Engineering Apprentice

Greencore Group plc; Spalding; On-site; GBP 26,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food manufacturer in Spalding is offering an Engineering Apprenticeship designed to combine hands-on experience with structured learning. Over four years, you'll gain the Level 3 Food and Drink Maintenance Engineering Apprenticeship while working in a dynamic environment. Responsibilities include maintaining machinery, ensuring safety standards, and studying. The role offers a competitive salary, support for travel expenses, and a nationally recognized qualification.

Benefits

Starting salary: £25,700 per year

Travel and accommodation expenses

Wellbeing benefits

Support for career development

Nationally recognized engineering qualification

Pension up to 8% matched

Holiday buying

Employee discount platform

Qualifications

• Passion for engineering and food.
• Good IT skills.
• Motivated and able to work alongside studying.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and optimize machinery for food production.
• Conduct planned and reactive maintenance.
• Participate in learning through structured blocks.

Skills

Problem-solving

Communication

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Practical skills

Education

GCSE Grade 5/C in Maths and English (or equivalent)

Job description

Are you passionate about problem-solving? Excited about building a long-term career in engineering? And highly motivated to learn while earning?

If this sounds like you, our Engineering Apprenticeship could be the perfect opportunity!

Why Greencore?

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.

As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we’re proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

Here at Spalding, we have a team of around 540 colleagues. We produce coleslaw, potato salad, salad bar bulk products (2kg), pasta salads and couscous/grains for some of the biggest retailers in the UK including Morrisons, Co‑op, Asda, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Nando’s and Pizza Hut. Our Spalding site has a restaurant with hot food available to all our colleagues.

The food industry is an exhilarating place to be an engineer! We use some of the most innovative, modern and technically automated equipment available to manufacture a wide range of food products for our customers.

What you’ll be doing

Our 4**-year Engineering Apprenticeship Programme, delivered in partnership with our trusted training provider MGTS, allows you to work towards the Level 3 Food and Drink Maintenance Engineering Apprenticeship. This programme offers the ideal blend of hands‑on experience and structured learning, helping you develop your skills and reach your full potential in the food industry.

You’ll work in a fast‑paced manufacturing environment, learning from experts while developing the skills and behaviours that will set you up for success.

Based at our Spalding site, flexibility is key as our operation runs 24/7, so shifts may include early starts, rotating nights, and weekends.

By the end of the programme, you’ll be able to:

• Keep our food safe by following health, safety, and engineering standards.
• Maintain and optimise machinery to keep production running smoothly.
• Carry out planned and reactive maintenance.
• Support machinery changeovers and set‑ups.
• Drive improvements through audits and performance reviews.

Your Learning Journey

Alongside your day‑to‑day role, you’ll attend 15 study blocks of 3 weeks in MGTS’s training facility in Redditch (mostly during the first two years).

As part of these study blocks, you’ll gain hands on experience to gain the knowledge and skills required to be a food and drink maintenance engineer, before applying them in real working scenarios in the workplace.

A driving licence and access to a car is highly advantageous to support travel requirements.

Please note: Overnight stays will be required for those who are unable to commute to Redditch during study blocks. Due to Safeguarding policies set by our accommodation providers, we are unable to provide accommodation to those under 18.

What you’ll get

• Starting salary: £25,700 per year
• Travel and accommodation expenses when attending study blocks
• Wellbeing benefits at no cost, including Virtual GP, annual health check, mental health and nutritional consultations, Adult Care helpline, and on‑site physio
• Dedicated support, coaching and mentoring to support your career development
• Opportunities to develop through our Grow with Greencore offer, as well as dedicated Early Careers learning events
• A nationally recognised engineering qualification
• Time to meet the learning requirements of your apprenticeship
• Pension up to 8% matched
• Holiday buying
• Company share save scheme
>Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform

What we’re looking for

We are looking for you to have a passion for engineering, food, and people. You will also be‿

• Highly motivated to grow their career, studying alongside doing a demanding day job
• Curious, organised and able to use excellent communication skills to build effective relationships with a range of people
• Confident, take pride in their work with integrity and good time‑management skills
• Pragmatic, with excellent practical skills and problem‑solving ability
• Driven, with strong attention to detail and a high level of accuracy

Please note: If you have previous experience as an engineer or engineering qualifications at Level 3 or above, you may not be eligible for the programme.

To join the apprenticeship, you will need:

• GCSE Grade 5/C in Maths and English (or equivalent)
• Strong IT skills
• The right to live and work in the UK.

We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of nationality or background. However, applicants must have (or be able to obtain) the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the programme.

What happens next?

Applications are due to close on 4th March 2026, however if there are high volumes of applications, we may close early.

Upon successful telephone screening, you will be invited to Virtual Assessment Centre which will take place between Wednesday 8 – Friday 17 April 2026.

Please note: As part of the screening process, we work in partnership with our training provider (MGTS) to assess your suitability and eligibility for the programme. To complete this, we will need to share some of your personal information with them.

If successful after the virtual assessment centre, you’ll be invited to attend the 2nd stage, face to face assessment will take place at one of our Greencore sites.

Induction and enrolment for this role and the apprenticeship will take place in August and September 2026