About Sara Lee

Sara Lee desserts have always stood for incredible flavor and superior value in the frozen food aisle and away from home markets. The Sara Lee Frozen Bakery collection of top brands includes Sara Lee®, Chef Pierre®, Van’s®, Bistro Collection®, Superior on Main® and Cyrus O’Leary’s®.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery is proud to take these iconic brands into a new era and to continue the evolution that transformed one small Chicago bakery into an American institution. Using carefully sourced ingredients and time-honored recipes, the company is committed to making life’s moments a little sweeter, putting its customers first and discovering new ways to make everyone’s favorite foods even better.

Working for Sara Lee

Our vision is to be the world’s most beloved bakery by creating irresistible foods, growing with our customers, and delivering value for all. We believe that each of us has unique points of difference and experience to offer. We will achieve success through collaboration and innovation in an environment where employees feel empowered to execute with speed.

Scope of Position:

This position provides direction and leadership in the areas of sanitation and plant hygiene in a food manufacturing facility. This individual will drive the strategy, development, implementation and sustainability of a cleaning and sanitation program to meet regulatory and corporate requirements related to food safety quality assurance and sanitation programs.

This associate will provide support to the site by supervising and coordinating activities of sanitation staff and associates engaged in duties concerned with food safety, cleaning and sanitation that enable the reliable delivery of safe products. This position also supports plant profitability by leading sanitation efficiency, including development of more efficient cleaning methods, developing work instructions, training, cleaning verifications and validation and identification of operational savings.

Essential Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily:

• Provides the technical expertise that will implement new and creative technologies, processes and procedures that will reduce microbiological risk and product contamination through allergen control program.
• Responsible for compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations, including adherence to company policies and procedures.
• Evaluates facility sanitary conditions visually and analytically, assesses risk based on food safety and public health principles and prioritizes corrective actions.
• Verifies site is in proper sanitary condition, including Allergen and Pest Control Programs.
• Develops and updates detailed Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP’s) and work instructions to reflect accurate cleaning processes, correct sanitation chemical management and ensures correct sanitation tasks are executed.
• Maintains and updates site’s Master Sanitation Schedule (MSS) requirements and ensures it meets the companies and regulatory requirements.
• Develops and manages safety requirements related to sanitation, including proper chemical storage, SDS’s, PPE’s and SOP’s.
• Develops and implements all sanitation related training (SSOP’s, proper chemical usage and handling as required.
• Ensures that all sanitation tasks are properly documented and implemented in a timely manner.
• During investigations, support swabbing activities (ATP) to verify cleaning effectiveness. Lead cleaning events and activities during incidents and investigation.
• Engages technical experts from corporate, industry experts, and chemical and equipment suppliers to troubleshoot any sanitation challenges and identify innovative technologies and methodologies that improve overall sanitation effectiveness and reduce cleaning time.
• Technical site liaison between site personnel, QA, chemical supplier, Corporate QA and third-party sanitation services.
• Works closely with engineering and maintenance to identify capital expense needs and ensures appropriate preventative maintenance programs are utilized.
• Acts as sanitation lead in the process of assessing and mitigating food safety risks associated with construction and major maintenance.
• Review’s the effectiveness of sites Sanitation Program on an Annual basis for effectiveness and provide continuous improvement for the sanitation program for the site.
• Sets the direction for ongoing sanitation verification activities and Annual Validation testing.
• Continued professional development with an ability to leverage new techniques, best practices, and other experts in the Sanitation field to current situation.
• Leads continuous improvement as it relates to sanitation programs.
• Manage and Evaluate the Sanitation staff including but not limited to performance management and employee development, holding them accountable, etc.
• Develop and Manage the Department’s Operating budget.

Education and Work Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in Sanitation or Environmental Studies or related field is preferred, along with 5 to 7 years manufacturing and management experience. Experience in plant quality, food safety, and food plant sanitation.
• Knowledge of HACCP, Sanitation principles Microbiology, Chemical Safety, Pest Control, and Quality Systems.
• Experience in successfully addressing environmental challenges in areas such as drains, floors, walls, equipment, and overhead structures.
• Understands and can apply basic microbiological principles and practical food borne pathogen knowledge.
• Understands appropriate wet cleaning and dry-cleaning methodology. Able to identify the appropriate cleaning method and can integrate it to evaluate situations and make effective recommendations based on scientific principles.
• Thorough knowledge and experience with diverse sanitizing applications and hygienic sanitary design principles.
• Understands the principles behind verification and validation methods and has experience in application.
• Effective written and oral communication. Ability to engage all levels of employees and ability to work effectively with a team.
• Proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Must be familiar and comply with regulations relating to OSHA, FDA (Federal and State), EPA requirements of Food Plant Sanitation.
• Must be familiar and have experience working with industrial sanitation chemicals and cleaning methods (CIP, COP, other automated systems etc.).
• Must have sound knowledge of SSOP’s and Current cGMPs.

Physical Requirements:

• Must be willing and to wear personal protective equipment while performing job. (i.e. safety glasses, ear plugs, bump cap, hair net, steel toe & slip resistant safety/rubber boots, sanitation gloves, goggles, face shield etc.).
• Must be willing and able to work in hot (up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit) for intervals of 45 minutes.
• Must be willing and able to work in cold and/or wet environments of a minimum of 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Must be willing and able to constantly stand, stoop, walk, bend, push or pull for duration of shift, which may last up to 12 hours.
• Must be willing and able to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Must be willing and able to work in Production or Warehouse storage areas.
• Must be willing and able to climb ladders/stairs.
• Must be willing and able to perform possible pre-op duties and/or read paperwork and labels.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.