About the role
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Reports To: Regional Human Resource Manager
Facility Size: ~200 Employees
Role Type: Individual Contributor
Job Summary
We are seeking a dynamic Human Resource Manager to support our fast-paced manufacturing operations. This role serves as a strategic HR Business Partner to the Operations Management team and other key stakeholders. You will be the go-to expert in HR matters—fostering strong relationships, ensuring workforce alignment with business goals, and driving initiatives that shape a high-performing and engaged workforce.
Key Responsibilities
- Actively partner with Operations Management and leadership as a strategic HR advisor
- Cultivate strong relationships with Operations Management client groups and foster alignment of HR strategy with business goals
- Deliver coaching, training, and guidance to frontline leaders on people management best practices
- Ability to partner with leaders and employees through thoughtful communication, credible guidance, and sound judgment
- Provide HR support across all shifts with occasional off-shift presence to maintain visibility and trust
- Coach and develop managers on employee engagement, performance, and conflict resolution
- Leverage workforce analytics to shape staffing, performance, and retention strategies
- Promote and ensure compliance with employment law and internal policies across all shifts
- Mediate employee relations matters with discretion and a solutions-focused approach
- Champion programs that improve engagement, safety, and morale in a 24/7 manufacturing environment
- Lead recruitment, onboarding, and succession planning tailored to operations
- Act as a culture ambassador—driving communication, feedback, and inclusion initiatives
- actively participate in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
- Projects as assigned by Management.
- Occasional business travel to other sites and corporate office as needed.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field (Master’s or HR certification preferred)
- Minimum 10 years of progressive HR experience, 3-5 years of HR management experience, ideally in a manufacturing setting
- Willingness to flex schedule to support off-shift operations as needed
- Strong influencing skills with proven success in advising leaders and driving change
- Confidence advising and influencing senior leaders on HR matters Excellent communication and interpersonal skills across diverse teams
- Organized and self-directed with the ability to prioritize independently
- Resilient and adaptable in a fast-paced, complex work environment
Gay Lea Foods is a proud Canadian-owned dairy food and beverage company with a robust portfolio that includes 7 established brands such as Gay Lea Butter, Nordica Cottage Cheese, Ivanhoe Cheese, Salerno Cheese, and Hewitt’s Dairy. Our wide range of products are sold in Retail, Foodservice, Industrial, Co-pack, and Export markets, developed and produced out of our 13 manufacturing facilities in Ontario and Alberta.
Delivering high-quality and innovative products - from the consumer favourite Spreadables and North America’s first Smooth™ Cottage Cheese, to Nothing But Cheese™, an innovative snack made with 100% cheese, is what makes us market leaders in our categories. Our grassroots approach to business is what guides our direction and differentiates us from our competitors.
Our employees inspire our culture of excellence and entrepreneurship. We hire innovative and passionate professionals who know that greatness is achieved through people, partnerships, and acting with a business owner mindset.
For more about us visit: http://www.gaylea.com
Gay Lea Foods is an equal-opportunity employer and values diversity in our workplace.
Reasonable accommodation is available upon request throughout our recruitment and selection process.
Thank you for your interest in Gay Lea Foods.
Wishing you all the best with your career search!
About Gay Lea Foods
With our roots on the farm, Gay Lea Foods has grown to become a leader in the Canadian dairy industry and the largest dairy co-operative in Ontario, with members on 1,300 dairy farms in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 4,200 producer and investor stakeholders. Our dedication to innovation and the development of high quality products has allowed us to respond to consumers’ evolving tastes and grow the market for Canadian cow and, more recently, goat milk. We are a Canadian success story – and that story is far from over. Moving forward, Gay Lea Foods is poised to seize and create even more opportunities for sustainable, long-term growth in the Canadian dairy industry as we expand beyond our provincial borders, grow our foods and ingredients business, and continue to invest in innovative and industry-leading products.
As much as we evolve, however, we remain a dairy co-operative, owned by dairy farmers. From our farms and production facilities, to our distribution networks and employee ideologies, we embrace and act with co-operative-inspired values, understanding there is no shortcut to quality or success. It takes commitment, passion and collaboration.
Those are the things we’re made of and we’re proud to share our story.
Just like the milk that comes from our farms, so too are Gay Lea Foods’ products and values born on the farm.
About the role
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Reports To: Regional Human Resource Manager
Facility Size: ~200 Employees
Role Type: Individual Contributor
Job Summary
We are seeking a dynamic Human Resource Manager to support our fast-paced manufacturing operations. This role serves as a strategic HR Business Partner to the Operations Management team and other key stakeholders. You will be the go-to expert in HR matters—fostering strong relationships, ensuring workforce alignment with business goals, and driving initiatives that shape a high-performing and engaged workforce.
Key Responsibilities
- Actively partner with Operations Management and leadership as a strategic HR advisor
- Cultivate strong relationships with Operations Management client groups and foster alignment of HR strategy with business goals
- Deliver coaching, training, and guidance to frontline leaders on people management best practices
- Ability to partner with leaders and employees through thoughtful communication, credible guidance, and sound judgment
- Provide HR support across all shifts with occasional off-shift presence to maintain visibility and trust
- Coach and develop managers on employee engagement, performance, and conflict resolution
- Leverage workforce analytics to shape staffing, performance, and retention strategies
- Promote and ensure compliance with employment law and internal policies across all shifts
- Mediate employee relations matters with discretion and a solutions-focused approach
- Champion programs that improve engagement, safety, and morale in a 24/7 manufacturing environment
- Lead recruitment, onboarding, and succession planning tailored to operations
- Act as a culture ambassador—driving communication, feedback, and inclusion initiatives
- actively participate in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
- Projects as assigned by Management.
- Occasional business travel to other sites and corporate office as needed.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field (Master’s or HR certification preferred)
- Minimum 10 years of progressive HR experience, 3-5 years of HR management experience, ideally in a manufacturing setting
- Willingness to flex schedule to support off-shift operations as needed
- Strong influencing skills with proven success in advising leaders and driving change
- Confidence advising and influencing senior leaders on HR matters Excellent communication and interpersonal skills across diverse teams
- Organized and self-directed with the ability to prioritize independently
- Resilient and adaptable in a fast-paced, complex work environment
Gay Lea Foods is a proud Canadian-owned dairy food and beverage company with a robust portfolio that includes 7 established brands such as Gay Lea Butter, Nordica Cottage Cheese, Ivanhoe Cheese, Salerno Cheese, and Hewitt’s Dairy. Our wide range of products are sold in Retail, Foodservice, Industrial, Co-pack, and Export markets, developed and produced out of our 13 manufacturing facilities in Ontario and Alberta.
Delivering high-quality and innovative products - from the consumer favourite Spreadables and North America’s first Smooth™ Cottage Cheese, to Nothing But Cheese™, an innovative snack made with 100% cheese, is what makes us market leaders in our categories. Our grassroots approach to business is what guides our direction and differentiates us from our competitors.
Our employees inspire our culture of excellence and entrepreneurship. We hire innovative and passionate professionals who know that greatness is achieved through people, partnerships, and acting with a business owner mindset.
For more about us visit: http://www.gaylea.com
Gay Lea Foods is an equal-opportunity employer and values diversity in our workplace.
Reasonable accommodation is available upon request throughout our recruitment and selection process.
Thank you for your interest in Gay Lea Foods.
Wishing you all the best with your career search!
About Gay Lea Foods
With our roots on the farm, Gay Lea Foods has grown to become a leader in the Canadian dairy industry and the largest dairy co-operative in Ontario, with members on 1,300 dairy farms in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 4,200 producer and investor stakeholders. Our dedication to innovation and the development of high quality products has allowed us to respond to consumers’ evolving tastes and grow the market for Canadian cow and, more recently, goat milk. We are a Canadian success story – and that story is far from over. Moving forward, Gay Lea Foods is poised to seize and create even more opportunities for sustainable, long-term growth in the Canadian dairy industry as we expand beyond our provincial borders, grow our foods and ingredients business, and continue to invest in innovative and industry-leading products.
As much as we evolve, however, we remain a dairy co-operative, owned by dairy farmers. From our farms and production facilities, to our distribution networks and employee ideologies, we embrace and act with co-operative-inspired values, understanding there is no shortcut to quality or success. It takes commitment, passion and collaboration.
Those are the things we’re made of and we’re proud to share our story.
Just like the milk that comes from our farms, so too are Gay Lea Foods’ products and values born on the farm.