Laboratory Technician jobs in United Kingdom

Please note, the below role is subject to consultation

PepsiCo UK is home to some of the world's most loved food and drink products. We have a fantastic reputation for developing and launching products that our consumers love. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers around the world more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories. The company generated nearly $92 billion in net revenue in 2024, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that in the UK includes Walkers, Doritos, Pepsi MAX, Quaker and Pipers. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Join the world of PepsiCo Supply Chain. Our factory in Leicester is our largest manufacturing site in the UK, producing the bulk of our PC products along with snacks lines. It is a multi-technology plant with significant automation and is home to around 1200 of our team. Our Leicester site is a fast paced and ever-changing environment, we can go from idea to implementation in a matter of days.

We offer a competitive salary, quarterly bonus incentive, critical illness cover, discounted gym membership, market-leading health and wellbeing support, generous company pension plus so much more. In 2024 we enhanced our extended parental leave offering, now paying in full for 26 weeks of maternity leave and 10 weeks for paternity leave for those who have the respective length of service. We’re also pushing our benefits to be more pep+ by offering electric cars through salary sacrifice with a partnership with Octopus Energy. Our commitment to wellbeing and career growth makes us a Top Employer for 14 years running.

Reports to: Maintenance Manager
Direct reports: None
Working Hours: Continental shift pattern (e.g. 4 on, 4 off) with 12-hour shifts, including nights, weekends and bank holidays.

• Annual Salary: £54,848 (including shift allowance).
• Quarterly Incentive: Earn between £1,200 to £3,000 annually, if KPI’s for the site team are met/smashed.
• Overtime: Overtime may be available.
• Relocation: Relocation package may be available if criteria is met.
• Sponsorship: Visa sponsorship may be available if criteria is met.
• Pension Scheme: We double your contribution — you put in 5%, we add 10%.
• Holidays: 23 days off plus your birthday; option to buy/sell up to 3 extra days.
• Provided PPE: Uniform and safety shoes provided, cleaned and maintained on-site.
• Staff discounts: Exclusive access to our discount shop.
• Virtual GP: Service extended to partners and immediate family.
• Digital Physiotherapy: Customised programme designed by a physiotherapist — no referral required.
• Cycle to work scheme: Save money and stay fit.
• Electric car scheme: Drive green with our electric car incentives.
• Subsidised Canteen: Delicious meals at a fraction of the cost.
• Long Service Rewards: Celebrate milestones with us.
• Extended parental leave: Extra time for your growing family.
• Free on-site parking: Convenient and cost-free parking at work.

Main Accountability

As a technician you will be a technical expert, utilising your specialist engineering knowledge within your field. You will be responsible for your area, and other areas when required, ensuring the smooth running and maintenance of all manufacturing assets, delivering optimum plant reliability through preventative and corrective maintenance, root cause analysis and continuous improvement. You will provide support to the autonomous maintenance team to help grow and develop capability.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Demonstrate completion of all quality checks pre and post maintenance activities, with focus on intrusive maintenance tasks.
• Comply with regulatory and mandatory standards, ensuring conformance to PepsiCo standards.
• Carry out maintenance activities in accordance with safety precautions and procedures, contributing to PDCA for improvements.
• Provide training, coaching and mentorship to autonomous maintenance team members on equipment knowledge, Clean-Inspect-Lubricate activities and fault diagnostics.
• Own personal skills assessment and develop an individual development plan, prioritising requirements and maintaining critical skills.
• Demonstrate good 5S practices across plant and maintenance areas.
• Develop lubrication maps and routes, training autonomous maintenance members, and simplifying lubricants where possible.
• Complete running/stopped maintenance activities on time, maximising wrench time; feed back to planners to influence plans, frequencies, time and parts.
• Facilitate and coach root cause analysis sessions, providing technical input for potential improvements.
• Ensure compliance with work order management and inventory standards; maintain data quality for maintenance activities.
• Adhere to maintenance instructions during scheduled interventions and feed back changes as part of PDCA or CC& A outputs; develop instructions with version control.
• Area ownership and technical responsibility; be present on your assigned area as part of the line team.
• Serve as lead technical representative, providing support to autonomous maintenance team members.
• Responsible for all planned maintenance tasks in your area/line; maximise wrench time and prioritise workload for efficient resource use.

• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent time-served Engineering apprenticeship with hands-on experience.
• Recognised Electrical/Mechanical academic qualification.
• Advanced electro-mechanical aptitude.
• Electrical Testing & Inspecting – City & Guilds 2391 would be an advantage.
• IET 18th Edition Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) desirable.
• Understanding of SCADA control systems and computer networks.
• Working knowledge of PLC systems (Allen Bradley and/or Siemens) an advantage.
• Working knowledge of CMMS/SCADA systems and applications.
• Good manufacturing practices; advanced technical knowledge of equipment and standards.
• Advanced maintenance techniques, problem solving, mechanical comprehension.
• Advanced coaching & facilitation; communication & listening, curiosity & learning agility.
• Ability to influence; prioritisation and decision making; numerical and verbal comprehension; digital competence.

Additional Key Skills & Capabilities

• Demonstrated ownership for safety, quality and operational performance.
• High level of personal responsibility for results.
• Ability to contribute as part of a team; can-do attitude and respect for people.
• Passion to learn, train, challenge and coach; commitment to applying processes; role models PepsiCo values.

We pride ourselves on our superb workforce. We are committed to an inclusive workplace and support career progression and continual learning. We are an equal opportunity employer and will provide adjustments to support you through recruitment. For certain roles, you may need to declare unspent criminal convictions in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 at a later stage in the process.