Coles
Business Operations Graduate Program – Liquor and Central Ops (Feb 2026)
Melbourne, 800 Toorak Rd, Hawthorn East VIC 3123
Opportunity details
- Graduate Job or Program
- AUD 75000 / Year
- 1-12 vacancies
- Apply by 26 Apr 2025
- Start date 14 Feb 2026
Where future leaders are made – are you next?
About the Program
From day one as a Coles Group Graduate, you’ll feel the connection your work has to our purpose of "helping Australians eat and live better every day". Our award-winning Grad Program offers two years (three years for Finance Graduates) of hands-on learning designed to help you grow and the opportunity to take on meaningful work and make an impact.
You will play a role in providing food, drink and home solutions that are delicious, sustainable and healthy for our customers; and ensuring to deliver a consistent experience for our customers every day, both in-store and online.
Why become a Coles Group Graduate?
At Coles, we understand that when you’re included, trusted and supported by leaders who genuinely care, you can do your best work for the team feeling like you belong.
During the two- year program, you’ll be working on real deliverables with clear ownership and accountability as you learn and grow through functional rotations, a tailored development program and a tight-knit support network.
In your second year, you will also complete the Innovation Project, where you will work with a team to solve a genuine business challenge with an innovative solution. The top teams will get the opportunity to present their ideas to our Executive Leadership Team and Coles Board.
We will support your passion and graduate journey with experiences and opportunities, with each rotation expanding your knowledge as you continue to discover Coles and yourself.
Learn more about the Coles Liquor and Central Operations streams
Coles Liquor Graduates join a passionate and close-knit team whose vision is to be a simpler, more accessible, locally relevant, drinks specialist. As a Liquor Graduate, you can choose your own adventure, working across a variety of areas in retail. We’re passionate about putting customers first and have fantastic team members working in operations, merchandise, supply chain, marketing, finance & strategy to make this happen
Central Operation Graduates join the engine room that keeps us moving, from supporting Distribution Centres to efficiently delivering our products into stores; to empowering our store teams to serve millions of customers each week with pride.
As a Central Ops Graduate, you will have the opportunity to be challenged as a leader, take ownership, and work on large projects that span Coles end-to-end. You will be the vital link between the Store Support Centre and our stores so that we can land change that is best for Coles, drive sales, improve profitability and make life easier for our team and customers.
Start Dates and Opportunities
The Graduate program begins in February 2026. However, if you have completed your studies, there may be work opportunities available at our Coles head office before the program starts, subject to availability.
Apply to our Graduate Program
Future leaders bring courage to the table, applications open 24 March 2025 and will close 27 April midnight, APPLY NOW!
Eligibility Criteria:
- Hold an Australian or New Zealand citizen or hold a permanent residency at the time of application
- Have completed a bachelor's degree before commencing the program
- Technology stream only: We also accept applicants from those on a 485 Graduate Visa (or who will have this visa by October 2025).
As one of the largest private sector employees of Indigenous Australians, we encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply to our graduate program.
Note: Hybrid work is an option, with 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home.
Hiring criteria
- No experience required
- Australian Citizen +more
- Business & Management +more
- Bachelor or higher
Reviews
Depending on your rotation it will vary, currently working with microservices written in java and spring boot.
Mostly happy with the type of work i am completing. i am able to get through all my tasks and support my team where they need. i have a set of daily and monthly tasks.
Our main role is to learn new skills and take on new challenges. each rotation you complete will have different day-to-day responsibilities. this could range from reporting to creating presentation packs, or engaging with stakeholders, project management, site visits etc.
About the employer
Coles
4.1
> 100,000 employees
Retail & Consumer Goods
Where future leaders are made – are you next?
Pros and cons of working at Coles
Pros
Coles is extremely flexible and caters well to the cohort in the office.
There are many development and growth opportunities available to graduates to continuously improve and enhance their career.
Line managers and leaders are always willing to give you time to upskill and grow.
The flexibility of the role is a definite highlight, allowing me to not only thrive in my role but also put myself first.
The culture here is great and people are willing to help me when I ask.
Cons
Being such a large organisation can be daunting and learning how it operates to be able to complete your role can be frustrating at times.
The systems are a little outdated.
It's such a large business it can feel not very personable.
Of course, this is heavily influenced by the individuals that make up a respective intake of graduates, but there is great opportunity and breadth of graduates from different departments to be exposed to and build meaningful connections with.
Can be very fast paced and complicated to navigate such a large organisation.