Are you a recent graduate that is looking to kickstart your career in the food industry in a commercial, customer-facing role? Do you have a genuine interest and a passion for food? Then join Arla Foods on our Commercial Graduate Scheme!


As a Commercial graduate you will join us at our head office in Leeds and will get the opportunity to experience a range of different roles across our commercial function. You'll work with our key brands such as Lurpak, Anchor, Castello and the Arla brand. Furthermore you'll also be working in partnership with major retailers including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's etc. as well as some of our largest customers in Foodservice such as McDonalds, Costa and Pizza Express to name but a few!


Who are we?

As a European dairy co-operative, Arla Foods is owned and governed by over 11,000 dairy farmers. In the UK alone, we have over 2,000 dedicated farmers; these are our 'Members' and our most vital stakeholders! As a dynamic FMCG company, Arla Food's purpose is to create the highest value for our Members' milk, through making some of the world's favourite dairy products including Cravendale®, Anchor®, Lurpak® and Castello®.


What will you do?

The Arla Foods Commercial Graduate Scheme is a 2.5 year programme where you will complete a number of different rotations that will provide you with full exposure across our commercial function. Core to these rotations will be placements working alongside and supporting our customer facing national accounts teams within our retail and food service business units. Other placements could include, but are not limited to, working within category management, shopper marketing and demand planning.



You will be part of a network of graduates within Arla and, in addition to the rotations, you will also take part in a number of training events throughout the programme in order to develop your leadership, professional and commercial acumen skills as well as being assigned a mentor.



After completing the programme you will have gained fantastic experience working for one of the largest FMCG businesses in the UK, you will have a full overview of the commercial function in Arla and will be ready to move into a permanent role within the team, ideally placed as a National Account Executive.



Who are you?

The successful candidate will be educated to degree level having achieved at least a 2:1 in any discipline. You'll also be ambitious and motivated with a strong desire to build a career within sales and the food industry. With excellent communication skills you will be comfortable interacting with a range of stakeholders at different levels and will build relationships quickly. You will also have strong organisational and project management skills as well as a keen eye for detail. Finally you will be highly computer-literate and will be able to use these skills to analyse data and build presentations.