Irish Distillers Graduate Programme
#AmbitiousSpirits
The Irish Distillers Graduate Programme offers bright and ambitious graduates the opportunity to begin an exciting career with the world’s leading producer of Irish whiskey. Our ambition is to support and empower you to become our talent of the future. Our Programmes offer real responsibilities, planned learning and project work. There has never been a better time to build your success and carve your legacy.
Our next recruitment campaign starts in September 2023. Join our Early Talent Community to be notified of the areas we are recruiting in 2023/2024.
Your Development
Our goal is to enable you become our future generation of talent by offering you a programme that fuels your ambition. Our supportive, structured and empowering learning programme offers you technical, professional and personal development. This includes:
- On-boarding
- Mentor and buddy framework
- Technical skills development
- Professional skills development
- Project work
Meet Our Grads
I’ve had such a positive experience in the Graduate Programme so far.
Through each rotation, I’ve been given exposure to multiple business processes and teams.
I have already been involved in Back Office and Front Office, and have completed training in Agile and Change Management, as well as SAP s/4 Hana, SAP Fiori Apps, HTML, CSS, Javascript and WordPress.
My favourite part of the programme was attending the Whiskey Academy with the other Grads during our induction. It was great to be given such an in-depth overview of the production process!
I have gotten amazing exposure so far in the graduate programme. I have been lucky to be on a few project teams, which has allowed me to create connections with people across the business and learn about how the business operates outside of Supply Chain.
The most rewarding part has been getting involved in projects and being able to see tangible improvements and increasing efficiency within the operations. I am proud of the improvements I have introduced to the Supply Chain function during my time here so far. One of the solutions has reduced workload amongst teams, while simultaneously collecting important data to allow us to carry out a root cause analysis.
My favourite memory, so far, was the first week going down to Midleton and meeting all the other graduates. I remember just being blown away from the operations in Midleton distillery and it just fuelled my passion and excitement for the next two years!
We were provided with an excellent onboarding experience to learn the integral workings of the plant in Midleton.
Throughout my first year in the programme, I’ve been involved in many exciting projects in both the main production plant and the Micro Distillery.
I would highly recommend the Irish Distillers Graduate Programme. The people and culture here are great and there’s a real sense of belonging!
I have gotten to work on projects starting from empty pages to a fully live functional website! I was trusted to work on my own initiative and given responsibility of my own workload. Being part of such a positive and successful team is amazing, everyone is so supportive of each other.
I’ve worked alongside web developers in different affiliates, such as Chivas and The Absolut Company. I have gained so much experience and knowledge from working with technical mentors and being part of big projects that are currently happening in the developer side of the business.
We did a two-week induction which helped us make our first strong connections in the company as graduates. We got to learn so much about the company and how it really operates from the inside, this was great as engineers got to see what supply chain and IT would get up to and vice versa. It was so interesting and immediately I knew I had made the right choice choosing a graduate position at Irish Distillers.
Graduates are immediately given lots of responsibility within their role. From day one there has been a very hands-on approach to our learning, gaining access to all areas of the plant while we develop our knowledge of the production process.
I have recently joined the commissioning team for the new boiler house. The three new steam boilers being commissioned will replace the original boilers onsite, supplying steam to all brewing and distilling processes more efficiently. The successful installation of these boilers is one of the first steps in achieving carbon neutrality by 2026 at Midleton Distillery.
In terms of training, I have completed a General Certificate in Distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, as well as a Green Belt qualification in Lean Sigma. I have also received technical training in double and triple pot still distillation and gin distillation in the micro distillery.
One of the most rewarding parts for me, has been getting the opportunity to apply what I learned theoretically in my engineering degree to real life situations and engineering projects.
Join Our Early Talent Community
Joining the Irish Distillers Early Talent Community is the best way to hear about key opening dates and receive updates of where you can meet our Early Careers team.
What we offer
Salary & Profit Share
- Competitive salary
- Profit share after 15 months
Pension & Savings
- Employer matching of up to 10% of salary
- Saving schemes
Charity Days
- 2 days Volunteer Leave
Equipment
- Laptop
- Mobile
Employee Discounts
- Subsidised canteen
- Range of discounts with retailers
Wellbeing
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Wellbeing portal and events
- Virtual fitness classes
Our 2023 Graduate Programmes
Chemical Engineering – Cork
Graduates will work alongside a world-class whiskey production team in a structured and challenging placement that offers real responsibilities, planned learning, defined rotations and project work. Our two-year programme offers opportunities at Midleton Distillery, Cork where the world’s best-selling Irish whiskeys are created.
You will work with innovative processes and state-of-the-art technology, while drawing on the legacy of our great whiskey makers. From process improvement, automation and sustainability projects, this Programme offers lots of variety and rotations across our Innovation Hub the Microdistillery and Distillery Operations.
Supply Chain Graduate Programme
Our Supply Chain Graduate Programme is a 2 year programme offering opportunities at our busy, fast paced Supply Chain function based in Dublin 22 , where over 10 million cases of the world’s best-selling Irish whiskeys are bottled, packaged and distributed to 130 markets around the Globe. Our Supply Chain team manage the flow of our many different products to ensure they are in the right place at the right time. Our vision is to ‘proudly align people and systems to deliver success in every case. The team acts as an important link between the customer and Irish Distillers through the management of all shipping and service requirements for our Global market companies and our 3rd party logistics operations in the domestic market
The team are divided into 6 key business areas; Supply Planning, Demand Planning, International Customer Relationship Team, Transformation, Customs & Excise and Domestic Operations. Our Graduate Programme will offer graduates the opportunity work to build out our processes, drive continuous improvement and help us leverage our technology to deliver best in class results.
Business Analytics Graduate Programme
Starting in Sept 2023, our Business Analytics Graduate Programme is a 2 year programme based within our Commercial Ireland team in Dublin 4. The Commercial Ireland team are responsible for the sales and marketing of Pernod Ricard brands throughout the island of Ireland. Our key brands include Jameson, Powers, Absolut, Redbreast, Malfy, Havana Club, Campo Viejo, Mumm and Perrier-Jouët. Our shared vision is ‘To Shape Ireland’s Drinking Experiences’.
Our Business Analytics Graduate will be based within our Revenue Growth team in our Commercial Ireland function. This team is responsible for identifying our growth opportunities and managing our efforts to fill in these opportunity gaps. As a graduate, you will get involved in evaluation, analysis and insights for our sales promotional plans. You will also monitor & track commercial team KPI’s and create and maintain clean data to drive decision making. As we continue to innovate, our Business Analytics Graduate will be involved in New Product Development, process monitoring and research for key strategic projects.
Business Management – Dublin
Starting in Sept 2023, the Irish Distillers Business Management Graduate Programme offers bright and ambitious Graduates the opportunity to complete a two-year programme at our bottling operations and warehousing facility, located in Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
In 2021/2022 over 10 million case equivalent bottles of Jameson were bottled, labelled, packaged and shipped to over 130 markets across the globe. With a team of over 250 people and teams across NPD, Purchasing, Warehousing, Blending, Packaging and more, our mission is to achieve and maintain World Class Manufacturing through highly motivated and skilled people. During the Programme, our ambition is to empower and support you to gain the leadership, operations and people skills to become our leaders of the future. You will get involved in continuous improvement, technology, and sustainability projects, across our Bottling, Warehousing and Purchasing departments.
Human Resources – Dublin
Starting in Sept 2023, our 2 year HR Graduate Programme is based at our Head Office in Ballsbridge. Our HR team helps us deliver our corporate strategy and objectives by effectively recruiting, managing and developing our people. Our core HR team includes specialists from talent acquisition, HR Business Partnering, Culture & Capability, Reward and HR Operations. We support over 700 employees across 5 different locations in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.
Based across our Head Office and Operations site in Dublin, our HR Graduate Programme offers real responsibilities, rotations and project work. You will get exposure across the full employee lifecycle including onboarding, recruitment, employee relations, reward, learning & development, diversity & inclusion and wellbeing. During the programme, you will rotate across our different functions within HR, offering you practical experience in a supportive, learning environment.
Communications & Public Relations – Dublin
Our Corporate Affairs and Communications team develop internal, corporate & brand communications, corporate affairs and Sustainability / Responsibility strategies for Irish Distillers. As a graduate within this small team, you will enjoy a challenging programme that offers real responsibilities, rotations and project work. From engaging with Irish and International media to promote positive stories about our Irish Whiskey brands, to developing dynamic employee communications, you will get some fantastic exposure to Communications and PR. You will also get involved in S&R communications and support the team in building relationships with political and government agencies. In your external communications rotation you will build the reputation of Irish Distillers with our customers, prospective talent, suppliers, government agencies and investors.
Environmental Science – Cork
Starting in September 2023, our Environmental Science Graduate Programme is a 2 year programme based at our Midleton Distillery in Cork, where the world’s best-selling Irish whiskeys are created before being exported to over 130 markets around the globe. There has never been a more exciting time to join Midleton
We recently announced an investment of over €250 million to build a new distillery in Midleton which will be operational by 2025. We have also invested €50 million in Midleton to deliver a carbon neutral operation by the end of 2026. Our two-year programme offers real responsibilities, planned learning, defined rotations and project work. Rotations will be between our Environmental Engineering and Laboratory teams.
During the two-year programme, you will learn from our experienced Environment team key sustainability projects such as heat recovery, water recycling and the aforementioned carbon neutrality. During your Lab rotation, you will gain exposure to Quality, Food Safety and Environmental standards as well as lab & data analysis and continuous and process improvement projects.
Business Strategy – Dublin
Our Business Strategy Graduate Programme is a 2-year programme, based within our International Marketing Team in Dublin 4. The Business Strategy team at Irish Distillers is a small team of passionate and entrepreneurial professionals who facilitate the decision-making process for the CEO and Leadership team. We initiate and lead game-changing projects, as well as leading the business strategic planning process and managing the competitive intelligence process globally. The Business Strategy Graduate Programme offers the opportunity to get involved in strategically important cross-functional projects, with significant leadership engagement. Graduates will work alongside an experienced team in a structured and challenging programme that offers real responsibilities, planned learning and project work.
Application Process
Our application process involves 6 clear stages outlined in more detail below.
- Online application process
- MS Teams interview with a member of our Graduate Recruitment Team
- Face to face interview on site
- Online psychometric test
- Final round meeting with our Leadership
- Offer
