Business Management Degree Apprentice
DS Smith
Featherstone (WF7 5DF)
Closes in 9 days (Friday 1 May 2026)
Posted on 22 April 2026
Contents
Summary
We are excited to offer a Business Management Degree Apprenticeship pathway that allows you to build rounded business knowledge and principles, focusing on key areas such as financial & budgeting, strategic and operational management and commercial awareness, with exposure to other functional business areas.
- Wage
-
£26,000 a year
- Training course
- Project manager (integrated degree) (level 6)
- Hours
-
Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
37 hours 30 minutes a week
- Start date
-
Monday 7 September 2026
- Duration
-
4 years
- Positions available
-
2
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- You’ll be involved in projects that help maintain the machines, investigating plant and machine performance, predicting potential issues, and overcoming problems which would result in a costly pause in our operations. You’ll get involved in continuous improvement projects and will contribute to business success through finding ways to increase productivity, reduce waste, whilst adhering to health and safety practices and build on our sustainability targets
- You will experience how customers’ orders are generated, processed, manufactured, and supplied to the customer, whilst adhering to health and safety practices. You will get exposure to what a great customer experience means and how we reach our customers
- You will rotate through different roles within our Sales, Marketing, and Innovation functions, gaining hands-on experience in SMI excellence and a strong understanding of key activities
Where you'll work
Common Side Ln
Featherstone
WF7 5DF
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
ASTON UNIVERSITY
Training course
Project manager (integrated degree) (level 6)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Governance Frameworks: Lead and take responsibility for the project management plan as required by the governance structure. Apply techniques and project management methodologies as appropriate, dependent upon project complexity and criticality to the organisational environment in which a project is being delivered. Maintain, review and communicate a project business case for approval through the stages of a typical project lifecycle ensuring continued value for money and continued alignment with organisational objectives.
- The Business Environment: Identify and analyse the context, opportunities and challenges presented by projects in a range of organisational settings, appreciating the differences within both large and small organisations and in different industry sectors and the consequent need for tailoring. Identify the operating constraints that apply to projects including ethical, legal and regulatory considerations. This may include the green economy and the impacts of strategies for achieving net carbon zero by 2050.
- Stakeholder and communications management: Lead and take responsibility for the identification and analysis of internal and external stakeholders and their impact on the project. Manage an effective project communication plan across stakeholders with different cultural and physical barriers. Analyse information and communicate with stakeholders incorporating elements of feedback to understand and measure the effectiveness of planned communications. Effectively listen and influence others through negotiation and persuasion.
- Control of projects in terms of time, cost and quality: Manage the project within the constraints of time, cost and quality. Control expenditure and produce status reports as required, including control of costs against budgets, forecasting, and establishing performance indicators as required by funding sources. Measure progress and actual costs against plans to determine a full understanding of project performance. Identify, achieve and maintain quality standards appropriate to the context and specific requirements of project activities.
- Risk Management: Ensure that project risks, opportunities and issues are addressed using quantitative and qualitative methods to categorise risks and their impacts. Identify, evaluate and implement appropriate mitigation strategies, ensuring that mitigation actions are incorporated into the project plan and are implemented should they develop into issues. Manage risk through the regular review of a risk management plan, adopting appropriate strategies to manage both threats and opportunities.
- Commercial and Contract management: Maintain and evaluate different commercial contract and procurement types to select appropriate options for specific programmes and projects. Support effective contract management and the achievement of programme and project outcomes.
- Project Change Control: Dependent upon the size and complexity of a project, define and apply a recognised process to manage change in projects. Make effective decisions in the interests of a range of stakeholders with regards to change requests. Handle change within different project management methodologies.
- Schedule Management: Evaluate requirements and methods for data capture and analysis in a project environment. Evaluate project schedule integrity including identification and resolution of scheduling problems. Apply resource acquisition and management techniques to balance programme and project needs against resource demand. Negotiate the allocation and scheduling of internal and external resources to meet programme and project demands.
Training schedule
The degree element is a 48-month structured programme with Aston University, where you will work towards your BSc and a Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership.
Requirements
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
About this employer
DS Smith is a world-leading provider of fibre‑based, sustainable packaging solutions, supported by our integrated recycling and papermaking operations. Through our purpose of Redefining Packaging for a Changing World, we are driving the transition to a more circular, low‑carbon economy. Our solutions help major brands reduce carbon, replace problem plastics and keep materials in use for longer - supported by our innovative design capabilities and our unique “box‑to‑box in 14 days” model.
https://www.dssmith.com/uk (opens in new tab)
Company benefits
- Company pension
- Life insurance Income protection
- Cycle to work scheme
After this apprenticeship
- Account Manager
- Supply Chain
- Direct Sales
- Operations
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
DS Smith
Oliver Churchill
oliver.churchill@dssmith.com
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000027844.
Apply now
Closes in 9 days (Friday 1 May 2026)
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.