General Operative

Role overview

Kinisla is hiring a General Operative for its Listowel site in County Kerry. This is a full-time seasonal position with 12-hour shifts that alternate between days and nights.

About the workplace

Listowel is the birthplace of Kinisla and home to one of its largest facilities. The site processes significant volumes of milk into a broad product range, including dairy proteins, primary dairy ingredients, dairy flavours, and more. Onsite parking and a canteen are available, and the facility is located near the N69 road, around a 20-minute walk from Listowel town centre.

What the role involves

• Carrying out work in a safe manner and encouraging safe habits across the team
• Inspecting product quality and collecting samples when needed
• Controlling stock levels and arranging orders for ingredients and packaging materials
• Preparing, operating, and changing over production lines and work areas
• Handling pallet loading and unloading, as well as incoming and outgoing deliveries
• Using a forklift as part of day-to-day duties
• Maintaining clean, sanitary workspaces and equipment
• Accurately logging and sharing production and operational information
• Quickly raising any production concerns with the Line Manager

What you should bring

The ideal candidate will have strong communication skills in written, numerical, and verbal form, along with fluent English in both speaking and writing. Prior experience in food manufacturing is desirable but not essential. You should be able to keep pace with standard work at full line speed, be comfortable using computers and MS Office, and work well as part of a team. A proactive, practical problem-solving approach, a sense of ownership, and the ability to adapt and learn quickly in a changing environment are also important.

Benefits and culture

Kinisla describes itself as a collaborative, innovation-driven organisation focused on improving food production and nourishing lives. The company says it offers career growth opportunities, a staff discounts platform covering retail, travel, utilities, and more, a matched pension contribution of up to 10%, an Employee Assistance Program for emotional, physical, nutritional, and financial wellbeing, one paid volunteer day each year through MyCommunity, and a supportive team environment centred on safety and continuous improvement.

About Kinisla

Kinisla is a vertically integrated farm-to-fork business with a major consumer foods presence and a dairy ingredients division focused on quality, sustainability, and innovation. Working with local family farms, it produces a wide range of dairy products and operates with more than 50 years of experience in milk processing, dairy technology advancement, and product development. Its portfolio includes brands such as Cheestrings, Charleville and Coleraine Cheese, Dairygold, Golden Cow, and the SMUG range.

The company highlights the low carbon footprint of its Irish family farm supply base and its role in serving farmers, customers, and communities. Headquartered in Tralee, County Kerry, it operates manufacturing sites across southwest Ireland, including Listowel, Charleville, Newmarket, and Farranfore, alongside 29 Farm & Home stores in the region. Its reach also extends across Northern Ireland and the UK, and globally it employs over 1,600 people. In 2024, the business reported turnover of approximately €1.3 billion.

Equal opportunity and recruitment notice

The company states that it values diversity and inclusion and bases hiring decisions on role-related skills and merit. It says it does not discriminate on protected characteristics such as gender, race, class, economic status, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, veteran status, or marital status. Applicants are also cautioned about scams: communication will not come from unofficial email addresses or phone numbers, interviews are not conducted through video chat rooms, and no payment will ever be requested during the hiring process except for reimbursable travel expenses. Any legitimate payments from the company will come from official accounts using the company name.

Recruitment policy

The company does not accept CVs or candidate profiles from agencies unless terms of business have been signed. It also will not consider recruiter fees in such cases, including profiles sent directly to hiring managers.