Rustlers Sales 12 Month Industrial Placement Programme 2025 - UK

Role Purpose

The Sales 12 Month Industrial Placement programme is designed to give university students unparalleled insight, training and support around Sales for the UKs best-selling micro snacking brand. We are looking for passionate and driven individuals to join the team on our 12-month Sales Placement.

These are some of the Key Responsibilities from our Sales Graduate programme, our Placement students will be getting exposure to similar things, just not all to the same depth as the Graduates.

• Customer Engagement: Develop and maintain solid relationships with customers by understanding their specific needs and delivering bespoke solutions tailored to their requirements.
• Sales & Negotiation: Lead and manage sales activities, from prospecting to closing deals, ensuring both revenue and margin targets are met.
• Product Development Collaboration: Work closely with New Product Development (NPD) teams to ensure that products meet customer specifications and pricing requirements.
• Market Analysis: Monitor industry trends, competitor activities, and market conditions to adapt sales strategies accordingly.
• Project Management: Oversee the implementation of sales and marketing plans, ensuring timely execution and alignment with company goals.
• Brand Ambassador: Represent the company at various industry events, maintaining a great professional presence and promoting our brand values.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify and implement opportunities for process improvements, both in sales and operations, to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Key Competencies

• Customer Orientation: Ability to understand and respond to customer needs with bespoke solutions.
• Commercial Acumen: Understanding of market drivers, profitability, and competitive forces within the livestock industry.
• Negotiation Skills: Capable of closing deals that are beneficial for both the customer and the company.
• Analytical Thinking: Ability to analyse data and market conditions to make informed decisions.
• Resilience: Handle a high workload and frequent travel with a positive attitude, learning from failures and continuously improving.
• Project Management: Effective in planning, executing, and overseeing projects to successful completion.

You can expect:

• To be fully immersed into our Culture from day 1, working alongside key industry experts and Kepak leaders
• An opportunity to work in various departments across the business with a rotation plan tailored to your development, the rotations plan will vary by site
• Gain an in depth understanding of our brands and products, and our relationships with customers and consumers
• To learn key aspects of our business, whilst you develop your skills and knowledge
• The opportunity to develop personally and professionally through exposure to key projects, tasks and development activities that challenge you, all supported by a detailed learner journey and training plan
• A dedicated mentor and development program to support you both on the programme and into a role that best fits your skills

Requirements

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for hardworking and ambitious Students, who want to learn and grow in a challenging and fast paced environment, by performing real roles as part of your rotations.

We will consider undergraduates from all disciplines and backgrounds.

We see our Placement programme as a pipeline into our business, either on the Graduate programme or for direct entry roles.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Industry Experience: Prior experience in food service, FMCG, or a related industry is beneficial, but not essential. General sales experience is less applicable unless accompanied by a deep understanding of our industry.
• Skills: Exceptional abilities in channel and customer strategy, account management, joint business planning, and commercial analysis.
• Business Acumen: Demonstrated understanding of the sales process within the food industry, including pricing, margins, and costings.

Personal Attributes

• Team Player: Collaborative approach to working with colleagues across various departments.
• Self-Motivation: Driven to succeed and comfortable working independently.
• Confidence & Assertiveness: Able to communicate assertively and stand their ground when addressing quality issues while maintaining amicable relationships with colleagues
• Adaptability: Adaptable and able to adjust to different roles, challenges, and environments.

We will be looking for alignment with our Core Values:

• Responsibility – Ability to work on your own initiative and take accountability for your actions
• Ambition – You will have the willingness and confidence to challenge yourself to be the best you can be and be driven to succeed
• Passion for Food – this is at the heart of everything we do, you must be passionate about every aspect of our industry
• Teamwork – ability to build positive relationships quickly with people from all cultures and career stages is pivotal

Benefits

• Employee Discount Scheme
• Service-Related Annual Leave
• Discounted Health Insurance
• Educational Assistance/ L&D
• Discounted Meat Products
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee assistance programme