Business Area: Nestle Beverage
Location: Dalston, Cumbria

Salary: Up to £48,000.00 depending on experience.

Some of our other fantastic benefits

• Potential, discretionary annual bonus.
• Generous pension scheme – up to 12% contribution from Nestle.
• 12 flexible days on top of 25-day holiday entitlement.
• 2 paid volunteering days.
• A focus on personal development and growth.

We now have a fantastic opportunity for a talented, driven individual to join our Nestlé business at our Dalston factory as a Process Specialist. This is a permanent opportunity which will report into the Area Manager. This is an exciting opportunity to support the site through change and progress your career.

Nestlé Dalston Factory in Cumbria is the European Centre for cappuccino and creamers producing a range of beverage products. These are produced through a highly automated PLC controlled process plant and automated filling and packing lines. It is continually developing and expanding leading brands such as Nescafé, Aero Hot Chocolate and Coffee-mate. The factory is moving forward with continuous improvement principles and actively developing Lean/TPM processes so it’s an exciting time to be involved.

We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity. We proudly signed the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter, are committed to Disability Confidence, and have been recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for gender equality for three consecutive years. Additionally, we are a headline partner of Diversity and Inclusion in grocery.

Your impact

Be the recognised process expert, improving performance through optimisation, structured problem solving and effective operating standards. Benchmark network best practices, collaborate with technical experts and, where authorised, endorse operators’ technical competence.

In your first 12 months, you will: Define, validate and optimise the process parameters needed to fully standardise the newly commissioned wet mix plant and deliver stable, repeatable performance.

Your other key responsibilities will include:

• Protect safety and quality: Define and improve process conditions, controls and safe operating limits that protect people, food safety and product quality; support risk assessments, trials and change controls, investigate defects and escalate significant risks.
• Build robust operating standards: Create, validate and maintain process parameters, recipes, specifications and work instructions with operational teams, ensuring effective improvements are embedded and sustained.
• Improve process performance: Analyse process capability, technical KPIs, material losses and resource use; lead structured problem solving and trials to improve stability, efficiency, yield and quality.
• Shape the improvement roadmap: Maintain a prioritised pipeline of technical improvements, asset-capability needs and digital opportunities aligned with the Area Manager and wider site strategy.
• Develop future capability: Define process requirements for new products, equipment and changes, lead manufacturing industrialisation with technical teams, and benchmark network best practice to create practical site proposals.
• Build technical competence: Develop training and qualification materials, coach operational teams and, where authorised, assess and endorse technical competence; report priority risks, gaps and resource needs and track actions to closure.

Your ingredients for success

To succeed in this role, you will bring strong hands-on experience from a manufacturing or production environment, ideally within FMCG or food manufacturing. The role would suit an experienced Technical Operator, Process Technician or Process/Manufacturing Improvement professional with strong process knowledge and a record of delivering practical improvements. A relevant engineering, manufacturing or food-science qualification is advantageous but not essential where equivalent workplace competence can be demonstrated.

Other criteria:

• Experience improving process stability, efficiency, quality, yield or waste using data and structured problem solving.
• Ability to build, test and improve operating standards with operational teams.
• Good understanding of process safety, food safety, hygiene, GMP and change management.
• Ability to plan trials, implement change and confirm that improvements are effective and sustained.
• Ability to see the bigger picture, prioritise opportunities and challenge the status quo constructively.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the credibility to coach and support technical competence without formal authority.
• Ability to benchmark best practice and work with internal or external technical experts.
• Knowledge of wet mix dissolution or a similar continuous/batch food process is desirable but not essential.

What you need to know

Advert posting date: 21/09/2026
Advert closing date: 05/10/2026

We will be considering candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect and we believe that embracing diversity and fostering an inclusive environment allows everyone to reach their full potential and drives innovative thinking. We strongly encourage applications from individuals of all gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities, parents, carers and members of the LGBT+ community. Please let us know if we can provide accommodations to ensure your full participation in the application process.

To find out more about Nestle’s commitment to DEI: Nestlé's Commitment to a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

Right to work in the UK

In accordance with Home Office guidance successful candidates will be required to evidence their right to work in the UK before commencement of employment.  We have assessed this role and do not consider that we would be able to sponsor a successful candidate under the Skilled Worker route as the role does not meet the relevant Home Office criteria; the successful candidate therefore must be able to demonstrate their own right to work during the recruitment process without Nestlé sponsorship.

To find out more about your recruitment journey with Nestle: Recruitment Journey | Nestlé UK & Ireland