Job OverviewDesign 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 & RequirementsBachelor'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.
