Senior Human Resources Manager

Position Description: Senior Human Resources Manager

Company: Legacy Bakehouse

Location: WI (on-site); limited travel required

Department: Human Resources

Reports To: Chief Financial Officer

About Legacy Bakehouse

Founded in 1917 and headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Legacy Bakehouse is a developer and manufacturer of baked snacks and snack components — including pita chips, bagel chips, rye chips, breadsticks, croutons, snack mixes, flour tortillas, cookies, cookie dough, and brownies — for leading national brands, emerging brands, private label programs, foodservice operators, and other manufacturers. The Company operates three SQF-certified bakeries in Waukesha, WI; Cudahy, WI; and Sevierville, TN, and owns the Classic Cookie brand. Legacy Bakehouse has been owned by Chicago-based private equity firm Benford Capital Partners since 2023.

Position Summary

The Senior Human Resources Manager will lead the people function across all three Legacy Bakehouse facilities. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role. The Senior HR Manager will review and modernize HR systems, rebuild HR infrastructure, and put disciplined, repeatable processes in place. They will lead a culture update across all sites and move the workforce from temporary to permanent. They will also get the fundamentals right: recruiting, onboarding, training, talent management, and performance management. Together, this work will build a stable, engaged multi-shift workforce, keep the Company compliant, and bring Legacy and acquired sites onto common policies and practices. The Senior HR Manager will serve as a trusted advisor to the executive team and plant leadership.

Key Responsibilities

HR Systems, Infrastructure & Process Improvement

• Conduct a full review of HR systems — HRIS, payroll, timekeeping, applicant tracking, and benefits platforms — and recommend and lead upgrades, consolidation, or replacement.
• Assess current HR processes and documentation across all sites; build and execute a plan to rebuild the HR foundation.
• Design standard, repeatable HR processes (hiring, onboarding, performance, corrective action, offboarding) and supporting tools, templates, and checklists.
• Improve HRIS use, employee data integrity, and HR reporting; reduce manual and paper-based work.
• Apply a continuous improvement approach to HR: measure process performance, remove friction, and keep improving.

Training & Talent Management

• Build structured onboarding and job training programs for production, maintenance, and quality roles, in partnership with operations and quality.
• Implement a consistent performance management process, including goal setting, reviews, and documentation.
• Lead talent reviews and succession planning; identify high-potential associates and build career pathways from operator to lead to supervisor.
• Develop supervisor and frontline leader training on people leadership, communication, and policy application.

Culture & Employee Relations

• Lead a culture update across all three sites: assess the current culture through surveys, listening sessions, and stay interviews, then define the target culture with the executive team.
• Translate the culture into everyday practice — values, leader behaviors, communication, recognition, and engagement programs anchored in the Company’s operating pillars.
• Build one Legacy culture across Legacy and acquired sites while respecting what works locally; track progress through engagement and retention data.
• Serve as the primary employee relations resource: investigations, corrective action, attendance, and conflict resolution.
• Coach supervisors and plant leaders on people leadership and consistent policy application.

Safety & Quality Culture

• Partner leadership to build a safety- and quality-first culture, anchored in the Company’s pillars of safety first and quality above all.
• Ensure safety training is built into onboarding and job training, with accurate training records that support SQF and customer audits.
• Build safety and quality expectations into hiring, performance management, corrective action, and recognition programs.
• Support incident investigations, OSHA recordkeeping, workers’ compensation, and return-to-work programs in partnership with EHS.
• Track and report people-related safety and quality indicators (training completion, incident trends, recordables) with operations leadership.

Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning

• Oversee all recruiting for hourly production, maintenance, quality, and salaried roles across all sites.
• Own recruiting partner relationships — staffing agencies, search firms, job boards, technical schools, and workforce development organizations — including selection, terms, performance reviews, and spend.
• Lead the transition from a temporary to a permanent workforce: build the conversion process and criteria, increase direct hiring, and reduce reliance on staffing agencies over time.
• Partner with operations and finance on the business case, timing, and targets for temp-to-permanent conversion; make permanent roles attractive through onboarding, pay, and career pathways.
• Partner with operations on shift staffing plans, headcount forecasting, and workforce needs tied to capacity expansion.
• Drive new-hire retention and build Legacy’s employer brand in local labor markets.

HR Operations & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with federal, Wisconsin, and Tennessee employment laws (FLSA, FMLA, ADA, EEO, I-9/E-Verify).
• Maintain and harmonize employee handbooks, policies, and HR documentation across sites.
• Partner with finance on payroll accuracy, HRIS administration, and HR audits.

Integration, Strategy & Reporting

• Lead people integration for acquired sites and build a repeatable HR integration playbook for future add-on acquisitions.
• Develop and report key workforce metrics (turnover, time-to-fill, attendance, temp share of workforce, temp-to-permanent conversion, agency spend, overtime) to leadership and ownership.
• Partner with the executive team on organizational design, succession planning, and leadership hiring as the Company scales.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of progressive HR experience, including 3+ years leading HR for a manufacturing site or multi-site operation; food, bakery, or CPG manufacturing strongly preferred.
• Strong command of HR fundamentals, including training program design, onboarding, performance management, and talent management.
• Experience managing recruiting and external recruiting partners (staffing agencies, search firms).
• Demonstrated success building or rebuilding HR infrastructure and processes
• Experience with acquisition integration, site startup, or workforce harmonization strongly preferred.
• Hands-on total rewards experience, including hourly wage structures and shift differentials, benefits renewals with broker partners, and merit and incentive programs.
• Demonstrated success leading culture change in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong working knowledge of employment law and compliance; multi-state experience preferred.
• Limited travel required to the Cudahy, WI and Sevierville, TN facilities.
• Spanish speaking is highly preferred.

Legacy Bakehouse is an equal opportunity employer.