Sanitation Manager

About Kerry

About the role

The Sanitation Manager serves as the site technical leader for sanitation systems, hygienic design, environmental hygiene, and Clean-in-Place (CIP) program management. This role is responsible for developing, implementing, validating, and continuously improving sanitation programs that support food safety, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and production reliability.

The Sanitation Manager acts as the site's sanitation subject matter expert and change agent, providing technical leadership for sanitation processes while influencing cross-functional teams across Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, and Supply Chain. The position is responsible for driving sanitation excellence through strong technical expertise, organizational leadership, data-driven decision making, employee capability development, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Key responsibilities

Sanitation Program Leadership

• Ensure the facility maintains compliance with all regulatory, customer, GFSI, and Kerry sanitation requirements.
• Provide leadership and oversight for sanitation systems across manufacturing, processing, warehousing, utilities, and external facility grounds.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve the site's Master Sanitation Schedule (MSS), ensuring all activities are risk-based, properly documented, and effectively executed.
• Develop, maintain, and improve detailed SSOPs aligned with Kerry sanitation standards utilizing the seven-step sanitation methodology.
• Lead sanitation audits, inspections, and facility assessments to identify risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Maintain sanitation documentation, records, and programs to support customer, regulatory, and third-party audit requirements.
• Manage sanitation chemical inventories and sanitation supply programs.
CIP Technical Leadership
• Serve as the site's technical authority for Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems, providing expertise in system design, operation, validation, troubleshooting, and optimization.
• Lead development, implementation, and continuous improvement of CIP programs throughout the facility.
• Establish and maintain CIP critical factors including time, temperature, concentration, flow, mechanical action, and conductivity parameters.
• Drive improvements in CIP effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and system reliability through data analysis and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Lead investigations and root cause analyses related to sanitation failures, CIP deviations, product quality concerns, and operational inefficiencies.
• Develop and execute CIP validation protocols demonstrating cleaning effectiveness and process control.
• Partner with Engineering and Maintenance to improve CIP equipment design, automation, instrumentation, and monitoring systems.
• Review CIP recipes, operating procedures, alarm management systems, and exception reporting to ensure effective process control.
• Analyze sanitation and CIP performance data to identify trends, reduce cleaning failures, improve uptime, and optimize chemical, water, and energy usage.
• Support capital projects involving sanitization systems, process equipment, and automation upgrades.

Qualifications and skills

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's Degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, Dairy Science, or related technical discipline.

Experience

•  Minimum 7-10 years of progressive sanitation, food safety, quality, or manufacturing leadership experience.

•  Minimum 3-5 years of demonstrated technical leadership involving Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems.

•  Experience within beverage, dairy, aseptic, high-acid, low-acid, or ready-to-drink food manufacturing environments strongly preferred.

•  Experience leading sanitation transformation, continuous improvement, and organizational change initiatives.

•  Experience supporting customer, FDA, USDA, BRCGS, SQF, or other GFSI certification audits.

ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Demonstrates visible leadership in Safety, Food Safety, Quality, and Sanitation Excellence. Actively promotes a culture of accountability by identifying risks, enforcing standards, coaching employees, and driving continuous improvement. Ensures compliance with all Kerry Food Safety & Quality policies, regulatory requirements, customer expectations, and internal management systems. Takes immediate action to address, escalate, and resolve deficiencies impacting employee safety, food safety, product quality, or regulatory compliance.

The typical hiring range for this role is $63,100 - $116,000 annually and is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, location, etc. In addition to your pay, Kerry offers benefits such as a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and retirement contribution (all benefits and incentives are subject to eligibility requirements). Kerry is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. Kerry will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States for this opening. Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen. Additional information can be found at Know Your Rights Workplace Discrimination is Illegal (dol.gov). We may use artificial intelligence tools to support the review and assessment of applications and assist with scheduling interviews. We do not use AI to make decisions during the interview process. All candidate assessments and hiring decisions are made by our recruitment and leadership teams Beware of scams online or from individuals claiming to represent us. A Kerry employee will not solicit candidates through a non-Kerry email address or phone number. In addition, Kerry does not currently utilise video chat rooms (e.g., Google Hangouts) to conduct interviews. Refuse any request that asks you to provide payment to participate in the hiring process (e.g., purchasing a “starter kit,” investing in training, or something similar). Kerry will not ask you to pay any money at any point in the hiring process with the exception of reimbursable travel expenses. In addition, any payments made by Kerry will be from official firm accounts bearing the Kerry name.