Sanitation Operations Manager (3rd Shift)

Job Description

Job Description

Scope of Job:  Leads and directs all sanitation operations to ensure compliance with food safety, quality, regulatory, and company standards across the facility. Responsible for developing and executing sanitation strategies, managing departmental performance, ensuring audit readiness, and driving continuous improvement initiatives that support operational excellence. Oversees sanitation staffing, labor planning, budgeting, training, and resource allocation while partnering with Operations, Quality, Maintenance, Safety, and Engineering teams to achieve business objectives.

Provides leadership and development to Sanitation Supervisors and sanitation personnel while fostering a culture of food safety, accountability, employee engagement, and continuous improvement. Ensures sanitation programs effectively support production requirements, regulatory compliance, customer expectations, and company performance goals.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities:

• Direct and manage all sanitation operations to ensure compliance with USDA, FDA, GMP, HACCP, SSOP, OSHA, environmental, and company requirements.
• Develop, implement, and maintain sanitation programs, procedures, and standards that support food safety, quality, and operational objectives.
• Establish departmental goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and performance expectations and drive accountability for achieving results.
• Lead, coach, and develop Sanitation Supervisors and sanitation team members, ensuring effective employee performance, engagement, succession planning, and organizational development.
• Develop workforce plans and staffing models to support operational requirements while maximizing labor efficiency and maintaining compliance standards.
• Manage departmental budgets, including labor, chemicals, sanitation supplies, equipment, contracted services, and capital expenditures.
• Monitor and control departmental spending while identifying opportunities for cost reduction, waste elimination, and productivity improvements.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance sanitation effectiveness, labor utilization, equipment reliability, sustainability efforts, and operational performance.
• Serve as the primary sanitation leader during customer, regulatory, third-party, and internal audits and inspections.
• Ensure all sanitation documentation, records, procedures, and corrective actions are maintained in accordance with regulatory and company requirements.
• Partner with Quality Assurance to investigate food safety concerns, contamination risks, environmental monitoring trends, customer complaints, and non-conformance issues.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action activities related to sanitation deficiencies, audit findings, food safety incidents, and operational challenges.
• Collaborate with Production, Engineering, Maintenance, Warehouse, Human Resources, and Safety teams to optimize facility performance and operational effectiveness.
• Evaluate sanitation equipment, systems, and processes and recommend capital improvements to improve safety, efficiency, and sanitation effectiveness.
• Establish and maintain sanitation-related training programs to ensure employee competency and regulatory compliance.
• Review and analyze sanitation performance metrics, labor utilization, downtime trends, chemical usage, audit results, and operational data to drive decision-making.
• Lead emergency response and recovery efforts related to sanitation, food safety, or operational disruptions.
• Ensure compliance with all environmental, health, safety, and food safety requirements while promoting a culture of safety and accountability.
• Participate as a member of the facility leadership team and contribute to strategic planning, business initiatives, and organizational objectives.
• Own and drive the site's Master Sanitation Program, ensuring sanitation systems effectively support food safety, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and audit readiness.
• Oversee sanitation verification and validation activities, including ATP testing, allergen verification, microbiological swabbing programs, and sanitation effectiveness assessments to ensure cleaning processes consistently achieve expected outcomes.
• Direct and ensure effective sanitation of all production, warehouse, office, exterior grounds, employee welfare, utility, and support facilities across the sites.
• Collaborate with production and supporting departments to ensure the food safety and quality of our products. 
• Perform other duties as assigned. 

Experience: 8-10 years of progressively responsible experience in sanitation, food manufacturing, quality, operations, or related disciplines, including a minimum of 3-5 years of leadership experience managing supervisors and large employee populations. Experience in USDA and/or FDA regulated food manufacturing environments preferred.

Competencies : Strategic Leadership, Regulatory Compliance, Food Safety Systems Management, Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Budget Management, Workforce Planning, Performance Management, Change Management, Risk Management, Root Cause Analysis, Project Management, Data Analytics and KPI Management, Team Building, Employee Development, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Customer Focus, Integrity, Accountability, and Results Orientation.

Physical Requirements:  Requires prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, and computer use. Must be able to work in a manufacturing environment with exposure to varying temperatures, moisture, sanitation chemicals, machinery, and food production operations. May occasionally lift, carry, push, or pull objects up to 25 pounds.