equipment; ensure storage measures to prevent deterioration.
• Read and interpret equipment performance data.
• Fabricate, drill, and join to produce basic parts or components to measurement and tolerance specification.
• Apply welding techniques (e.g., down-hand TIG: butt and tee).
• Apply mathematical techniques to solve engineering problems.
• Produce and amend electrical and mechanical engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information.
• Fault-finding and problem-solving using PLC data to diagnose issues on industrial networks.
• Apply continuous improvement techniques; collect and record data; devise improvement suggestions.
• Restore the work area on completion of activity; resolve or escalate issues.
• Use information technology for document creation, communication, and information management; comply with GDPR and cyber security.
• Record work activity (asset management records, work sheets, checklists, waste/environmental records, and legal reporting requirements).
• Communicate verbally and in writing with colleagues and stakeholders using appropriate engineering terminology.
• Produce reports (e.g., equipment performance reports) and provide guidance or training to colleagues or stakeholders.
• Read and interpret task related information and data again (as above) and plan work; identify hazards and control measures; comply with regulations; select and use tools; follow procedures; maintain equipment.

Training and Qualifications

Training schedule: alongside your day-to-day role, you'll attend 15 study blocks of 3 weeks in MGTS's training facility in Redditch (mostly during the first two years). As part of these study blocks, you'll gain hands-on experience to become a food and drink maintenance engineer, before applying them in real working scenarios in the workplace.

GCSE in Maths and English (grade C/5 or above or equivalent). Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Essential Skills

• Communication skills.
• IT skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Organisation skills.
• Problem solving skills.
• Administrative skills.
• Analytical skills.
• Initiative.
• Patience.
• GCSE Grade 5/C in maths and English (or equivalent).
• Strong IT skills.
• The right to live and work in the UK.

We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of nationality or background. However, applicants must have (or be able to obtain) the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the programme. A driving licence and access to a car is highly advantageous to support travel requirements.

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, Greencore is one of the UK's leading creators of convenience food. We employ over 28,000 colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert. In FY25, our combined revenues were approximately £4bn.