Laboratory Technician

Refresco; Bridgwater; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Early Friday finish

28 days annual leave + BH

Life assurance

GP access for you and family

Eye-care vouchers

Referral scheme with bonuses

GroceryAid support services

Cheers platform discounts

Job summary

Refresco is seeking a Laboratory Technician at Bridgwater on a 12-month fixed-term contract. You will provide analytical and microbiological support to ensure products meet quality and food safety standards, working with Operations and Technical teams to test products and uphold documentation.

You will conduct product testing, maintain records, support compliance activities and help drive a right-first-time quality culture across the site.

Qualifications

• Laboratory, quality or food manufacturing background.
• GMP understanding and food safety principles.
• Strong administrative and organisational skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Carry out analytical and microbiological testing on materials to ensure quality.
• Record and report test results; escalate out-of-spec findings and support corrective actions.
• Maintain laboratory records and administrative tasks (data entry, certificates, reporting).
• Maintain laboratory equipment; ensure calibration and servicing.
• Support quality, food safety and compliance activities per procedures and accreditation.
• Collaborate with production and technical teams to provide technical support and manage lab stock.

Job description

Lab Technician

H11

FTC 12 Months

Refresco – Bridgwater

4 on 4 off 6 - 6

Are you someone who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and has a keen eye for detail? This is an exciting opportunity to join Refresco on a 12-month Fixed Term Contract as a Laboratory Technician. In this role, you will provide analytical and microbiological support to the business, ensuring products meet the highest quality and food safety standards. Working closely with the Operations and Technical teams, you will conduct product testing, maintain accurate laboratory records, support compliance activities, and help drive a right-first-time quality culture across the site.

Benefits:

• Annual bonus and regular pay reviews
• Early Friday finish to kick‑start your weekend
• 28 days of annual leave plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional leave, increasing your allowance to 31 days plus bank holidays
• Life assurance coverage
• 24/7 virtual GP access for you and your family
• Free eye‑care vouchers and discounted glasses
• Employee referral scheme with bonuses for successful referrals
• GroceryAid support services offering financial, legal, wellbeing and practical guidance
• Cheers benefits platform providing discounts, free perks, and wellbeing tools
• Free onsite parking and discounted products

Key responsibilities of the role:

• Carry out analytical and microbiological testing on raw materials, in-process samples and finished products to ensure quality standards are met.
• Monitor, record and report test results, escalating any out-of-specification findings and supporting corrective actions.
• Maintain accurate laboratory documentation and complete administrative tasks, including data entry, record keeping, certificate management and reporting.
• Maintain laboratory equipment, ensuring all instruments are calibrated, serviced and operating to required standards.
• Support quality, food safety and compliance activities, following company procedures and external accreditation requirements.
• Work closely with production and technical teams to provide technical support, manage laboratory stock and orders, and help deliver right-first-time quality

The ideal candidate would have:

The ideal candidate will have a laboratory, quality or food manufacturing background, ideally within a fast-paced FMCG environment. They will have a good understanding of GMP, microbiological testing and food safety principles, alongside strong administrative and organisational skills. With excellent attention to detail, they will be confident maintaining accurate records, managing documentation and supporting quality and compliance activities. However, direct laboratory experience is not essential. If you have strong administrative skills, excellent attention to detail and are looking to develop a career within a laboratory environment, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Ultimately, we encourage everyone to role model our core values of agility, responsibility, passion, excellence, and entrepreneurship as we believe these are what has made Refresco successful so far.

Find out more about the Refresco Values here:https://www.refresco.co.uk/uk/about/our-values

If you fit this profile and are excited by this opportunity, we would be delighted to hear from you!

About Refresco:

Refresco is the global independent beverage solutions provider for Global, National and Emerging brands, and retailers with production in Europe, North America, and Australia.

Refresco offers an extensive range of product and packaging combinations from juices to carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters in carton, PET, Aseptic PET, cans, and glass.

Refresco continuously searches for new and alternative ways to improve the quality of its products and packaging combinations in line with consumer and customer demand, environmental responsibilities, and market demand

Refresco is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and has more than 13,500 employees. www.refresco.com.

Our drinks on every table. That's the Refresco vision. We’re a global business and currently produce 12 billion litres of soft drinks from 64 manufacturing plants in 12 countries and we’re only just getting started.

We’re the proud owners of six drinks manufacturing sites within the UK. Our UK business provides a great place to work for over 1,800 employees, who produce private label soft drinks and fruit juices for all the leading retailers.

Whether it’s packed in cartons, bottles or cans, we ensure that our products are made to the highest quality standards. Our products get where they need to be when they need to get there to meet the needs of our high-profile customers.

Refresco believes that equal opportunity for allis fundamental to our company's values and all our applicants can expect fairness and transparency in our recruitment process