Pesky Fish
Master Blockman & Filleter
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Master Blockman/Filleter
Package:
- Base Salary: £60,000 Full time salary
- Location: Burry Port, South Wales
- Welcome Bonus
- Matched Pension Contributions
- Team Training in Japan
Company Description
You will be joining Pesky as our Master Blockman during a period of enormous growth for our company. Our goal is to use seafood consumption to drive the restoration of fish stocks and the marine environments - doing so by creating the most incredible experiences for people to eat British seafood in their homes. Above all, we are building the team with individuals who can grow with the business while providing them with incredible experiences within their jobs.
Role Description
1. Processing Leadership & Yield Optimisation
- Primary Hand-Processing: Perform rapid, precise hand-filleting, skinning, pin-boning, portioning, and block-cutting across a wide range of roundfish, flatfish (turbot, brill, plaice), trout, and shellfish.
- Yield & Mass-Balance Control: Monitor and record recovery yields on raw whole fish to ensure maximum profitability and minimal waste; continuously train and adjust the knife team’s technique to maintain target yields.
- Product Grading & Quality Control: Inspect incoming landed/imported raw material for freshness, temperature, and quality, ensuring only top-tier fish enters the processing line.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
2. Team Leadership
- Daily Workflow Management: Coordinating your team to ensure all tasks are done on time, in full, and to the required quality.
- Skill Development & Mentorship: Lead, train, and develop junior filleters, apprentices, and line workers in safe knife handling, yields, and speed.
- Throughput Efficiency: Ensure orders are cut, portioned, and packed within strict time windows to hit daily cold-chain courier and transport cut-offs.
3. Hygiene, Food Safety & Cold-Chain Compliance
- HACCP & Hygiene Enforcement: Maintain immaculate hygiene across all cutting blocks, knives, lines, and processing rooms in compliance with local Environmental Health standards and HACCP plans.
- Cold-Chain Maintenance: Ensure processing ambient temperatures stay strictly controlled and that ice, slurry, and refrigeration protocols are adhered to during processing.
- Traceability & Record Keeping: Accurately log batch codes, processing weights, waste totals, and yield percentages into internal systems.
Experience & Qualifications
Essential Experience:
- Commercial Seafood Experience: Minimum of 3–5 years working as a senior or master filleting specialist in a commercial fish processing facility, fish market, or high-volume wholesale operation.
- Multi-Species Mastery: Proven ability to hand-fillete and portion a diverse range of pelagic, demersal, flatfish, and high-value prime species quickly and with exceptional recovery yields.
- Knife Safety & Equipment Care: Expert knowledge of commercial blade maintenance, steeling, block sanitation, and personal protective equipment (PPE / chainmail gloves).
- Team Leadership: Experience managing or supervising line staff, setting daily operational paces, and maintaining team morale under tight deadlines.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Desirable Qualifications:
- Level 2 or 3 Award in Food Safety for Manufacturing (or equivalent).
- Practical understanding of HACCP principles within a wet-factory environment.
- Basic computer literacy for logging yield data and reading daily production sheets.
- Valid UK Driving License (useful for local port collections or site movements).
Characteristics
- Punctual & Reliable: Able to thrive in early-morning starts aligned with fish landings and daily transport dispatches.
- Quality-Driven: Uncompromising attention to detail regarding fish presentation, trim quality, and portion accuracy.
- Physically Fit: Comfortable working in cold, wet factory conditions and handling heavy fish crates.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London