Operations Apprentice - Mars Petcare - Castle Cary

Job Description:

This is an exciting opportunity to join a 3-year Apprenticeship, where you will be working towards the Level 3 Food and Drink Technical Operator qualification. You will take part in fantastic training courses and team building events, whilst tackling real challenges and taking on real responsibility.

You’ll need to be a great team player and communicator, with the motivation to get results and a positive mindset. As a Mars Apprentice you will gain a professional qualification, as well as on the job experience.

Salary £20,000 rising on completion of each academic year + annual bonus + benefits

Our Mars Petcare division has more than 100,000 Petcare Associates spending their days thinking about the 400 million pets of the world and how to improve their lives through our nutrition, health and services businesses. This includes famous nutrition brands like PEDIGREE® and WHISKAS®. At Mars Petcare, we believe that pets make the world a better place. We work towards our Purpose: A Better World for Pets.

You would be joining part of our team who produces our fantastic James Wellbeloved pet food.

What are we looking for?

• GCSEs Grade C / 4 or above (or equivalent) in Maths and English

• A demonstrable interest in leadership and being hands on

• The ability to work as part of a team

• The desire to learn

• Willing and able to travel to our Castle Cary site and Bridgewater and Taunton College

• We require you to be 16+ by the 1st September 2025

• You must not have more than 2 years operations experience, prior learning, or qualifications higher than an NVQ Level 3 in operations

What would be your key responsibilities?

With strong mentorship and coaching from our experienced Operations Associates you will be;

• Developing leadership skills to enable you to lead a team to achieve results

• Learning how to operate, diagnose faults, repair and maintain our equipment

• Working across both process and wrapping areas

• Applying all relevant Mars quality and safety systems to ensure the safety of people and products is maintained.

On successful completion of the Operations Apprenticeship you will have demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to take ownership and accountability for a number of machines, processes or pieces of equipment and carry out complex operational tasks, enabling you to coordinate a team of operational Associates to achieve line KPIs and take the lead in repairing mechanical breakdowns.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with over 140,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles.

• Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.

• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.

• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

Applications will be reviewed regularly and may close early if we receive a high number of applicants. We currently expect to hold our assessment day during March/April 2025.

Want to know more about the recruitment process? Visit the Apprenticeship page on our careers website (https://careers.mars.com/uk/en/apprenticeships).

We are keen for all applicants to demonstrate their full potential during our recruitment process. If you could benefit from any support or adjustments to this recruitment process for any reason, including those related to a disability, please let us know at apprenticesupport@effem.com. Any information you provide will be treated in confidence.

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Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.