Director, Sanitation Technical Services

The Original Cakerie • St. Paul, MN

3d

About The Position

The Director of Sanitation Technical Services leads, transforms, and standardizes sanitation practices and performance across Dessert Holdings. The role serves as the enterprise’s strategic and technical authority for sanitation systems and processes, hygienic design, environmental controls, food safety risk mitigation, cleaning validation, and sanitation execution excellence. The director develops and deploys strategies to sustainably improve food safety, quality, operational reliability, OEE, cost, microbiologic stability, and regulatory compliance. The role partners with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Plant Leadership to foster ownership, accountability, and sanitation excellence.

The position is ideally located in St. Paul, Minnesota, with candidates in the Aurora, Colorado, or Humble, Texas, areas also considered. Travel throughout the United States and Canada is required 50–80% of the time. The work takes place regularly in office and food manufacturing environments and includes walking production facilities, standing for extended periods during audits and reviews, climbing stairs, and accessing elevated platforms. The role may involve occasional lifting of up to 25 pounds and wearing required PPE in wet, variable-temperature, noisy manufacturing environments with exposure to sanitation chemicals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Engineering, Industrial Technology, Operations, or a related field.
• 10 or more years of progressive sanitation, food safety, quality, or manufacturing leadership experience.
• 5 or more years leading multi-site or enterprise-level sanitation programs.
• Strong knowledge of Environmental Monitoring Programs, food safety systems, hygienic design, CIP/COP technologies, validation and verification methodologies, root cause analysis, and Lean manufacturing principles.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide change initiatives.
• Strong financial acumen and ability to translate technical risks into business impact.
• Experience influencing senior leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to travel 50–80% of the time throughout the United States and Canada.
• Ability to walk production facilities and stand for extended periods during audits, inspections, and operational reviews.
• Ability to climb stairs and access elevated platforms as needed.
• Ability to occasionally lift up to 25 pounds.
• Ability to wear required PPE and work safely in manufacturing environments with wet conditions, temperature variations, noise, and sanitation chemical exposure.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement enterprise-wide sanitation strategies, standards, KPIs, and governance programs aligned with food safety and business objectives.
• Provide technical leadership for environmental monitoring, hygienic equipment design, CIP/COP systems, microbial and allergen control programs, sanitation chemistry, SSOPs, and validation and verification processes.
• Lead sanitation-related investigations, root cause analyses, corrective actions, and preventive measures to eliminate systemic food safety risks.
• Partner with Engineering and Maintenance to incorporate hygienic design principles into capital projects, equipment modifications, and reliability programs.
• Drive operational excellence through sanitation performance management, scorecards, dashboards, and structured problem-solving methodologies, including Lean, DMAIC, PDCA, and A3.
• Influence and develop sanitation, operations, quality, maintenance, and engineering teams; build organizational capability through training and certification programs.
• Ensure compliance with FSMA, FDA, GFSI, SQF, GMP, customer, and third-party audit requirements, and maintain audit readiness across facilities.
• Identify and execute continuous improvement opportunities to reduce food safety risks and operating costs, improve environmental monitoring results and audit performance, and enhance labor, water, chemical, and equipment effectiveness metrics.
• Lead enterprise-wide sanitation transformation initiatives that strengthen food safety culture, improve operational performance, and support sustainable growth.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director