Kepak Operations Advanced Apprenticeship - England

CompanyKepak Group

LocationKirkham, England, United Kingdom

Posted At1/23/2026

UK Visa Sponsorship Analytics

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Occupation Type

Scaffolders, stagers and riggers

Occupation Code Skill LevelIneligible

Sponsorship EligibilityIneligible for Sponsorship

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Description

Kepak is one of Europe's leading food companies with manufacturing sites across Ireland and the UK. Kepak's vision is to be a successful, sustainable, future ready Food Business with differentiation at its core, that is a great place to work. This vision is underpinned by our values of Responsibility, Ambition, Passion for Food & Teamwork.

Role Purpose

Our Operations Apprenticeships are designed to give our apprentices a great start to their careers by teaching them the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviours, as well as real job experience, needed to succeed, specifically within our Operational team. To learn and support safe, efficient, and high‑quality operations across Production and Operations. The Operations Apprentice develops essential skills in machinery operation, food safety, health & safety, data analysis, and cross‑functional working. They contribute to performance improvement by using KPIs, following SOPs, and supporting change and continuous improvement activity within the factory environment.

Key Responsibilities (in Line With Business Values)

Responsibility

Apply site Health & Safety policies (PPE, Lock‑Out/Tag‑Out, guarding) and escalate non‑conformance

Follow food‑safety, allergen, hygiene, segregation and GMP requirements at all times

Complete documentation accurately, including checklists, traceability records and stock rotation checks

Operate machinery safely (e.g. bread slicer, UV Tunnel)

Participate in risk assessments, incident investigations, and internal audits with attention to detail

Maintain excellent punctuality, reliability, and personal accountability

Escalate issues promptly to the appropriate team (e.g. Engineering, QA, Supervisor)

Ambition

Use Excel and KPI dashboards to analyse production data, identify trends, and suggest opportunities for improving efficiency
Translate KPIs into daily shift goals and support team performance by reviewing yesterday's results and updating today's plan
Support continuous‑improvement activity using problem‑solving tools (e.g., 5 Whys) to reduce waste, downtime, or inefficiencies
Take ownership of personal development by maintaining an OTJ log, seeking feedback, and completing required qualifications
Train across Production, Packaging and Dispatch roles to build broad operational capability and progress toward multiskilling

Contribute to the rollout of improvements (e.g. new checklists or processes) and gather feedback data

Passion for Food

Learn strong awareness of food safety, allergens, segregation and HACCP principles through consistent practical application
Support audit readiness by ensuring traceability, hygiene, and documentation standards are met
Maintain high product‑quality standards by completing checks accurately and reporting risks immediately
Coordinate materials readiness, verifying batch codes, allergen information, stock rotation, and storage requirements
Show genuine interest in the production process; learning how factory efficiency links to product quality and customer satisfaction

Teamwork

Build positive, respectful relationships within both their own and other team
Support cross‑functional meetings and contribute clear, relevant updates
Participate in start‑of‑shift briefings, sharing key information and checking understanding
Assist in task allocation and buddying/training activities, promoting a supportive and inclusive team culture

Stay calm under pressure and support colleagues to resolve issues together

Other Role Information

Career Path: Apprentices are expected to progress into an Operations role, with opportunities to advance to more senior roles as their career progresses, based on performance

Our Apprenticeship programme allows dynamic, motivated, hardworking, and passionate people, an opportunity start their career with one of Ireland & UKs leading food businesses. The programme lasts 2 years

Apprenticeship: This role forms part of a structured apprenticeship programme (Level 3 Team Leader). The apprentice will complete formal training (e.g. Food Safety Level 2, COSHH) and maintain an off-the-job (OTJ) training log, working towards the full requirements of the apprenticeship standard.

You can expect:

To be fully immersed into our Culture from day 1, working alongside key industry experts and Kepak leaders
Gain an in depth understanding of our brands and products, and our relationships with customers and consumers
To learn key aspects of our business, whilst you develop your skills and knowledge

The opportunity to develop personally and professionally through exposure to key projects, tasks and development activities that challenge you, all supported by a detailed learner journey and training plan

A dedicated mentor and development program to support you both on the programme and into a role that best fits your skills

Start date: September 7th 2026

Salary Structure - Y1 £18,000 Y2 £20,000

Read more about our programme and hear from some of our Apprentices:https://kepak.com/careers/apprenticeships/

Requirements

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for hardworking and ambitious Apprentices, who want to learn and grow in a challenging and fast paced environment, by performing real roles.

You must be mobile and willing to travel throughout the programme to undertake development activities at any of our sites in the UK and Ireland.

Knowledge, Skills, And Experience

Flexible working approach. The factory is operational on a 24/7 basis so flexibility to work shifts is required

Basic Microsoft Office Skills (Especially Microsoft Excel)

Good communication skills

Passionate to learn about food production

Personal Attributes

Team Player: Collaborative approach to working with colleagues across various departments
Self-Motivation: Driven to succeed and comfortable working independently
Confidence & Assertiveness: Able to communicate assertively and stand their ground when addressing quality issues while maintaining amicable relationships with colleagues
Adaptability: Flexible and able to adjust to different roles, challenges, and environments

We will be looking for alignment with our Core Values:

Responsibility - Ability to work on your own initiative and take accountability for your actions

Ambition - You will have the willingness and confidence to challenge yourself to be the best you can be and be driven to succeed

Passion for Food - this is at the heart of everything we do, you must be passionate about every aspect of our industry

Teamwork - ability to build positive relationships quickly with people from all cultures and career stages is pivotal

Benefits

Employee Discount Scheme
Service-Related Annual Leave
Discounted Health Insurance
Educational Assistance/ L&D
Discounted Meat Products
Cycle to work scheme
Employee assistance programme