Sr Mgr Packaging R&D

The Hershey Company•Lower Swatara Township, PA

1d•$141,520 - $176,900•Onsite

About The Position

Packaging plays a critical role in shaping growth at Hershey. As Front-of-Funnel Packaging Manager, you will bring packaging strategy and technical feasibility into the earliest stages of innovation, renovation, and portfolio planning. You will partner closely with R&D and Packaging Commercialization, along with Brand, Commercial, Insights, Supply Chain, Procurement, Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, and Sustainability, to translate business and consumer needs into packaging choices that are feasible, scalable, sustainable, cost-conscious, and launch-ready.

Requirements

7+ years of relevant experience in packaging development, packaging strategy, commercialization, technical program leadership, innovation leadership, or a related field.
Experience should demonstrate success operating in ambiguity, influencing senior stakeholders, partnering with R&D and Commercialization, and translating business strategy into practical technical recommendations.
Bachelor's degree in Packaging Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Food Science, or a related technical discipline required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Shape upstream packaging strategy by defining opportunity spaces, technical guardrails, feasibility considerations, and implications during idea generation, concept development, portfolio planning, and strategic business decisions.
Serve as a key bridge among Packaging, R&D, and Packaging Commercialization, aligning product design, packaging feasibility, validation, risk mitigation, launch readiness, and scale-up requirements from the start.
Translate consumer, customer, channel, sustainability, retail, e-commerce, and operational needs into packaging design principles, success criteria, and technical decision criteria.
Develop packaging options, scenarios, prototypes, supplier engagement plans, learning agendas, testing approaches, and risk assessments before commercialization begins.
Lead cross-functional alignment without relying on direct authority, framing trade-offs, investment implications, risks, and recommendations for senior technical and business stakeholders.
Resolve ambiguous, high-impact packaging challenges by balancing technical performance, product protection, consumer experience, cost, speed-to-market, compliance, sustainability, and scalability.
Build repeatable front-of-funnel tools, decision frameworks, playbooks, governance approaches, and technical capability across Packaging and partner functions.