Degree (Level 6 or 7)

Chartered Manager (Level 6) - A Chartered Manager is someone who can take responsibility for people, projects, operations and/or services to deliver long term organisational success, with the professional recognition of their ability to deliver impact, behave ethically and demonstrate their commitment to continual learning and development. 

Specific job roles may include: Manager; Senior Manager; Head of Department; Operations Manager; or anyone with significant management responsibilities.

Food & Drink Advanced Engineer (Level 6) - Food and Drink Advanced Engineers deliver efficient, effective and high performance food and drink production processes and systems, many of which are specific to the industry. Combining engineering competence with an understanding of the principles of food safety, science and technology their focus is on developing and designing improved production systems, which are safe to operate and environmentally sustainable.

Food and Drink Advanced Engineers have roles across food and drink organisations, from infrastructure, asset care, production management and process development and work closely with a range of other engineers, functions and managers in their own company and interact with external equipment and ingredient providers.

Food Industry Technical Professional (Level 6) - There are a wide variety of Technical Professional roles: Assistant Food Technical Manager, Quality Manager, Shift Quality Manager, Hygiene Manager, Product Innovation and Development Technologist. They ensure the safety and quality of food products; this includes improving existing products and launching new products; working with operational teams to develop good practices and procedures; and developing good relationships with internal and external customers. They may be employed by a grower, a food manufacturer or by a retailer.

Technical professionals utilise their knowledge to ensure the smooth transition of food and drink products from farm to fork. They ensure that technical and quality standards are achieved whilst maximising profitability to meet customer requirements. They have a set of skills, knowledge and behaviours providing the opportunity for an exciting and rewarding career in the food industry.

Manufacturing Manager (Level 6) - The broad purpose of the occupation is oversee the manufacturing process to make sure that performance output meets customer expectations and is cost-effective. This will include planning manufacturing schedules, monitoring operations and quality assurance. 

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with manufacturing personnel and managers from other departments, for example, commercial, marketing, research and design, technical, quality, human resources and engineering. They may also interact with customers. 

Packaging Professional (Level 6) - Packaging professionals lead on technical packaging delivery programmes and projects for a multitude of products including food and drink, consumer electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and automotive components. The fundamental role of packaging is to protect, preserve and promote the contents.

Packaging professionals may be employed in many industry sectors: filling and packing, design, product manufacture and processing, environmental management, transport and storage, retail, print and chemical manufacture to name but a few; with employers ranging from small design companies through to global conglomerates employing many thousands of people.

Higher (Level 4 or 5)

Advanced Dairy Technologist (Level 5) - Advanced Dairy Technologists are in roles developing, producing and controlling production of dairy products. They know how dairy products are produced and they operate and manage process, filling/packing and cleaning plant and other dairy unit operations. They ensure that plant performance and the final dairy product and volumes are in accordance with specifications and targets by monitoring and adjusting process and equipment settings and by carrying out tests on equipment and product. They monitor waste levels and ensure that the hygiene of the production environment is in accordance with legislation, regulations and product quality requirements.

Brewer (Level 4) - Brewers may work for breweries with large-scale national or international production through to small micro-breweries. However, all brewers are responsible for making beer either at specific stages of production (i.e. brewhouse, fermentation, cold room or packaging) or in its entirety from ingredients intake to final package. Whilst well established, the brewer occupation is a diverse role which may vary considerably across the sector.

Food and Drink Engineer (Level 5) - Food and Drink Engineers maintain, manage and install a diverse range of specialist equipment and technology used in the manufacture of food and drink products. Combining engineering competence with an understanding of the principles of food safety, science and technology, their focus is on managing, maintaining and continuously improving existing assets.

They fulfil a variety of functions within food businesses, dealing with mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, process development and project engineering.

HR Consultant / Supervisor (Level 5) - This role could be called an HR Consultant or an HR Business Partner in different organisations. Individuals in this role will use their HR expertise to provide and lead the delivery of HR solutions to business challenges, together with tailored advice to the business in a number of HR areas, typically to mid-level and senior managers.

They will often be required to make decisions and recommendations on what the business can/should do in a specific situation. They will be influencing managers to change their thinking as well as bringing best practice into the organisation. They are also likely to lead the people related elements of business or HR projects.

Improvement Practitioner (Level 4) - Improvement Practitioners use a blend of Lean and Six Sigma, project and change management principles and tools to identify and lead the delivery of change across organisational functions and processes. Typically, Practitioners lead smaller projects and/or play a key supporting role in a larger programme – tackling issues that may require swift problem solving, or re-occurring challenges that require in-depth analysis and the implementation of a range of effective and sustainable countermeasures. 

There are a variety of job titles associated with the occupation, these include, but are not limited to: Business Improvement Practitioner, Continuous Improvement Manager, Process Excellence Manager, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Quality Control Senior Analyst.

Improvement Specialist (Level 5) - Improvement Specialists are responsible for leading the deployment of improvement strategy, for training others and for providing broad and deep technical expertise in advanced and complex Lean and Six Sigma, Project and Change Management principles and tools to enable identification and delivery of improvement opportunities aligned to key business goals.

They work closely with other Improvement Specialists to support the delivery of improvement strategy, working on multiple simultaneous projects linked to key business objectives, identifying and engaging both subject matter experts and key stakeholders. Their work generally requires them to interact with others but typically involves a high-degree of autonomy.

Operations / Departmental Manager (Level 5) - An operations/departmental manager is someone who manages teams and/or projects, and achieving operational or departmental goals and objectives, as part of the delivery of the organisations strategy. They are accountable to a more senior manager or business owner. Working in the private, public or third sector and in all sizes of organisation, specific responsibilities and job titles will vary, but the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed will be the same.

Key responsibilities may include creating and delivering operational plans, managing projects, leading and managing teams, managing change, finnancial and resource management, talent management, coaching and mentoring. Roles may include: Operations Manager, Regional Manager, Divisional Manager, Department Manager and specialist managers.

Advanced (Level 3)

Advanced Baker - Advanced bakers will have an in depth knowledge of bakery techniques and will demonstrate expertise in a range of bakery activities. They may work in craft, in store or in automated bakeries. They will have a full understanding of product costing and quality monitoring processes and will spend time working on activities such as product development and improvement. They will have both the knowledge and skills necessary to use problem solving techniques, quality assurance and Continuous Improvement (CI) techniques.

Advanced Butcher - An Advanced Butcher will often take responsibility for a shop or function in a meat business and will possess dexterous knife skills allied with all round knowledge of the craft/processing environment. Advanced Butchers are a valuable asset to any meat and poultry business in the UK and across the world and will spend rewarding careers in an industry that offers progression in to a number of sub occupations such as sales, training, production and retail management.

Food & Drink Advanced Process Operator - Advanced Operators will develop an in-depth knowledge of food and drink products, health and safety systems, quality systems and Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP). They are trained to interrogate and interpret data to identify trends and carry out basic fault finding. This will help to avoid future faults and improve quality and productivity. Advanced Operators may be expected to lead others; as such they will develop skills in leadership and management. On completion of this programme, individuals may progress into more advanced technical or leadership roles. This apprenticeship is an ideal spring board for potential future leaders of the food and drink industry.

Food & Drink Maintenance Engineer - Food and Drink Mechanical Maintenance Engineers will mainly work with mechanical and electrical equipment and production systems. Food and Drink Multi-skilled Maintenance Engineers will work with mechanical and electrical equipment plus highly automated programmable control systems. Both Mechanical and Multi-skilled Engineers need to maximise the benefits of the technology and equipment they work with. Depending on the type of product and plant in the company, engineering activities carried out will include routine maintenance, fault finding and diagnosis, testing and commissioning.

Food Technologist - There are many varied employment and career opportunities in the food science industry; within a laboratory based environment to ensure the safety and quality of food products, in development roles to improve existing products and launch new products, in factory based roles working with teams to develop good manufacturing practices and within the supply chain to develop good relationships with suppliers and customers.

On completion of the programme, Food Technologists will be able to utilise their food science knowledge to ensure the smooth transition of food and drink products from farm to fork driving the manufacturing process ensuring that technical and quality standards are achieving whilst maximising profitability to meet customer requirements.

Improvement Technician - Improvement Technicians are responsible for delivery and coaching of improvement activity within an area of responsibility, often associated with Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. They can be found across all industry sectors and functions including automotive, banking, engineering, food products, IT, property, retail, telecoms etc.

There are a variety of job titles associated with the occupation, these include, but are not limited to: Business Improvement Co-ordinator, Continuous Improvement Executive, Process Technician, Operational Excellence/Lean Engineer, Lean Six Sigma Yellow belt and Quality Control Analyst.

Poultry Technician - A Poultry Technician is responsible for the management and control of a complex poultry farming site or operational agriculture (hatchery) unit, including responsibility for the performance and results of their site, raising animals with optimal welfare and consideration for their needs throughout the different stages of life, compliance at all times with hygiene, safety and bird welfare legislation - and customer standards which go beyond legislative compliance, maintenance of the facility, management of the personnel of the site and all other visitors to site.

Supply Chain Practitioner - Supply Chain is at the heart of every business – it is a system of organisations, people, activities, information and resources involved in moving products or services from supplier to customer. It may include the transformation of natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product.

Typical duties could include forecasting customer demand as a Junior Demand Planner, liaising with the factories schedule production as a Junior Supply Planner, processing orders as a Customer Service Operative and working with hauliers and Distribution Centres as an Assistant Transport Planner.

Team Leader / Supervisor - A team leader/supervisor is a first line management role, with operational/project responsibilities or responsibility for managing a team to deliver a clearly defined outcome. They provide direction, instructions and guidance to ensure the achievement of set goals. 

Key responsibilities are likely to include supporting, managing and developing team members, managing projects, planning and monitoring workloads and resources, delivering operational plans, resolving problems, and building relationships internally and externally.

Intermediate (Level 2)

Abattoir Worker - From receiving animals in the strictly controlled handling (lairage) facility and through the slaughter process, abattoir workers need to be empathetic and respectful of animals. Team work and diligence is part and parcel of the role as well as upholding professional behavioural standards in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures. Those with aptitude and dedication can progress to managing the slaughter-line or cutting/de-boning operations, becoming an Animal Welfare Officer (AWO).

Baker - On completion of the programme, bakers will be able to make a wide range of breads and baked goods, using a range of traditional craft and mechanical processing methods. They will work safely and hygienically, following recipes and specifications, to ensure the quality and standards of products meet customer requirements.

Butcher - Butchery is a highly skilled profession steeped in tradition. Butchers will display understanding about a range of meat species and the various techniques needed to process and/or produce products. In addition, butchers will be able to cut, prepare, package and present meat products to the standards required of the business and specialist needs of commercial and/or consumers. Butchers will have a range of skills, knowledge and behaviours that can lead to rewarding careers in the butchery industry, not only in the UK but across the world.

Fishmonger - Fishmongering is a highly skilled profession which is also steeped in tradition. A qualified fishmonger could work in a range of different types of businesses including supermarket fishcounters, independent high street fishmongers, and mobile fish vans. Talented fishmongers can go on to manage and even own their own fishmongering business

Food & Drink Process Operator - On completion of this programme, Process Operators will be able to carry out production operations using a range of equipment, and will be able to carry out basic fault finding on the equipment they work with. They will be able to handle food products safely and hygienically. They will be able to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to maintain quality and to ensure products meet customer requirements.

Poultry Worker - A poultry worker is responsible for supporting the bird development process, maintaining bird accommodation and preparing and monitoring the livestock production environment whether this is on a farm or in a hatchery. This will include ensuring they are looked after to meet health and welfare requirements as well as performance targets while maintaining effective biosecurity at site.

Supply Chain Operator - Supply Chain Operators are primarily responsible for managing the movement of goods for a variety of customers across all sectors, and as such their customer base will range from large global organisations to sole traders and private customers in local areas, depending on their organisation.