Sr. HR Generalist

4 days ago

Altoona, IA, United States The Marzetti Company Full time
About Us

The Marzetti Company (Nasdaq: MZTI) manufactures and sells specialty food products. Our retail brands include Marzetti® dressings and dips, New York Bakery™ garlic breads, and Sister Schubert's® dinner rolls, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden® dressings, Chick-fil-A® sauces and dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings® sauces, Arby's® sauces, Subway® sauces, and Texas Roadhouse® steak sauces and frozen rolls. Our foodservice business supplies sauces, dressings, breads, and pasta to many of the top restaurant chains in the United States.

At Marzetti, our mission is to make every meal better through high-quality, flavorful food. Led by our purpose, to nourish growth with all that we do, our team members are dedicated to creating great tasting food and cultivating deep and lasting relationships.

Overview

We kindly request that recruitment agencies and staffing firms refrain from submitting unsolicited resumes to our company. Any resumes sent without a prior agreement and access to proper submittal into the ATS will be considered the property of The Marzetti Company, and we reserve the right to contact those candidates without any obligation to pay a fee.

The Senior Human Resources Generalist serves as the HR Business Partner for on-site leaders and associates across 3 plants in the IA area (Altoona, Clive, IA Cold Storage). This role provides strategic and hands-on HR support for approximately 200 associates and 10 leaders across all plants.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy, the Sr. HR Generalist partners closely with operations, safety, and HR leadership to build a culture of trust, care, and accountability. The role ensures consistent execution of HR strategies that drive retention, employee engagement, performance, and compliance - while supporting Marzetti's Growth Behaviors and People Strategy.

Responsibilities

Building Capability & Leadership Support:
  • Leads learning and development strategies aligned with business goals, including leadership development and succession planning.
  • Partners with management to implement initiatives that support growth, change management, and workforce optimization.
  • Supports and influences organizational design, change management, and workforce strategy tied to cultural transformation and operational excellence.
  • Partner with the site HR Leaders and Plant Leadership Teams to align people strategies with operational priorities and business outcomes.
  • Coach and influence leaders to model Marzetti's Growth Behaviors and uphold company values of Hunger, Respect, Courage, and Humility.
  • Partner with site HR Leaders on succession planning, high-potential identification, and development strategies.
  • Advises leaders on policy interpretation, performance management, and consistent application of HR practices.
Employee Relations & Associate Engagement:
  • Drives employee engagement, ensuring that employees voices are heard, suggestions are addressed, and continuous improvement actions are taken
  • Serve as primary point of contact for weekend employee relations issues, ensuring timely and fair resolution.
  • Lead onboarding, assimilation, and early engagement efforts for weekend shift new hires to drive retention success.
  • Build trust and connection through visible HR presence and employee communications: from Town Halls to beginning of shift meetings, ensuring that clear and consistent messages are shared between leadership and the workforce.
  • Coaches and counsels leaders and employees on employee relations matters consistent with company policies, legal considerations and company priorities, serving as an advocate for both employee and company concerns.
  • Partner with leadership to analyze and act on engagement data, driving improvement in retention and satisfaction
Talent Acquisition:
  • Partners with HR Manager, Talent Acquisition, and business leaders to forecast weekend talent needs and build strategic pipelines.
  • Analyzes talent metrics to improve hiring outcomes and retention strategies.
  • Identifies and supports ongoing activity related to succession planning.
Culture & Organizational Health
  • Champion an inclusive, positive, and high-performing work environment across both facilities
  • Reinforce Marzetti's "Better Together" mindset by fostering collaboration between weekday and weekend teams.
  • Identify opportunities to enhance recognition, communication, and development across all shifts.
  • Support implementation of organizational development, training, and retention initiatives led by Corporate HR and Supply Chain People Strategy.
Total Rewards Management
  • Collaborates with Total Rewards and sit HR leaders to implement and communicate compensation and benefits programs.
  • In partnership with the site HR leaders, guides leaders through performance calibration processes and strategic compensation reviews, aligning talent outcomes with performance expectations.
  • Acts as a resource for pay equity reviews and supports initiatives to ensure internal fairness and market competitiveness.
Other Responsibilities
  • Ensures compliance to all federal, state and local laws and company policies.
  • Lead proactive audit readiness and compliance with wage/hour, attendance and employee recordkeeping standards
  • Ensures compliance to quality, food safety, 5S, OSHA and HACCP support programs; assures conformity to all company, customer and government standards.
  • Collaborate with HR Manager to ensure timely and accurate HR transactions, reporting and communications.
Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience); Master's degree preferred
  • 5-7 years of progressive HR experience, preferably within manufacturing or supply chain environments
  • Strong business acumen and experience coaching and supporting operations leaders in a 24/7 or multi-shift environment.
  • Skilled in conflict resolution, organizational change, and leadership development
  • Strong knowledge of employment law, employee relations, performance management, and compliance
  • Proficient in HRIS systems and Microsoft Office
  • Exceptional communication skills (verbal and written)
  • Ability to manage multiple tasks efficiently.
  • Ability to work independently and work with minimal supervision.
  • PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP certification strongly preferred

Working Conditions/Environment

Works in an office environment with regular presence on the production floor in accordance with company expectations and guidelines. The associate will be required to speak, see, hear, sit, stand, walk, and bend while moving about the facility. The associate is occasionally exposed to fumes, odors, dust, oil, slippery floors. The noise level in the office is moderate and loud in the facility. Steel-toed shoes and high visibility workwear are required in the facility in accordance with company GMP and safety standards. Weekend shift schedule (4x10) designed to provide direct HR partnership during critical weekend operations.