Food Safety Compliance Lead
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.
Location: Lawrence, KS
About The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is an industry-leading snacks company known for making more moments of goodness through its iconic brands. With a strong portfolio across chocolate, confectionery, and salty snacks, Hershey delights consumers every day. Our beloved brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, KitKat®, Dots Pretzels, Lesser Evil, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, and more.
At Hershey, we are committed to making a meaningful difference in the communities where we live, work, and do business. This commitment originated with our founder, Milton Hershey, and continues to shape who we are today.
Guided by our employee value proposition, Lead Today. Create Tomorrow, we empower our people to drive impact now while shaping what comes next. Our One Hershey mindset brings teams together across functions, geographies, and businesses, enabling us to operate with speed, collaboration, and shared purpose.
The Hershey Company is proud to be recognized as a top employer in the United States, reflecting our commitment to our people, culture, and purpose.
How will you fit in the big picture?
The Food Safety Compliance Lead helps protect the quality and safety of Hershey products by leading plant food safety and quality systems, supporting Global Food Safety Initiative certification, and partnering across Manufacturing, Engineering, and plant teams. This role is an opportunity to influence a strong food safety culture, strengthen compliance, and help teams solve problems in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
What will you do?
- Lead the development, implementation, review, and maintenance of the plant food safety and quality program in alignment with Hershey's Product Excellence Program and GFSI standards.
- Coordinate activities required to achieve and maintain GFSI certification, including internal assessments, system validations and verifications, corrective and preventive actions, and third-party audits.
- Ensure compliance with company and regulatory food safety and quality policies and procedures.
- Plan and facilitate new-hire and ongoing employee training, communicating essential food safety and quality information across the plant.
- Serve as a technical resource to Manufacturing and Engineering for incident investigation, troubleshooting, weight control, packaging, audits, and related quality matters.
- Maintain accurate program documentation and use computer systems to organize, analyze, and report product quality information.
- Build collaborative relationships and influence cross-functional teams to deliver timely, sustainable results.
- Provide schedule flexibility as needed to support a 24/7 manufacturing operation.
Minimum Requirements
Experience:
- Minimum 3 years of related food safety, quality assurance, or manufacturing experience required; 5+ years preferred.
- Working knowledge of federal and state food industry regulations, sanitation and pest control practices, HACCP, GFSI standards, and quality assurance principles.
- Demonstrated experience with audits or assessments, corrective and preventive actions, technical documentation, and cross-functional influence.
- HACCP certification strongly preferred. SQF, PCQI, or Six Sigma certification is desirable.
- Strong communication, leadership, analytical, computer, and document-management skills.
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, or a related field strongly preferred; equivalent related experience will be considered.
- Master's degree in Food Science, Food Safety, or a related field preferred.
Benefits and Perks
At Hershey, we offer competitive pay and a comprehensive total rewards package designed to support your wellbeing, financial security, and life outside of work.
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Health & Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus wellness programs that support your physical and mental health
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Financial Security: Competitive pay, annual incentive opportunities, and a 401(k) with company match
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Time Off & Flexibility: Paid time off, company holidays, and flexible ways of working where applicable
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Growth & Development: Career development programs, learning opportunities, and internal mobility
Benefits may vary based on role, location, and eligibility.
