Graduate Sales Trainee

Location: Cannock (Staffordshire) or Worcester — occasional travel to Group sites required

Salary: £32,000–£34,000 per annum

Contract: Permanent, full-time

About Goodfish Group

Goodfish Group is a UK precision plastics manufacturing group operating across four specialist sites in the Midlands and North Wales. We produce injection moulded and extruded polymer components for customers across medical, industrial, consumer, and infrastructure sectors. Annual Group revenue exceeds £27m and we are growing. We are privately owned, commercially direct, and run by people who take quality seriously.

This is not a graduate scheme with a cohort, a buddy system, and a three-year rotation. It is a real commercial role, in a real business, from day one.

The Role

We are looking for a technically credible, commercially driven graduate to join our sales function in a customer-facing capacity. The initial focus is account management: understanding our existing customer base, learning our manufacturing processes and capabilities, and becoming the first point of commercial contact for a defined set of accounts.

Over time and as performance justifies it, the role will develop to include new business development, working to bring new customers and programmes into the Group.

You will work closely with the Chief Executive and the wider commercial team. You will be expected to understand what we make, how we make it, and why that matters to customers.

What You Will Do

• Manage and develop relationships with an assigned portfolio of existing customer accounts
• Understand customer requirements, programmes, and supply chain dynamics
• Work with our operations teams to resolve queries, manage lead times, and ensure commercial terms are met
• Maintain accurate records of account activity, pricing, and forecasts
• Identify opportunities for volume growth or new programmes within existing accounts
• Support the preparation of quotations and pricing submissions
• Develop a working understanding of injection moulding, extrusion, and polymer materials — we will train you, but you need to want to learn
• In time: identify and pursue new customer opportunities within target sectors

What We Are Looking For

Essential

• A degree in engineering (any discipline: mechanical, manufacturing, materials, polymer, chemical, or similar)
• Evidence of commercial acumen: we are not looking for a sales track record, and no prior commercial employment is necessary. What we are looking for is instinct: someone who has bought and sold something to make a margin, organised something to turn a profit, spotted an opportunity others missed, or simply demonstrated that they think about value, cost, and return in whatever they do. That can come from sport, a hobby, university life, a side project, or anywhere else,  we are interested in the evidence, not the setting
• Strong written and verbal communication, you will be writing to customers and presenting internally from early on
• A full UK driving licence and willingness to travel to customer sites and Group locations
• Organised, self-starting, and comfortable dealing with ambiguity

Desirable

• An understanding of plastic processing, polymer materials, or manufacturing more broadly
• Any experience in a customer-facing or B2B environment, however junior
• Evidence of having competed academically, professionally, or otherwise

What We Offer

• A starting salary of £32,000–£34,000.
• Access to Group pool vehicles for customer visits — no need to use your own vehicle
• Direct access to senior leadership and genuine exposure to commercial decision-making from the outset
• A business where your contribution is visible and matters — not a large corporate where you spend two years on a rotation
• Long-term progression in commercial management for the right person, with pay reflecting it

How to Apply

Apply with a CV and a covering note of no more than one page explaining why a sales career in precision manufacturing appeals to you, and what in your background — from any part of your life — demonstrates the commercial instinct to succeed in it.

Applications without a covering note will not be considered.