Graduate Project Engineer

You will be supporting the project engineering team and manufacturing to deliver improvements to equipment and operations.

You will be working on a variety of projects that add value to the business and can make a real difference in every aspect of it, being given responsibility to drive business improvement.

You will be predominantly leading and managing Capital Expenditure projects, particularly involving manufacturing equipment. As well as this, you will be involved in energy saving projects, and data analysis of key factory process operations.

This role involves a balance of spending time in the factory - speaking to the team and evaluating current operations, as well as working in the office - holding discussions across departments, developing project specifications and business cases.

With this role, you will develop skills in project management, leadership and data analysis. You will have exposure to wider business functions including product development, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and learn about how the business operates.

apetito is the UK’s leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors serving more than 1,300 care homes, health care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dietitians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK’s largest ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious frozen ready meals across the UK.

This role is part of our 2 year graduate programme, during which you will have exposure to mentoring, leadership training and support to achieve your full potential.

You will have opportunity to present to the executive team on your work.

The aim of our programme is to train and develop graduates into future leadership roles.

Role and Responsibility

• Manage Capital Investment projects from concept phase through to deployment.
• Contribute towards Energy saving initiatives to drive forward energy reduction.
• Investigate new technologies to contribute towards net-zero company commitment.
• Work across the business to identify key opportunities for downtime reduction.
• Contribute to defining clear KPIs for projects you work on.
• Help us define how we bring innovation to apetito. From processes to tools, our aspiration is to continually improve the performance of the manufacturing facilities.
• Maintain accurate records, including writing specification documents and taking minutes in meetings.
• Build and maintain effective, collaborative, working relationships.

Past Projects worked on by Graduates include

Capital investment in new equipment in excess of £100k

Food Waste Reduction Equipment Upgrade

Freezer Temperature Optimisation

New Boiler Installation

As our factory runs 7 days a week, flexibility to support projects outside office hours, including evenings and weekends, will be required.

Essential

Desirable

Personal Qualities

We are looking for someone who is passionate to learn and develop in manufacturing, specifically in food, who will be looking to deliver the best quality products for our customers.

This role will require time to be spent on the shop floor to understand problems, so you need to be comfortable being “hands on” and talking to both the production operators and the management team.

This will ensure engagement and understanding of any projects which will be introduced.

The successful applicant will be a self-starter who would rather be too busy than not busy enough. If you find something which doesn’t feel right, you won’t ignore it, but will instead ask “why?” or “what can I do?”. You will need to be happy to speak to teams on the shop floor to better understand their problems and feed these up in order to resolve them.

The successful applicant will be able to work well in a team environment and have a structured approach to work. You will need to feel comfortable working with staff at all levels, and communicate effectively in meetings, presentations, and written reports.

As a family-owned business, we take great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of.

We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well-being for all our customers.

We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.

We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040.

Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer.

Learn more about apetito’s commitment to a more sustainable future.

We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we're on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.

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