Sanitation Manager

Summary

The Sanitation Manager leads the sanitation program to ensure a safe, compliant, and efficient operation across baking, packaging, warehousing, and support areas.

This is ahands-on, floor based leadership role requiring strong visibility and direct engagement with the sanitation team. The role owns sanitation policies, regulatory compliance (e.g., FSMA, cGMP), audit readiness, resource planning, cross functional coordination, and continuous improvement. The Manager develops the sanitation strategy, directly leads and mentors sanitation leads,coaches team members, drives performance against key metrics for cleanliness, microbiological results, and allergen control, and actively supports sanitation activities as needed.

This position is not a desk only role and requires aroll up your sleeves approach to leadership.

• Program Leadership & Compliance

• Develop, implement, andmaintainsanitation policies, SOPs, SSOPs, Master Sanitation Schedule (MSS), and sanitation pre-op procedures.

• Ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards (e.g., FDA/USDA, FSMA Preventive Controls, GMPs, HACCP/PC, allergen control, environmental monitoring).

• Lead audit readiness and support third-party/Customer audits (e.g., SQF), corrective actions, and CAPAs.

• Team Leadership & Training

• Lead sanitation, leads, and team members; set expectations, coach, and conduct performance reviews.

• Build training plans (initial and recurrent) for SSOPs, chemical handling, PPE, LOTO, andequipmentteardown/reassembly.

• Champion safety culture: near-miss reporting, hazard assessments, safe chemical usage, ergonomics.

• Planning & Resource Management

• Own sanitation labor planning, shift coverage, and MSS adherenceforwet/dry cleans, deep cleans, and changeovers.

• Manage sanitation budget (labor, chemicals, tools, equipment, consumables) and vendor relationships.

• Partner with Production, Quality, Maintenance, and Scheduling tooptimizecleaning windows and minimize downtime.

• Continuous Improvement

• Analyze sanitation data (ATP, micro results, environmental swabs, allergen verification) and implement improvements.

• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for pre-op failures, swab positives, and foreign material events.

• Optimize cleaning methods, tools, and equipment; evaluate automation/foamers/CI carts for efficiency.

• Documentation & Reporting

• Ensureaccurateandtimelyrecords (pre-op, post-op, MSS, chemical logs, training, deviations, corrective actions).

• ReportKPIs and trends to leadership; present weekly/monthly sanitation performance and improvement plans.

• Required

• 5+ years sanitation experience in food manufacturing;3+ years inamanagerrole.

• Working knowledge of FSMA (Preventive Controls),cGMPs, HACCP/PC, allergen control, environmental monitoring.

• Experience with audits (SQF/BRC/GFSI or similar) and corrective action management.

• Proficiency with MSS planning, documentation systems (digital or paper), and data-driven decision making.

• Preferred

• SQF Practitioner or PCQIcertification;
  
  HACCP certification.

• Experience with bakery, confectionery, or allergen-heavy environments (e.g., nuts, dairy, gluten).

• Lean/CI exposure (5S, Kaizen) and root-cause tools (5 Whys, fishbone).

• Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus.

• Leadership & coaching, cross-functional collaboration, strategic planning.

• Strong knowledge of cleaning chemistry, sanitizers, and application methods; equipment teardown best practices.

• Analytical mindset: interpreting ATP/micro/allergen data; setting KPIs and action plans.

• Excellent documentation, organization, and audit presentation skills.

• Ability to stand/walk for extended periods;lift upto 50lbs; work in cold/hot/humid conditions.

• Frequent use of PPE; exposure to wet processes and chemicals; flexible hours for deep cleans/pre-op coverage.

• Full-time, second shift (2 PM–2 AM) availability, Saturdays as needed.