As I completed my master’s degree at University of Nottingham, I knew the next career step for me was to embark on a degree placement within a food manufacturing business.
I saw the Technical Graduate programme at Greencore, and this programme really stood out to me as there was the opportunity to rotate across different sites and experience a variety of manufacturing processes.
Since joining Greencore in 2022, I’ve had many development opportunities, these have been a blend of on-the-job experiences, as well as formal learning which has increased my knowledge and confidence.
As part of my programme rotation, I’ve had exposure to many different roles within Technical, from Hygiene to Technical Services, and so much more. All of this experience is helping me to shape my career, and there’s so much development on offer at Greencore.
I’ve met some brilliant colleagues at Greencore who have been very supportive and encouraged me to actively drive my own development.
What’s been great is having regular conversations with my line manager and identifying areas which I want to focus on, and together we build a development plan centred around my next steps and what goals I want to achieve.
I’m now a mentor to one of the other Technical Degree Apprentice, I’m sharing my knowledge and experience that I’ve gained with others. The process has shown me how much I’ve developed personally, and it’s hugely rewarding to support someone else as they start on their career with Greencore.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is to make the most of the opportunities that come your way, as you develop your career, be open to exploring new experiences to support your development.

I joined Greencore working as a Line Coordinator in 2021 and progressed my career by becoming a Team Leader in 2022. I really love my job and working in Production. It gives me the energy and motivation to work hard and face many challenges. I enjoy working with people and I try to keep them happy at work by supporting them and listening. I strive to be a great Team Leader and I know that I can get the best from my team if they are happy at work.
I am lucky to have a team who want to work hard and do a good job. I encourage my team to let me know if they want development and progress within Greencore. We offer training and support, and want you to succeed. When I asked my manager for support, they encouraged me and gave me the confidence to apply for a promotion. I would like to continue my development at Greencore and my goal is to become a Manufacturing Shift Manager.

I joined Greencore in 2016 as Manufacturing Manager at Crosby site and chose Greencore because it gave me confidence there was a genuine opportunity to progress to General Manager, and to achieve my career goals.
Just a year into my career, that started to take shape and I took up the opportunity to complete a degree and underpin my lived experience with leadership and management theory. I started my level 6 Chartered Management Degree in 2017 and was supported all the way by Greencore, my colleagues, peers, and leaders.
Whilst studying I was given the opportunity to step up, and apply some of that new learning, moving into a Head of Operations role, and soon after met my career goal, being promoted to General Manager in 2018. I graduated with Nottingham Trent University in 2021.
Since then, I have solidified my learning, and remained open to opportunities, taking on reverse mentoring opportunities, and coaching and mentoring others. I am now grateful to be helping others tread my path, and am supporting our Talent, Development, and Inclusion team to create opportunities for growth and progression through development centre activity. Our development centres help prepare colleagues with potential to become a General Manager, through a 3-month programme of self-discovery, learning, feedback and development focus, so now I can help mentor others.
I remain committed to learning, it's so important you keep an open mind, be that in the development or inclusion space. Now as a leader of a site, I recognise how important it is, to help others make those steps, and open opportunities for growth. Others believed in me, and opened those doors, so now I take enjoyment from doing that for others. No leader should consider themselves ‘the finished article’ and Greencore are great at providing new and different facets to learn and explore.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is to ensure you take control of your development, no one is better placed to lead it than you, and you’ll certainly find the tools, support, and opportunities here – the key is taking them, don’t miss an opportunity that comes your way.

I joined Greencore in early 2024 and I work in one of our factories in Hygiene. As an autistic colleague, I am eager to share my experience working here. For me autism is a mixture of sensory and communication experiences. It’s important to see the nuance of an autistic experience. This is not to say that all autistic experience is the same, but I am sharing a few elements of mine here.
Factories aren’t for everybody for the mere fact that some individuals do not enjoy the repetition, but honestly the routine nature of a consistent role within the factory is soothing for me. Once I grasp a task, though it may be a different processing time than others, I tend to put my full efforts into it. I am very passionate.
Processing, for me, relates to the verbal and practical understanding of a job such as stacking trays, knowing how many completes a stack, where they need to go etc. I understand my role, but sometimes a few things can happen that interrupt my capacity to continue, and a short break is key to sustaining my responsibilities, and this has been supported for me. These short-term breaks can prevent long-term overwhelm.
I have an incredibly supportive team of people around me that are open to listening to me. This brings up another aspect of autistic experience whilst at Greencore, downtime. Most people around me seem to engage in conversation or even be by themselves with headphones on in the canteen full of people, but I don’t always want to be around people and my colleagues understand that.
Stimming is something autistic people (and others) do to feel good, to express themselves and to regulate their input (sensory, emotional etc.) One of the ways I ‘stim’ is pacing. I find myself walking around the space, locating the best places to regulate my body and mind, to ‘recharge’ and have most recently found that sitting in Reception has been beneficial to my autistic ways of being. I am committed to being the best version of myself, I genuinely believe others want me to succeed and I feel empowered by their support. It is crucial to consider the environments people like me may need to provide the optimum results for all involved, from colleagues to customers and everyone in-between, and I am finding that here.

I joined Greencore as a Production Operative in September 2021. After working there for three months, I spoke with my manager and expressed a desire to develop, so I was trained to become a Machine Minder. I enjoy my work and my manager encourages people to learn new things and they understand how people work best. They show their appreciation towards my hard work and support me to progress in my role and career.
Everyone here is really nice to work with and I enjoy spending time with people whilst also learning new things. I have learnt lots of new skills in my role, and I aspire to become a Quality Auditor one day which I am confident Greencore will support me in that goal. My advice is to join Greencore and make sure your manager knows you want to go further at Greencore. If I can do this, then you can develop too.

I enjoy working at Greencore, it’s provided me so many diverse, and varied experiences over the years, and now as I look back over my career, I can see how taking up opportunities were fundamental steps in the transitions I made. My career has grown beyond what I could have imagined, moving from a site-based role, supporting the leadership team with ensuring compliance to now designing, delivering, and creating learning solutions for the whole group. I asked for development, and others saw my potential, and now I am in my dream role, working to build development and learning solutions that are making a huge difference to our people every day.
I have been supported personally and professionally over that time, encouraged, and enabled to complete my CIPD qualifications, been mentored, coached, provided opportunities for exposure, and experience to lead others. Now I’m in the fortunate place, I can do that for others, and most recently have developed my coaching experience, to become a Greencore coach. Now I am helping others on their career journeys too and developing my own team to achieve their CIPD qualifications.
There is so much opportunity to grow at Greencore, and I have been fortunate to benefit from that, and to undertake a role which gives me flexibility, stretch and challenge, but is hugely supported by my team, manager, and colleagues. I work in an amazing team, who are truly committed to one another.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is set yourself clear goals, and align development opportunities that come your way to them, helping you build skills and confidence. Be adaptable and open to change, don’t be afraid to grasp development opportunities that stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone.

I joined Greencore in 2018. Having worked in the food industry, I knew about Greencore and colleagues I had worked with highly recommended them. I knew they were known for supporting development and I felt I could grow my career.
I joined as a Finance Business Partner at our Crosby site. It was not long before I moved from a site-based role, into a multisite role supporting our Direct to Store logistics operation. I had a great grounding in the role, and in a Finance focused role, I could see the opportunities and challenges for the operation.
Others saw my potential and talked to me about considering a lateral move into Operations, where that knowledge and insight could make a real difference. They helped me see that my in depth understanding of the numbers would help the operation, and before long I was taking another career step.
I have been fortunate during that time to benefit from our development centres, and along with feedback, exposure, and opportunities, I have really developed my career. Greencore have been instrumental in my progress. They take their commitment to helping you grow seriously. I have been provided with guidance, constructive feedback, exposure to networks, resources, encouragement and learning opportunities; they have really set me up to succeed.
The senior support for investing in our people, and their development is evident to see, and my most recent experience at a development centre for a potential GM of the future is testament to that. Seeing the senior leadership team give up their time before, during and after the programme, and the wrap around support from the development team have been superb. As a result, I am now stepping into a secondment to help give me further exposure, as I plan for my next steps in my career.
As you consider a career with us, I would say, go for it, we are serious about development, we’re a high performing team and business, and with such a large footprint, there are opportunities to grow your career.

I joined Greencore in 2007, having studied a food science degree and completing an early careers programme in another food business. I knew Greencore had strong technical and food safety standards, and a great reputation in the market so I was excited to join. My first role was a Technical Controller at one of our sites, Wisbech. Whilst there I got involved in lots of projects, diversifying customers, products and build/extension projects which all helped keep the role challenging and rewarding. I grew a family while I worked there and was well supported in juggling family life and my career. As my children got older, I was keen to progress my career and asked for support to grow, develop and take on a different role. Before long I was stepping into a bigger site and was supported as I moved my family closer to my new role, working at our Kiveton site, which brought more new opportunities. A new factory build and a wider portfolio of products all brought new learning experiences.
We launched The Exchange, our internal coaching and mentoring programme in 2023, and this programme has been instrumental to my next move. I knew I wanted to develop further, and after being matched with a great internal Greencore coach, someone in a different area of the business, with different perspectives, I worked with them on how to best develop for the next role.
I got huge value from the coaching, it has given me confidence, self-belief, a renewed sense of purpose and it has been so valuable having someone to share my thoughts with, be guided through options and solutions and to check in with me on how things have gone. In fact, it gave me the confidence to apply for a promotion, and I’m delighted to now be in a more senior role, working across three sites and getting the opportunity to lead a group wide projects. I really value the growth that Greencore has enabled for me, we have such an amazing development offer, and with such a diverse business, the opportunities ever changing.
My advice as you consider a role with us is to have your short, medium and long term goals in mind and approach them with dedication and enthusiasm and your career will flourish.

I joined Greencore in 1995, at our Warrington site in a Quality Assurance role, taking responsibility for product quality. I was attracted to the position, as I could see the opportunity to develop and advance my career within the Technical department, and in line with the disciplines I acquired from my Food Sciences Degree. I soon moved into a Process Technologist role, which primarily involved upscaling of new products developed in the kitchen, taking them through factory trials and then to subsequent launch.
3 years later, I transitioned into supplier auditing, which involved a significant level of travel, but also close collaboration with our procurement team. It wasn’t long before I found myself taking another career step, and a move into the Purchasing department; firstly, in a team coordination and support role, then assisting with the set-up of a then newly formed the Indirects’ buying team and before long I became a Buyer.
As I look back, there have been several senior leaders who have advocated for me, seen my potential, and encouraged me to progress and step up. Those line managers and mentors have had a positive impact on my growth, not only by inspiring me to be ambitious and have belief in myself, but also empowering me to take on additional responsibility, whilst being there alongside should I need guidance and support. They were instrumental in the unlocking of my potential, and I am grateful for the role each has played in my career progression, and the confidence I have subsequently built.
I am almost at my 30 years’ service, and one thing that is true during all this time, is that this business is constantly evolving and does not stay the same for long. There are always new challenges which results in plenty of opportunity to both excel and grow your career. I absolutely know that whatever you strive to do or level you want to achieve, Greencore can support you to get there. What has kept me here?; the people, the connections, encouragement and support, all create a culture and environment that I have enjoyed being part of.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is to consider the opportunities to progress that will come your way whilst working in such a diverse and supportive business.

I joined Greencore having spent years working in the food to go industry supplying food service clients, I'd heard a lot about Greencore as a competitor and took the opportunity to move into a bigger business with more opportunity for growth.
I started out in our technical team and having expressed an interest in broader leadership and management, was selected to take part in our programme of development centres. These programmes, help you to understand your strengths, development areas and you receive targeted and meaningful feedback, mentorship, and support to build a development plan to help you reach your career goals. The process was very engaging and the usual feelings of imposter syndrome through change were lessened by the exposure and opportunity to grow, learn, and develop in a structured and supported way. The surrounding leadership team wanted me to do well, and this was evident in the time and investment around me.
For me this involved taking up the invite to embark on a management degree, sponsored by Greencore. In tandem, I started to get more experience in the day to day by moving out of my specialist area and into a broad leadership role. The development, and exposure really made a difference, and before long I was leading a site.
Once I moved into the General Manager role, my development continued, and I now lead a more complex site. I was supported to a different site, whilst staying in my chosen home, and they support me to balance the time and travel commitments.
My learning hasn't stopped there, I'm now part of developing the programme for our next generation of talent! It is so rewarding to be an alumni, able to share my experience, wisdom, and advice to those now taking a similar path. I really believe in this programme, its unique, and is delivering great results. I've also taken part in mentoring, reverse mentoring, and I’m a coach, all opportunities I have been offered to help me be an even better leader. I’m personally not done yet, I'm soon to be embarking on a level 7 qualification.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is to take the opportunity, we have award winning training programmes and multiple opportunities to grow and develop your career. Greencore is a real platform for self-led learning, and they have proven to match my growth and development aspirations as evident in my fast-tracked career development.

I moved to the UK to take up an opportunity at Greencore, having finished my education in Poland, and I haven’t looked back. I’ve now been here for 17 years and built a rewarding and enriching career in my chosen specialist field, Technical.
When I joined the business, I started as a Line Operative, learning the skills needed to manufacture our products, and was then promoted into a Line Coordinator role, so I then started to run the line and support my colleagues. This was a great springboard into my next promotion, and I moved into the quality part of the team.
I had always wanted to make that move, and it was about building the necessary skills and experience, so when an opportunity arose, I had the experience needed. In the Technical team I have worked across many varied roles, as Quality Inspector, Quality Officer and most recently into Technical Manager.
My progression was largely influenced by my colleagues, and it was a Shift Manager who saw my appetite and passion for Technical, and believed I had the potential needed to succeed. They invested time in me and gave me opportunities so I could show them what I could do.
After making the move I grew into the role with the coaching and encouragement of the Technical Controller who really believed that I could succeed. That’s the great thing about Greencore, it’s the people, they really want you to get on, and are willing to back you and help is always available.
My advice, as you consider whether Greencore is a place for you, would be go for it, if you want to develop, or have a vision for where you want to be, then our people will see it. Greencore is a place you can build a strong career, there is so much opportunity.

I got my first job at Greencore in September 2018. I was a Picker at DTS Hatfield and had only planned to stay in England for a few months. Now, 7 years later, I have had the privilege of excelling my Manufacturing career through 6 roles across Operations, Logistics and Commercial at different sites, working with amazing peers and managers along the way.

After a short time in Hatfield, I quickly exceeded site targets that left me wanting more challenging projects. I shared my hunger to grow, develop and take on a different role and Greencore helped me accomplish this. When Tamworth Depot opened in 2020, I became a Warehouse Administrator and then I stepped into the Stock Controller role, before quickly progressing to Admin Team Leader. A new factory environment with different colleagues all helped create new learning experiences that accelerated my career growth. It was also the first time I had managed a team.

As someone who is ambitious and driven, I knew I wanted to develop my skills and knowledge further by broadening my portfolio. I was interested in exploring the world of Finance and had transferable excel and data analysis skills from my time in Administration. However, I had no direct finance experience. As a result, I was offered a trial secondment in Logistics as a Finance Analyst, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I learnt about the complexities of the wider business world and the impact that our fluctuating market has on food manufacturing. It was at this point I realised that finance was for me. I applied for the permanent Finance Analyst role, which I was offered, and then Greencore invested in my CIMA Accountancy qualifications.

When I became Senior Finance Analyst in DTS, I tried to give back to Greencore by aiding the development of others. Many of my previous peers still contact me today to ask for help or advice and I am happy to take the time to support them, just like my line managers and peers have done for me. I am now at the start of a new learning journey as Senior Finance Analyst in Commercial and look forward to embedding myself into a new team.

My end goal is to be Chief Financial Officer at Greencore. I know I have development needs to address, but with the continued learning opportunities that Greencore offers and my tenacity, I know it is possible.

If you are considering a career with us, know that Greencore recognises hard work and individual efforts and will, in return, give you the tools and opportunities to succeed in a safe space. I am a believer that you can do anything if you put your mind to it and Greencore helps make this possible.

(Peter, Paul’s son and Jake’s father) I started working at Greencore in 2003 at the age of 18, spending the first few years learning many of the roles in the low-risk department at Greencore’s Wisbech site. I often found myself reviewing processes to create more efficient ways of working, whilst delivering the same result. I was offered a step up as team leader in low risk and, eventually took on various leadership roles, including running the department. I accepted a planning role about 6 years ago, taking the same approach to increase process effectiveness. I was given the time, tools and prerogative I needed to start making changes to the systems in planning and procurement, the impact being significant.
Now, in my 23rd year, I've seen the company evolve into one focused on quality and a culture of trust and excellence. I’m proud to witness this firsthand as my son shares his excitement from his work experience in the development kitchens, often coming home with stories of new recipes, techniques and lessons learned.
(Paul, father of Peter, grandfather of Jake) Before joining Greencore, I was a steward in the merchant navy working on a ferry running from Felixstowe to Holland for about 10 years, then spent 10 years at Bernard Matthews, followed by 20 years working for Bakkavor. Having been at Greencore for 2 years in the despatch team, I enjoy sharing my ideas and solving problems with the support of my son, Peter, as we both work across Supply Chain. We tend to both be curious in our approaches, often asking why, with an urge to find a solution. With my experience and Peter’s IT skills, we make quite the pair. A big attraction piece for joining Greencore was that we get to drive change from the bottom up and the team are so welcoming.
(Jake, son and grandson) I am currently undertaking my college work experience at Greencore, operating as a chef under the guidance of Chris, our head development chef. I am quite meticulous and can sometimes get in a muddle if something doesn’t go to plan, but the team give me the reassurance that making mistakes is all part of the process. I had a (positive) culture shock when I began at Greencore, the atmosphere is different to a professional kitchen. I feel very supported and have been given the opportunity to lead on making things like jam and Pearl Barley Risotto. I’ve learnt a lot about time management and have been able to put my learnings from here into practice at college, which is a huge bonus.
Collectively, we believe there are a lot of prospects at Greencore, it is why working here has become a family affair. We would advise anyone starting out their career to come with a vision, but to not put too much pressure on themselves - acknowledge the bigger picture but embrace the short and medium term first.