Internal Sales Apprentice
FPE Seals Ltd
Darlington (DL1 4WF)
Closes in 20 days (Monday 15 December 2025 at 11:59pm)
Posted on 24 November 2025
Contents
Summary
FPE Seals, a leading supplier of seals, gaskets, and fluid power components, is looking for an apprentice to join their dynamic Sales Team. This is an exciting opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment while working towards a nationally recognised qualification.
- Wage
-
£18,000 a year
- Training course
- Customer service practitioner (level 2)
- Hours
-
Monday -Friday- 9am-5pm
38 hours a week
- Start date
-
Monday 5 January 2026
- Duration
-
1 year
- Positions available
-
1
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 play a key role in supporting our sales operations, learning how our business runs day-to-day, and developing valuable skills that will set you up for long-term success in the engineering and manufacturing industry.
- Represent FPE Seals in a professional manner at all times
- Develop relationships with allocated key customers, providing single point of contact within the business for quotations
and queries - Manage allocated set of low spending customers, maintaining relationship and develop understanding of their true
potential, feeding back information to sales team - Maximise customer potential by upselling product and chasing up quotations
- Monitor performance of key customers or identify new customers for development, liaising with external sales or sales
management - Answer incoming sales calls or respond to voicemail or email providing commercial support for customer enquiries or
queries including cross-referencing from catalogues or online searches of items not listed on system - Provide customers with technical support, utilising all available company resources
- Create quotes received from enquiries, ensuring that all contract review rules are met
- Process orders received from email/fax/phone, taking card payments if required
- Identify seals and seal kits sent by customers as samples, providing feedback and quotations where necessary
- Obtain pricing and lead-time for non-stocked parts from suppliers in conjunction with purchasing
- Obtain all necessary technical information from customer to enable production to manufacture machined seals for
customers - Create parts on Jasper for new product or kits or input customers alternative part numbers
- Liaise with courier companies or taxi companies in circumstances requiring special attention
- Assist Finance department with invoice queries
- Ensure that the databases/CRM held within FPE Seals for customers are accurate and up to date with all customer
and contact details - Cover, when requested, Trade Counter Sales
- Deal with customer complaints in line with company procedures
Other - Comply with Health & Safety, Quality and all other policies of the company
- Carries out other tasks as and when requested to do so by management
- Comply with company health safety policies and procedures and, as applicable, ensure safe use and maintenance of all equipment and fully utilise all safety items within the legal and H&S requirements.
Where you'll work
FPE Seals Ltd
Barrington Way
Darlington
DL1 4WF
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
PENSHAW VIEW TRAINING LIMITED
Training course
Customer service practitioner (level 2)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Use a range of questioning skills, including listening and responding in a way that builds rapport, determines customer needs and expectations and achieves positive engagement and delivery.
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills, along with summarising language during face-to-face communications; and/or
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use an appropriate ‘tone of voice’ in all communications, including written and digital, that reflect the organisation’s brand.
- Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
- Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.
- Demonstrate patience and calmness.
- Show you understand the customer’s point of view.
- Use appropriate sign-posting or resolution to meet your customers needs and manage expectations.
- Maintain informative communication during service recovery.
Training schedule
More training information
An apprenticeship includes regular training with a college or other training organisation. At least 20% of your working hours will be spent training or studying.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
- English (grade C/4)
- Maths (grade C/4)
- Science (grade C/4)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Administrative skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
About this employer
Founded in 1984 in Darlington, UK, FPE Seals now stock, supply and distribute to customers internationally, across all areas of industry, operating from branches across the UK, including Swan Seals in Aberdeen, as a well as a branch in The Netherlands. Our custom services also include the design and creation of express machined seals, as well as legacy sourcing for existing seals. Both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 registered, we pride ourselves on using our industry knowledge and technical expertise, to deliver a high-quality, personal and efficient service. We understand how important it is to get our products to you as quickly as possible, which is why we offer a same day dispatch service.
http://www.fpeseals.com (opens in new tab)
Company benefits
23 days holiday, moving to 25 days after 12 months.
After this apprenticeship
Become part of the internal sales team at FPE Seals.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
PENSHAW VIEW TRAINING LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000002001.
Apply now
Closes in 20 days (Monday 15 December 2025 at 11:59pm)
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