Sr. Research Scientist S&R
Why Hershey:
At The Hershey Company, our culture is rooted in purpose and inspired by Milton Hershey’s enduring vision that business should create opportunity for others. Through our commitment to corporate philanthropy, we create positive impact by supporting communities, helping children thrive, and operating as a business for good. This includes our deep and long standing partnership with Milton Hershey School, where we invest in education, workforce readiness, and hands on engagement to help students succeed beyond the classroom. Supported by strategic grantmaking, product donations, cross brand collaboration, and strong employee volunteerism, Hershey offers a place to work where making a difference—locally and globally—is part of how we do business every day.
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Job Overview
Design innovative products for beloved brands including Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Sour Strips, Ice Breakers, and Bubble Yum!
Reporting to the Senior Manager, Sweets & Refreshment, this role is part of The Hershey Company’s Product Development R&D team at the Technical Center in Hershey, PA. The Senior Research Scientist will lead product and process development across hard candy, gummies, licorice, gum, and mints. This role translates consumer insights and business needs into scalable products through formulation, prototyping, pilot plant trials, manufacturing scale-up, and commercialization. The successful candidate will bring strong technical expertise, project leadership, and cross-functional collaboration to drive innovation, product improvement, supply continuity, and future technical capabilities across the Sweets & Refreshment portfolio.
Specific Role Focus Area
- Lead product development projects across hard candy, gummies, licorice, gum, mints, chewy confections, and sugar-free/polyol systems.
- Develop formulations and prototypes from bench through pilot plant and full-scale manufacturing.
- Partner with Marketing, Consumer Insights, Sensory, Quality, Regulatory, Engineering, Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Project Management, Commercialization, Technology Development, and external suppliers/co-manufacturers.
- Support innovation, renovation, capacity expansion, cost savings, supply continuity, and transformation initiatives.
- Design and execute experiments, manufacturing trials, and technical evaluations; analyze results and provide recommendations.
- Build expertise in confectionery and refreshment technologies while mentoring peers and sharing knowledge.
- Foster a collaborative, fast-paced R&D culture focused on technical rigor, problem solving, and consumer-first innovation.
Approximately 25% travel required, including domestic and international travel for plant trials, supplier/co-manufacturer engagement, technical learning, and commercialization support.
Accountabilities
- Experience leading innovation, renovation, quality improvement, cost improvement, technology validation, supply continuity, or process optimization initiatives.
- Strong foundation in food science, chemistry, ingredient functionality, formulation development, and/or process development; experience in confectionery is preferred.
- Ability to develop hypotheses, design experiments, execute trials, analyze data, troubleshoot results, and translate learning into clear technical recommendations.
- Experience working in lab, pilot plant, and/or manufacturing environments, including scale-up, commissioning, start-up, commercialization, or plant trial support.
- Ability to collaborate across Sensory, Consumer Insights, Marketing, Engineering, Packaging, Quality, Regulatory, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Supply Chain to deliver aligned project outcomes.
- Demonstrated project leadership, prioritization, decision-making, financial awareness, and business integration skills in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong influencing skills with the ability to communicate technical information clearly to technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leaders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including technical reports, trial summaries, presentations, and recommended next steps.
- Comfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities, hands-on experimentation, and practical problem solving in a growth-oriented business.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team while building and sharing technical knowledge across the organization.
Key partners include:
- Marketing & Consumer Insights
- Sensory, Quality & Regulatory
- Manufacturing, Engineering & Alliances
- Procurement, Packaging & Supply Chain
- Project Management & Commercialization
- Technology Development & External Suppliers/Co-manufacturers
Minimum Education & Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biology, or a related technical field with 4–6 years of relevant experience; Master’s degree with 2–4 years of relevant experience; or PhD with 0–2 years of relevant experience.
Experience in food, beverage, confectionery, ingredient, consumer packaged goods, or related product development environments is preferred.
The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The policy of The Hershey Company is to extend opportunities to qualified applicants and employees on an equal basis regardless of an individual's race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other categories protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.
The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans.
You may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our online application process as a result of a disability.
You can request an accommodation via phone or email.
To request an accommodation via phone, please call +1 877-804-1794 and leave a voicemail with your contact information. You may also email a request for accommodation to ApplicationHelp@hersheys.com. Please be sure to include “Accommodation Needed” in the subject line. This will ensure that your email is routed to the appropriate contact who will handle your request.
Nearest Major Market: Harrisburg
