Production & Sanitation Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Production & Sanitation Manager – 3rd Shift

Location: Central Pennsylvania
Industry: Food Manufacturing
Shift: 3rd Shift / Overnight
Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Overview

A well-established food manufacturer is seeking a Production & Sanitation Manager to lead overnight production and sanitation operations at a high-volume manufacturing facility in Central Pennsylvania.

This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for ensuring the facility is properly cleaned, sanitized, inspected, and prepared for production while also overseeing overnight manufacturing activities. The ideal candidate will have experience leading teams in a USDA/FDA-regulated food manufacturing environment and understand the close relationship between sanitation, food safety, equipment readiness, and production performance.

This position is well suited for a manufacturing leader who is comfortable operating on the plant floor, developing frontline employees and supervisors, troubleshooting operational issues, and holding teams accountable for safety, quality, sanitation, and productivity.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead 3rd-shift production and sanitation operations , ensuring daily production and sanitation objectives are achieved safely and efficiently.
• Manage and develop sanitation, production, and frontline leadership personnel working on the overnight shift.
• Ensure equipment, production lines, processing areas, and surrounding plant environments are properly cleaned and sanitized in accordance with established SSOPs, GMPs, HACCP, and food-safety requirements .
• Coordinate sanitation activities around production schedules to minimize downtime and ensure equipment is released and ready for startup.
• Partner closely with Quality/FSQA, Maintenance, Production, Engineering, and plant leadership to resolve sanitation, food-safety, equipment, and operational issues.
• Monitor production performance, labor utilization, downtime, yields, and other key operating metrics during the shift.
• Identify and address production bottlenecks, sanitation deficiencies, recurring equipment issues, and other causes of lost productivity.
• Ensure proper chemical usage, concentration, storage, handling, and employee safety practices throughout sanitation operations.
• Conduct or support pre-operational inspections and corrective actions to ensure production areas meet food-safety and quality standards before startup.
• Lead investigations and corrective actions related to sanitation failures, environmental findings, quality concerns, foreign-material risks, or other food-safety issues.
• Train, coach, and develop employees on sanitation procedures, production expectations, GMPs, safety requirements, and standard operating procedures.
• Maintain appropriate staffing levels and coordinate employee assignments based on production and sanitation priorities.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, sanitation effectiveness, labor efficiency, downtime reduction, quality, and overall plant performance .
• Maintain accurate shift documentation and communicate operational results, concerns, and outstanding issues to plant leadership and incoming shifts.
• Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, safety, food safety, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of manufacturing experience , preferably within food, beverage, dairy, meat, prepared foods, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.
• Prior leadership experience within production, operations, sanitation, or a combination of these functions .
• Strong knowledge of food-manufacturing sanitation practices, including GMPs, SSOPs, HACCP, chemical sanitation, allergen controls, and food-safety requirements .
• Experience managing hourly employees and/or frontline supervisors in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Ability to balance sanitation requirements with production schedules and operational demands.
• Strong troubleshooting, problem-solving, and root-cause-analysis skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coach employees, establish accountability, and improve team performance.
• Comfortable spending significant time on the manufacturing floor in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability and willingness to work a 3rd-shift/overnight schedule and provide leadership throughout the shift.
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Operations, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline is preferred but not required for candidates with strong relevant manufacturing leadership experience .