Senior Process Development, Engineer Salty R&D

The Hershey Company•Lower Swatara Township, PA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Process Development Engineer supports end‑to-end process development, scale‑up, and commercialization across multiple salty and baked snack platforms including popcorn, extruded snacks, pretzels, fried snacks, and baked cracker/snack systems. This role provides advanced engineering expertise in thermal processing, extrusion, frying, baking, drying, seasoning application, oil systems, airflow control, and overall process performance. The Senior Engineer works closely with Product Development, Engineering, Operations, Quality, and Manufacturing to develop robust processes that deliver consistent product quality, improve efficiency, enable innovation, and expand capabilities across plants. The role drives technical problem‑solving, designs process validation experiments, leads commissioning activities, and supports long‑term technology roadmaps for equipment and process capability. The ideal candidate is a strong technical engineer with deep understanding of food processing, excellent hands-on execution skills, and a passion for scaling new snack technologies from pilot to full production. This role reports to Manager, Process Development and is based at Hershey Technical Center in Hershey, PA

Requirements

Technical ExpertiseDeep understanding of one or more snack processing technologies AND ability to quickly learn others: • Heat transfer, mass transfer, moisture control, oil degradation, and airflow management• Extrusion (single & twin-screw), expansion dynamics, dough rheology• Frying systems (batch/continuous), oil turnover, filtration, oxidation control• Baking science (oven design, thermal profiles, Maillard/browning reactions)Popcorn processing (oil vs. air popping, hull control, seasoning delivery)• Strong experimental design and data analysis skills (DOE strongly preferred).
Understanding of equipment design and vendor capabilities (extruders, fryers, ovens, seasoning drums, conveyors).
Familiarity with food safety, sanitary design, HACCP, and regulatory requirements.
Leadership & Collaboration• Proven ability to independently lead technical workstreams and cross-functional initiatives.
Strong communication skills—able to explain complex engineering concepts to non-engineers.
Effective collaborator with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and R&D teams.
Ability to manage multiple, competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Soft Skills & Behaviors• Hands-on problem solver with strong mechanical aptitude.
Curious, detail-oriented, and highly analytical.
Organized, disciplined, and consistent in documentation.
Comfortable working in plant environments with equipment, heat, oil, noise, and fast-paced production.
BS degree in Chemical Engineering, Food Engineering, Chemistry, or related engineering field with 6-8 years’ experience, MS or PhD in Food Engineering or related field with 2-4 years’ experience.
Intern and prior research project work will be considered; Salty Snacks process development experience is preferred.
Demonstrated success scaling new products or processes into manufacturing.
Experience with DOE, statistical tools, and data-driven root cause analysis (e.g., Six Sigma).
Experience leading plant trials and troubleshooting manufacturing issues.
Ability to work in plant, pilot, and lab environments.
Travel 20–50% depending on project and plant support needs.
Must be capable of lifting ~40 lbs during pilot-scale and equipment work.
Must be comfortable around heat, oil systems, noise, and industrial equipment.