Grand River Foods is a leading food solutions company serving customers in the North American grocery and food service industry. As a member of the Sunrise Farm family, we remain as dedicated as ever to both providing a quality work environment for our employees, as well as producing only the highest quality products for our customers. We are known for the great care we take with clients and employees alike.

Position Summary

The Sanitation Manager is responsible for leading and overseeing all sanitation, cleaning, and wastewater treatment operations within the facility to ensure compliance with food safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements. Reporting to the Plant Manager, this position provides strategic direction and operational leadership for sanitation programs, sanitation personnel, and third-party sanitation service providers.

The Sanitation Manager is accountable for developing, implementing, and continuously improving sanitation systems, procedures, and performance standards that support operational excellence and protect product integrity. This role partners closely with Production, Maintenance, Quality Assurance, and Health & Safety teams to ensure sanitation activities are executed efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with HACCP, CFIA, customer, and corporate requirements.

Success in this role requires strong leadership, technical expertise, resource management, problem-solving abilities, and a commitment to continuous improvement, employee development, food safety, workplace safety, and operational excellence.

Position Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

Provide leadership, direction, coaching, and performance management to the sanitation team while fostering a culture of accountability, engagement, safety, and continuous improvement. Develop staffing plans, schedules, succession plans, and training programs to support operational requirements. Lead recruitment, onboarding, performance evaluations, employee development, corrective action, and disciplinary processes within the department. Conduct regular team meetings and communicate departmental objectives, performance metrics, and key initiatives. Promote employee engagement and develop team capabilities through coaching and mentoring.

Sanitation Program Management

Develop, implement, maintain, and continuously improve sanitation programs, procedures, and standards to ensure compliance with food safety, quality, regulatory, customer, and company requirements. Ensure all sanitation activities are completed effectively and efficiently to support production requirements and maintain audit readiness. Monitor and verify sanitation effectiveness through inspections, environmental monitoring, pre-operational inspections, and trend analysis. Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions related to sanitation, environmental monitoring, and food safety concerns. Maintain and continuously improve Master Sanitation Schedules, SSOPs, and sanitation documentation.

Contractor & Vendor Management

Manage third-party sanitation service providers and contractors, ensuring contractual obligations, service levels, and performance expectations are achieved. Establish performance metrics and conduct regular reviews to ensure service quality, compliance, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Manage supplier relationships related to sanitation chemicals, equipment, supplies, and services. Identify opportunities to optimize contractor performance, costs, and sanitation effectiveness.

Food Safety, Regulatory Compliance & Audits

Act as a key contributor to the facility's food safety and quality management systems. Ensure compliance with HACCP, SQF/BRC (if applicable), CFIA requirements, customer standards, GMPs, WHMIS, and company policies. Lead sanitation-related responses during customer, regulatory, third-party, and internal audits. Develop and implement corrective and preventive actions resulting from audits, inspections, environmental monitoring results, and customer findings. Support crisis management, recall readiness, and food safety risk assessments as required.

Budget & Resource Management

Develop, manage, and monitor departmental budgets, including labor, chemicals, sanitation supplies, equipment, and contracted services. Analyze departmental costs and identify opportunities to improve efficiency while maintaining compliance and performance standards. Monitor chemical usage, inventory levels, and spending to ensure responsible resource utilization. Participate in capital planning and equipment evaluation related to sanitation processes and systems.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner with Production, Maintenance, Quality Assurance, Supply Chain, and Health & Safety teams to support operational objectives. Coordinate sanitation activities to minimize production downtime and maximize operational efficiency. Support facility modifications, equipment installations, and continuous improvement initiatives. Collaborate with Maintenance to ensure equipment is designed and maintained for effective sanitation.

Wastewater & Environmental Management

Provide oversight and support for wastewater treatment operations, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and company requirements. Monitor wastewater performance metrics and coordinate corrective actions as needed. Support environmental sustainability initiatives and waste reduction programs.

Continuous Improvement & Reporting

Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on sanitation effectiveness, labor efficiency, safety, environmental performance, and cost management. Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), including sanitation completion rates, audit performance, environmental monitoring results, labor utilization, and budget performance. Prepare and communicate departmental reports, performance metrics, and operational updates to plant leadership. Remain current on sanitation technologies, industry best practices, regulatory changes, and emerging food safety trends. Perform other related duties and projects as assigned.

Education And Experience

Minimum 7-10 years of progressive experience in sanitation, food manufacturing, or operations leadership. Minimum 5 years of management experience leading sanitation teams within a food processing environment. Experience managing third-party sanitation contractors and service providers. Experience leading regulatory, customer, and third-party audits. Relevant certifications in HACCP, Food Safety, Sanitation Management, or related fields are considered strong assets.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Advanced knowledge of HACCP, GMPs, food safety systems, sanitation practices, environmental monitoring, and regulatory requirements. Strong leadership, coaching, employee development, and team-building skills. Proven ability to manage budgets, resources, and departmental performance metrics. Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities. Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities. Effective verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization. Strong conflict resolution and employee relations skills. Advanced knowledge of workplace safety requirements, WHMIS, and industrial cleaning chemicals. Proficient in Microsoft Office and experience with ERP, maintenance management, or quality management systems. Ability to work flexible hours, including weekends and off-shift support, when operationally required. Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, food safety, quality, compliance, and operational excellence.

$89,000 - $110,000 a year

#IND-HP

At Sunrise Farms we are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other identifying characteristic are encouraged to apply.

Please note that the expected new hire salary range provided is derived from a group of like roles within Sunrise Farms. The final offer amount for this role will be dependent on geographical region, applicable experience, and skillset of the candidate.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.