QFS Leader Hygiene & Sanitation

Danone; Hoofddorp; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium free pension

30 days annual leave

Discounts on health insurance

Product discounts

Job summary

Danone in the Netherlands is seeking a Sanitation Leader to drive QFS governance and a global sanitation strategy across factories. You will lead standards, validation methods, and training to reduce contamination risks and ensure food safety.

The role requires deep hygiene expertise, 10+ years in food safety, and the ability to influence across Operations, Engineering, R&I and external partners. A hybrid work environment is offered in Hoofddorp, Zoetermeer, and Utrecht.

Qualifications

• Degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Food Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in food manufacturing, quality, or food safety with hygiene and sanitation expertise.
• Experience implementing hygiene risk management systems.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and training skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and govern global sanitation strategy and best-practice program.
• Serve as global expert and point of contact for sanitation methodology.
• Create, deliver, and maintain sanitation standards, procedures, tools, and training.
• Set standards for cleaning validation, detergents, verification, and environmental hygiene.
• Support zones via regional sanitation leads and ensure consistent execution and auditing.
• Drive contamination risk reduction and crisis support related to sanitation.
• Track sanitation compliance and identify trends to keep standards relevant.
• Provide onsite support for priority projects and factories.
• Collaborate with Operations, Engineering, R&I, and external partners to advance sanitation.
• Stay current with regulatory guidelines and industry best practices.

Skills

Sanitation management

Hygiene protocols

Risk assessment

Cross-functional collaboration

Training skills

Education

Degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Food Engineering, or related field

Job description

About the job

Ensure the Quality and Food Safety of Danone products by driving QFS governance and compliance, mitigating risk through scientific principles and deep technical expertise, and delivering on our promise to consumers and customers every day. Build and govern global sanitation strategy, methods, validation, and capability frameworks. The Sanitation Leader ensures the effectiveness of sanitation standards, drives capability building, governance, compliance, and continuous improvement in cleaning protocols, hygiene management, risk mitigation, and prevention of food safety incidents across the network.

Mission

Ensure the Quality and Food Safety of Danone products by driving QFS governance and compliance, mitigating risk through scientific principles and deep technical expertise, and delivering on our promise to consumers and customers every day. Build and govern global sanitation strategy, methods, validation, and capability frameworks. The Sanitation Leader ensures the effectiveness of sanitation standards, drives capability building, governance, compliance, and continuous improvement in cleaning protocols, hygiene management, risk mitigation, and prevention of food safety incidents across the network.

Main responsibilities

• Global sanitation strategy and best-practice program aligned to process hygiene and PRPs.
• Serve as the global expert and key point of contact for sanitation methodology and implementation.
• Develop, deliver, and maintain standards, procedures, tools, and training for sanitation programs.
• Develop standards for cleaning validation, detergents/chemistry, verification and environmental hygiene.
• Support zones via regional sanitation leads and ensure consistent execution and auditing.
• Drive sanitation-related contamination risk reduction and crisis support.
• Track and confirm sanitation compliance through FSI, identify trends and gaps, and ensure all network issues are visible and standards remain relevant at shopfloor.
• Provide onsite support to priority projects and factories for sanitation implementation and troubleshooting.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders (Operations, Engineering, R&I, Quality in Design, Quality in Sourcing) and external partners to advance sanitation practices.
• Stay current with regulatory guidelines, new technologies, and industry best practices in sanitation and hygiene risk management.

Key deliverables

• Effective standards for sanitation implementation and verification.
• Training materials and workshops delivered to regional teams.
• Continuous improvement initiatives and risk mitigation strategies.
• Technical expertise and support for sanitation.

Main interactions

Internal: QFS Regions and Factories, Operations, Engineering, R&I, Global QFS

External: Industry associations, committees, regulatory and certifying agencies

Key metrics

• Compliance with sanitation standards.
• Effectiveness of sanitation controls, such as incident rates and corrective actions.
• Reduction in sanitation-driven contamination incidents or repeat deviations.
• Training completion and capability building metrics for sanitation.

About you

Education, experience

• Degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Food Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in food manufacturing, quality, or food safety, with demonstrated expertise in hygiene, sanitation, and food safety management systems.

Innovation skills & competencies

• Deep expertise in sanitation management, hygiene protocols, and risk assessment.
• Advanced knowledge of sanitation design, assessment, and verification methods.
• Strong communication and training skills for capability building in sanitation.
• Analytical skills for risk assessment and continuous improvement of food safety controls.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and influence change in sanitation practices.

About Danone

At Danone, we offer a complete package of benefits, with a competitive primary salary and yearly bonus, but also benefits like a premium free pension, 30 days annual leave and several discounts on a collective health insurance and even on some of our products.

In the Netherlands we also offer a hybrid working environment which enables each team to meet our people's desire for flexibility. Across our 3 office hubs in Hoofddorp, Zoetermeer and Utrecht this helps us create better opportunities for connection and synergies across our entities, teams, functions and categories.