Apprentice

Greencore Group plc; Spalding; On-site; GBP 15,000 - 20,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading convenience food company in the UK is offering a 4-year Quality Assurance Technical Degree Apprenticeship. This program allows you to earn while gaining hands-on experience in food safety and quality, culminating in a BSc (Hons) in Food Science & Technology. Responsibilities include conducting quality assurance tasks and managing compliance procedures. Ideal candidates will possess GCSEs and A levels with strong communication and analytical skills. This role supports future career advancement in technical management.

Qualifications

• GCSE in Maths and English required, grade C/4 or above.
• A Level in three subjects required, grade BBC or equivalent qualifications.
• The right to live and work in the UK is essential.

Responsibilities

• Obtain certification information for raw materials.
• Conduct routine Quality Assurance tasks and collect samples.
• Investigate customer complaints and implement HACCP system.
• Manage internal audit schedules for compliance.

Skills

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Organisation skills

Problem solving skills

Administrative skills

Analytical skills

Logical thinking

Initiative

Patience

Education

GCSE in Maths and English (grade C/4 or above or equivalent)

3 x A Levels (grade BBC or 112 UCAS Points)

A Level in a Science Subject

Job description

Overview

Our 4-year Quality Assurance Technical Degree Apprenticeship allows you to earn a salary while gaining hands-on experience in food safety and quality and studying for a BSc (Hons) in Food Science & Technology. You'll build technical expertise and progress into a technical management role. Delivered in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, you will work towards Level 6 Food Industry Technical Professional Degree apprenticeship and finish the programme with a BSc (Hons) in Food Science & Technology. This programme combines on-the-job experience with academic learning, aligning your studies to real work projects. You'll gain exposure, experience, and education to develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviours needed to become an integral part of our site Technical team and kickstart your career in food. Upon completion, you will transition into a Technical Management role that supports your future career goals. You will learn about food chemistry, sustainable food production, raw materials, microbiology of food and how to apply this knowledge to your day job.

Responsibilities

• Obtaining Certification information for raw materials such as Certificates of Analysis.
• Quality management system work: Obtaining photos of relevant locations.
• Walking through draft procedures in conjunction with relevant disciplines to understand if they were clear and accurate.
• Conducting routine Quality Assurance tasks: collection of samples from raw materials and finished products.
• Taking swabs – hand hygiene and Listeria.
• Investigating customer complaints; lead, develop and implement the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system on site.
• Interpret microbiological results; spot and analyse trends to diagnose or anticipate issues; define and implement action plans.
• Develop product specifications taking into account key risk factors in product design; ensure customer prerequisites are implemented and followed.
• Manage, develop and implement internal audit schedules to ensure compliance with legal, industry and customer standards; stay abreast of new standards; credibly host third-party audits.
• Select appropriate tools and methodologies to demonstrate compliance, food safety culture and delivery of consistent product quality.
• Establish cleaning and hygiene programmes and audit methodology; set up monitoring programmes; interpret data; identify risk zoning in an operational area and manage cleaning contractors.
• Manage complaint performance through identifying trends and designing corrective action programmes to improve credibility with customers.
• Design and implement site procedures to ensure legal compliance with current food law; lead any investigation into legal contraventions with enforcement authorities.
• Establish process parameters and control requirements; measure the impact of processes on product, set limits and take action to address non-conformance.
• Optimise and control parameters that influence common industry processes: washing, mixing, heating, cooking, cooling/chilling, freezing, drying, freeze drying.
• Be able to liaise and coordinate with other functions to deliver New Product Development projects; lead and drive the project where appropriate.
• Use project management tools to deliver projects to time, cost, specification and quality.
• Coordinate investigations into and responses to non-conformances and participate in incident management teams; implement incident management procedures.
• Review and select relevant scientific techniques; design experiments, collect and analyse data and formulate solutions.
• Manage supplier intake controls; carry out supplier audit and performance reviews and risk assessment; maintain approved supplier, contractor and vendor performance processes.
• Design and implement a traceability system fully compliant with customer and legal requirements; monitor to verify validity of process.
• Lead and develop a small technical team on site.
• Develop and demonstrate critical evaluation/analysis of complex information and data.

Training Schedule

Training will be delivered through a combination of on-the-job training at our Spalding manufacturing site and off-the-job learning with Nottingham Trent University. The apprentice will develop technical and quality assurance skills by working as part of the site Technical team, applying academic learning directly to real workplace activities. Off-the-job training will be delivered via block release, including university study blocks, online learning and development events. This will require travel to Nottingham Trent University's Brackenhurst Campus, with occasional overnight stays.

Qualifications

• GCSE in Maths and English (grade C/4 or above or equivalent)
• A Level in: 3 x A Levels (grade BBC or 112 UCAS Points)
• Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
• Communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Organisation skills
• Problem solving skills
• Administrative skills
• Analytical skills
• Logical
• Initiative
• Patience
• GCSE English language and maths at grade C/4 or above
• 3 A levels BBC (112 UCAS points) or equivalent qualifications including an A Level in a Science Subject
• Or previous relevant work experience
• The right to live and work in the UK
• Due to the nature and travel flexibility required for this role, a full driving licence would be advantageous.

About the Apprenticeship and Company

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we’re one of the UK’s leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better. We are a vibrant and fast-moving business employing over 28,000 colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. We bring delicious food to life across meals from breakfast to dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn. Our direct to store (DTS) network with 17 depots across the UK enables us to deliver fresh and frozen food from trusted partners to thousands of stores daily. https://www.greencore.com/