Kepak Operations Advanced Apprenticeship - England in Preston

Kepak is one of Europe’s leading food companies with manufacturing sites across Ireland and the UK. Kepak’s vision is to be a successful, sustainable, future ready Food Business with differentiation at its core, that is a great place to work. This vision is underpinned by our values of Responsibility, Ambition, Passion for Food & Teamwork.

Our Operations Apprenticeships are designed to give our apprentices a great start to their careers by teaching them the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviours, as well as real job experience, needed to succeed, specifically within our Operational team. To learn and support safe, efficient, and high‑quality operations across Production and Operations. The Operations Apprentice develops essential skills in machinery operation, food safety, health & safety, data analysis, and cross‑functional working. They contribute to performance improvement by using KPIs, following SOPs, and supporting change and continuous improvement activity within the factory environment.

Key Responsibilities (in line with business values)

• Responsibility

• Apply site Health & Safety policies (PPE, Lock‑Out/Tag‑Out, guarding) and escalate non‑conformance.
• Follow food‑safety, allergen, hygiene, segregation and GMP requirements at all times.
• Complete documentation accurately, including checklists, traceability records and stock rotation checks.
• Operate machinery safely (e.g. bread slicer, UV Tunnel).
• Participate in risk assessments, incident investigations, and internal audits with attention to detail.
• Maintain excellent punctuality, reliability, and personal accountability.
• Escalate issues promptly to the appropriate team (e.g. Engineering, QA, Supervisor).

• Use Excel and KPI dashboards to analyse production data, identify trends, and suggest opportunities for improving efficiency.
• Translate KPIs into daily shift goals and support team performance by reviewing yesterday’s results and updating today’s plan.
• Support continuous‑improvement activity using problem‑solving tools (e.g., 5 Whys) to reduce waste, downtime, or inefficiencies.
• Take ownership of personal development by maintaining an OTJ log, seeking feedback, and completing required qualifications.
• Train across Production, Packaging and Dispatch roles to build broad operational capability and progress toward multiskilling.
• Contribute to the rollout of improvements (e.g. new checklists or processes) and gather feedback data.

• Learn strong awareness of food safety, allergens, segregation and HACCP principles through consistent practical application.
• Support audit readiness by ensuring traceability, hygiene, and documentation standards are met.
• Maintain high product‑quality standards by completing checks accurately and reporting risks immediately.
• Coordinate materials readiness, verifying batch codes, allergen information, stock rotation, and storage requirements.
• Show genuine interest in the production process; learning how factory efficiency links to product quality and customer satisfaction.

• Build positive, respectful relationships within both their own and other teams.
• Support cross‑functional meetings and contribute clear, relevant updates.
• Participate in start‑of‑shift briefings, sharing key information and checking understanding.
• Assist in task allocation and buddying/training activities, promoting a supportive and inclusive team culture.
• Stay calm under pressure and support colleagues to resolve issues together.

Other Role Information

Career Path: Apprentices are expected to progress into an Operations role, with opportunities to advance to more senior roles as their career progresses, based on performance. Our Apprenticeship programme allows dynamic, motivated, hardworking, and passionate people, an opportunity to start their career with one of Ireland & UKs leading food businesses. The programme lasts 2 years.

Apprenticeship: This role forms part of a structured apprenticeship programme (Level 3 Team Leader). The apprentice will complete formal training (e.g. Food Safety Level 2, COSHH) and maintain an off-the-job (OTJ) training log, working towards the full requirements of the apprenticeship standard.

You can expect:

• To be fully immersed into our Culture from day 1, working alongside key industry experts and Kepak leaders.
• Gain an in depth understanding of our brands and products, and our relationships with customers and consumers.
• To learn key aspects of our business, whilst you develop your skills and knowledge.
• The opportunity to develop personally and professionally through exposure to key projects, tasks and development activities that challenge you, all supported by a detailed learner journey and training plan.
• A dedicated mentor and development program to support you both on the programme and into a role that best fits your skills.

Start date: September 7th 2026

Salary Structure: Y1 £18,000 Y2 £20,000

Requirements

Who are we looking for? We are looking for hardworking and ambitious Apprentices, who want to learn and grow in a challenging and fast paced environment, by performing real roles. You must be mobile and willing to travel throughout the programme to undertake development activities at any of our sites in the UK and Ireland.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Flexible working approach. The factory is operational on a 24/7 basis so flexibility to work shifts is required.
• Basic Microsoft Office Skills (Especially Microsoft Excel).
• Good communication skills.
• Passionate to learn about food production.

Personal Attributes

• Team Player: Collaborative approach to working with colleagues across various departments.
• Self-Motivation: Driven to succeed and comfortable working independently.
• Confidence & Assertiveness: Able to communicate assertively and stand their ground when addressing quality issues while maintaining amicable relationships with colleagues.
• Adaptability: Flexible and able to adjust to different roles, challenges, and environments.

We will be looking for alignment with our Core Values:

• Responsibility: Ability to work on your own initiative and take accountability for your actions.
• Ambition: You will have the willingness and confidence to challenge yourself to be the best you can be and be driven to succeed.
• Passion for Food: This is at the heart of everything we do, you must be passionate about every aspect of our industry.
• Teamwork: Ability to build positive relationships quickly with people from all cultures and career stages is pivotal.

Benefits

• Employee Discount Scheme.
• Service-Related Annual Leave.
• Discounted Health Insurance.
• Educational Assistance/ L&D.
• Discounted Meat Products.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Employee assistance programme.