Hanks saw his side concede five tries in the 45-9 reverse at their Edgeley Park home as their outside hopes of a place in the Aviva Premiership play-offs suffered a significant setback.
Chief executive Steve Diamond promised that action would be taken in the wake of a 10th league defeat of the season and the club has immediately followed up that statement by announcing that Hanks will be leaving Sale with immediate effect.
"It has been a season of great change at Sale Sharks and I would like to thank Tony for his help in implementing that change," said Diamond.
"The owners, directors, players and supporters all wish Tony well in the future. In the meantime our work continues."
Hanks only joined Sale in July 2011 when he was handed responsibility for the Sharks' attack, defence and game plan.
The New Zealander was previously director of rugby at London Wasps - a role that ended in similar disappointment when he left the Adams Park outfit partway through the 2010/11 campaign.
Rumours of his possible departure from the Stockport-based Sharks began to circulate late last night after Hanks failed to appear at the post-match press conference, with Diamond providing a stinging criticism of Sale's latest showing.
"We've got to look at ourselves really, look at what we're doing behind the scenes as a coaching team and make sure what we are doing transpires," was Diamond's initial response to the Saracens debacle.
"We had nine-and-a-half-thousand people working hard behind the scenes to get rugby popular in the North West and we could do without that to be perfectly honest.
"We're shedding 24/25 points a game and quite a lot of games we've been scoring that or thereabouts, but this really was an awakening for us.
"I think the crowds have come over the last three or four home games and nobody likes people leaving early, so there will be changes afoot all over the show."
