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.

My journey began with Greencore, when I joined through an agency in 2018 as a Production Operative, and soon after I moved into the Hygiene team as a Greencore colleague. I work well with my Team Leader, who noticed that I was a hard worker committed to my role and recognised my potential.
I really enjoy working at Greencore, they understand that my priority is to best support my family, so they are flexible with me, and they know just how important having a healthy work life balance is for me. I enjoy being able to see the results of my work, everyone I work with is friendly and I enjoy their company.
Throughout my career at Greencore, team leaders and line managers have supported my development. I was fortunate to be invited to join our Line Coordinator Programme and have recently completed my 12-month learning journey, which has helped me to engage my team, recognise potential in others, and deliver in my role. It’s given me skills, knowledge and confidence, and I highly recommend it to others. I am still keen to develop and am always looking for ways to grow my skills. Greencore is a place I know I can move further towards my career aims.

I found Greencore on my career search, after having decided university full time wasn’t for me. I was attracted by the flexibility and variety on offer and the wide range of experiences I could take up. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my career, so being able to try different roles was an ideal way to help me decide.
Since joining on the Degree Apprenticeship Programme, in Commercial I have experienced so many different facets of the function, from starting out in new product development and opening my eyes to the world of food, to shopper marketing and understanding more about consumers, and finally into sales and how we work with customers. It has helped me find my passion, and I am now pursuing a personal and professional passion of social media marketing.
I have been provided lots of development opportunities during my time, our Grow with Greencore offer is excellent, and I have been able to learn through education, experiences, role rotations, through to working with others and learning from them. I have been given lots of opportunities to build my confidence, a highlight was hosting our company annual awards ceremony, as well as getting involved in our group wide I&D catalyst groups and contributing beyond my role.
The aspect that’s helped me grow the most has been the opportunity to take on more responsibility, I have been encouraged and supported through mentorships to take on projects, activities, and get involved, each of these adding to my confidence, experience, and overall ability.
There is just so much on offer here at Greencore, the pace and nature of our work means there is always something you can learn from, and learning and growing is central to our DNA.
As you consider a career with us, it's great for you to know how inclusive we are, Greencore is a place for everyone, and you get to make your career what you want. The support, tools and investment is there for you, if you want to progress you have the choices, opportunities and platform to shine.

I joined Greencore in 2014, initially working in one of our divisions as a commercial controller, and now lead a sales and food team for one of our biggest customers across the group, as a member of the leadership team. I was attracted to Greencore because of the diverse nature of the business meaning it was exciting whilst supplying amazing food across all the multiples.
Over that time,I’ve developed great relationships, been able to realise my potential, and progressed my career through taking up development opportunities. I have been able to grow as the business has. I have also been supported asI expanded my family and juggled the demands that two children and a career bring. I have been able to do this through support, mentorship,encouragement, and flexibility. Our business is fast paced, and we’ve a UK wide footprint, so being able to manage my own time, and balance the demands of work and home is important, and I have been supported in that. As a leader I now provide that for others, andI’m highly invested in the development and progression of those around me.
As I look back on my career, the key milestones/opportunities, that enabled me to step up have been alwaysremaining authentic in my approach and style which are a core part of my values. Building relationships are key to my success, having a great network of friends and support within the business whilst developing strong customer centric relationships is what really motivates me.
Some 10 years later, I am still learning and growing, and have the privilege of enabling others, be that through exposure, project activity, coaching or mentoring, I am encouraged as a leader to help others succeed.It’s a fundamental part of our DNA at Greencore, in factit’s one of our core behaviours, to own your development and invest in others and we’ve a wonderful range of development options available whatever your career focus may be.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is, go for it. It’s the people that make a business and Greencore have the best people in the industry!

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 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.

As of 2025, I will be celebrating 10 years at Greencore, and what a journey it has been! I joined as a Technical Graduate on our Early Careers programme in 2015, having some prior knowledge of food manufacturing from my Summer placements during my Microbiology degree. Since then, I have been able to grow my knowledge, skills and behaviours, experiencing many different roles around the country, including at Atherstone, Manton Wood, DTS and Leeds sites, to name a few.

In my current role as Technical Controller at Leeds, the home of our Yorkshire Puddings, I have been particularly fortunate to mentor two Technical Graduates on programme, one of which is just starting their Greencore journey and the other having recently finished their programme. Mentoring these colleagues has been a great way for me to develop my leadership skills and has led me to reflect on my own experiences and how far I have come since completing my Greencore qualifications.

A recent passion of mine has been leading the Leeds Inclusion Catalyst group, a community that has helped build a more positive working environment for our site colleagues. Those involved have helped to deliver our annual calendar of inclusion events, represent a variety of views, and aim to raise awareness for inclusion and diversity across Leeds site. Our goal is to host at least one event each month to support our agenda, and I look forward to continuing to help the team achieve this.

During my time at Greencore, I have been fortunate to have been supported by great mentors who have encouraged me to go for new roles by giving me the confidence to believe in my abilities. One of my biggest achievements to date was in 2020, when I lead my first 2-day technical audit, and we received a green rating. I wouldn’t have achieved this without the support of my mentor and the engagement of my team throughout the preparation period.

My advice to those considering a career at Greencore is to be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone, think about your aspirations and what you need to do to achieve this, and finally, be open to having a mentor who will support you in overcoming the first two. Greencore has a fantastic cohort of coaches and mentors who can help guide you to achieve your short and long-term goals.

I joined Greencore in 2020 on an early careers programme in HR and was warmly welcomed into the team. I choose Greencore because their values and goals around people at the core, development and sustainability agenda aligned with my own. I saw the early careers opportunity and knew it was the right decision for me as I wanted to progress my educational study but also gain valuable experience at the same time.
I haven’t looked back, and during the last 4 years I have been able to experience lots of different roles across HR, from generalist to specialist roles, projects and assignments, and travel around our sites and meeting our people.
Greencore have provided me with excellent exposure, support and invested in my education and well-being. During that time, I have benefited from great mentors, who have helped me define what career path I want to take and most recently I have completed my programme, got my degree, and moved into a role where I get to give back all this learning.
I am now using my experience, and the valuable knowledge I have gained to help others like me, join Greencore, develop, grow, and build a meaningful career. I have the privilege of speaking to all our prospective candidates and giving them a true sense for what were like to work with. I help them feel at ease, as others did for me and see them progress and thrive.
The development support I have received has been superb, and I now sit as part of the team who build and create it all, and I am proud to be playing such a key role in laying the path for others to grow with Greencore.
Even though my formal degree education is almost complete, learning is something that happens every day here, and I have been given great responsibility in all my roles, and freedom to be creative. I am proud to be helping to connect more people to Greencore through my current role as Early Careers and Skills Specialist, and leading activities such as our communication on channels such as TikTok is helping me reach more people every day. You can follow us here @greencoregroup.
As you consider a career with us, my advice is believe in yourself, never give up and keep asking questions!

(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.