Sales Apprentice in Crawley

Start date: Wednesday 2nd September 2026

Scheme duration: 3.5 years

Salary: £25,125 per annum + excellent benefits.

What will you do?

As a Sales Apprentice, you’ll work as part of our Sales and Commercial Category Teams, gaining hands‑on experience in a fast‑paced commercial environment. You’ll rotate through diverse placements such as sales operations, eCommerce, category management, and account management, collaborating with colleagues and engaging directly with key customers. With help from experienced mentors, you’ll learn new skills, work with different teams, meet customers, and help drive our business forward. Once you have completed the scheme, you’ll ideally be in a great position to step into a National Account Manager role – leading important customer relationships and helping Nestlé succeed.

What makes the scheme exciting?

• Managing key customer accounts: supporting the execution of commercial plans that drive growth.
• Gaining real experience to see the impact of your work.
• Building and nurturing relationships across internal stakeholders and external buyers, developing your stakeholder management and customer engagement skills.
• Delivering impactful presentations: supporting and leading commercial meetings over time, to resolve operational matters and showcase your negotiation and storytelling abilities.
• Analysing data and market trends: informing sales strategies, optimising trade spend, and driving performance for Nestlé’s core categories (Food, Nutrition, Coffee, Confectionery).
• Problem‑solving and innovating in real‑time: tackling commercial challenges and identifying opportunities for growth and sustainability while working with people from all parts of the business, helping to build a fantastic network.

Plus, you’ll have one day a week dedicated to your studies. This is your time to focus on the theory behind sales, work on your degree modules, and reflect on what you’re learning on the job. You’ll be able to apply your new knowledge directly to your work, helping you grow even faster.

What will you learn?

• Sales and negotiation: How to manage the full sales process – from finding new customers to closing deals – and develop strong negotiation skills to get great results.
• Digital and data skills: How to use digital tools and social selling to connect with customers, plus how to read and use data to make smart sales decisions.
• Customer and stakeholder relationship management: How to build great relationships with customers and work well with different teams across the business.
• Communication and problem solving: How to give engaging presentations, communicate clearly, and solve real business challenges in creative ways.
• Professional growth and ethics: How to lead projects, adapt to new situations, work with different people, and always act with honesty and integrity.

You’ll experience student life at Leeds Trinity University which typically involves week‑long learning blocks. You can understand more about what you will learn on your apprenticeship journey by looking at the apprenticeship standard. This is the current apprenticeship programme but could be subject to change by Skills England ahead of your 2026 start date.

Our commitment to you… We will support you every step of the way. The following are just some of the offerings to enable you to thrive with us:

• Inclusive culture – join our variety of employee‑run networks!
• Pastoral support
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Prayer rooms
• Various rewards and recognition opportunities *Availability dependent upon site

Eligibility requirements

You will have the right to work in the UK that is not time‑limited and does not require sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route either at the start of the scheme or on completion. You will have lived in the UK for 3 years prior to the start date of this apprenticeship scheme. You will have obtained or be predicted to obtain your Maths and English Language GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades 9‑4 (A*‑C if taken before 2017). Original certificates will need to be provided. 120 UCAS points or more (or 260 points from 2017 or previous). You will need to be 18 by 1st September 2026.

The recruitment journey

After you click “apply” you’ll be prompted to answer a few questions to determine your eligibility for the scheme. If you qualify, we will invite you to complete an online assessment, which you can practice here. Please do not upload a CV, instead we ask you to upload any relevant qualifications to support your application. Once you have completed this stage, we will notify you if you are selected to attend an assessment day which will be in February, March or April 2026. It may take a little bit of time between assessment stages to get back to you; we really appreciate your patience.

Adjustments

We recognise that each candidate has unique needs, and we are committed to ensuring an inclusive application process. You will have the opportunity to discuss any specific requirements or adjustments you may need as you navigate through our recruitment process. We may occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect – for our employees, our customers and our consumers. That’s why championing diversity and inclusion is so important to us; when we embrace different perspectives and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business. We are committed to equal opportunity for all and may collect relevant data for monitoring purposes during our candidate registration process.