Machine Operative (Nights)

Hotel Chocolat; Huntingdon; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full PPE

Product discount 50%

Free on-site parking

Vending machines

Job summary

Hotel Chocolat is seeking a Machine Operative for its Hadley Park Factory in Huntingdon. You will support the production plan, set up packing lines, and collaborate across departments to ensure timely, compliant chocolate production.

This permanent role offers a night shift (Sun-Thu, 22:00–06:00) with a competitive salary and benefits including a pension, staff discounts, and on-site parking.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of KPIs and quality targets used in production.
• Proficient in reading and communicating in English.
• Food safety and hygiene standards understood and applied.

Responsibilities

• Set up manual packing lines and manage paperwork packs to standard.
• Ensure timely delivery of materials to production line.
• Maintain GMP and health & safety compliance on shift.
• Lead start-up and shutdown of lines with proper handovers.

Skills

KPIs knowledge

English proficiency

Education

Food Safety Level 2

HACCP trained

Job description

As we continue our mission to make people happy through chocolate, we’re looking for a Machine Operative to join our Manufacturing Team on a permanent basis. How would you like to work in a real-life chocolate factory? Well here is your chance because our Chocolate Manufacturing Team are looking for a Machine Operative to come and join the team on a permanent basis. You will be responsible for ensuring compliance with our production plan to ensure that our well-loved product is delivered on time, in full, within agreed quality and health and safety measurements.

Shift Pattern: Night Shift- Sunday to Thursday, 22:00- 06:00.

As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits including enhanced maternity and paternity leave and Company pension contributions, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, we also offer:

• Full PPE (personal protective equipment) provided to you on your first day.
• Subsidised vending machines including sandwiches, pasta, snacks and drinks.
• Free onsite employee carpark.

The onsite location for this role is at our Factory ‘Hadley Park’, in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, right in the heart of where our chocolates are made and where weekly, we can produce between 4 to 6 million of the chocolates we all know and love.

What you’ll be doing

• ProactivenessSet up of manual packing lines, management of paperwork packs, ensuring that it is completed to requited standard.
• Management of Label Room processes, ensuring that all materials are delivered to the line in a timely manner.
• Working closely with other departments to ensure that all required items are available i.e. machinery / ingredients / packaging.
• Shortages and discrepancies communicated to your line manager on time to support plan completion.
• Plan delivered on time and to costed expectations with targeted quality loss of less than 1% and delivering ‘right first time’ products.
• Performing an in-depth handover with the incoming shift.
• OwnershipOwning the start up of the production line, ensuring that the correct staffing is in place.
• To own the clean down of the line between products and carrying out line start up inspections, ensuring that the line is free from any cross-contamination.
• Driving a culture of asset specific standards and settings across all shifts.
• GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) compliance in your work area.
• Ensure compliance with all Health and Safety systems.
• Ensure all piranha requests are submitted to engineering for downtimes.
• Ensuring diligence with reporting e.g. SIC sheets, live Knobel updates in time to handover to the next shift.
• LeadingRunning the day-to-day management of the line.
• Ensuring that the team is adhering to set requirements for the product.
• Reporting any breakdowns in a time manner to the relevant managers / team.
• Ensuring that any team training is up to date.
• SupportingTraining and mentoring new starters within the business on your asset / process.
• Supporting the team in all PMR activity on the line per product group.
• The ability to talk an external auditor through your process / procedure around utilising your asset.
• Proactive care and targeted work with the Hygiene Team to ensure that the work area and asset stays at the best standard.

Who you are

• Essential Food Safety Level 2 qualification.
• Good knowledge of KPIs.
• Good verbal and written English to clearly discuss performance of your asset / process.
• Desirable HACCP trained.
• Knowledge of continuous improvement tools.

Who are we? We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™. A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about. Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 100 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.

To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge – our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html