Principal Scientist, Salty Snacks R&D

The Hershey Company; Hershey (PA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & wellbeing

401k match

Flexible work

Career development

Paid time off

Job summary

The Hershey Company is seeking a Principal Scientist, Salty Snacks to lead innovative product development and process improvements across a diverse snack portfolio. You will guide cross-functional teams, shape the technical strategy, and advance commercialization from concept to launch.

Ideal candidates bring 7–10+ years in food R&D, deep expertise in popcorn, chips, and expanded snacks, and a track record of scalable, data-driven solutions that improve quality, yield, and sustainability in

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years in food R&D, preferably in salty snacks, cereals, extrusion, frying, or baking.
• Deep technical expertise in popcorn, chips, baked snacks, and expanded systems.
• Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, frying, extrusion, thermal processing, and baking systems.
• Demonstrated excellence in commercialization and pilot-to-plant scale-up.
• Strong business acumen, communication, and cross-functional leadership.
• Expert-level knowledge in at least three of: popcorn tech, baking science, chip manufacturing, extrusion/expansion, fats/oils chemistry, thermal processing.
• Proven success leading complex product and process development projects.
• Strong problem-solving skills with manufacturing context.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for complex salty snack development initiatives.
• Lead formulation development, process optimization, and commercialization from concept to launch.
• Develop and maintain technical specifications for ingredients and processes.
• Drive technical strategy and pipeline development with cross-functional partners.
• Apply data-driven methodologies to improve performance, shelf life, and manufacturability.
• Support capital projects and equipment selection to enhance capabilities.
• Mentor scientists and engineers, fostering technical excellence.

Skills

Food R&D

Snack technology

Cross-functional leadership

Scale-up experience

Baking science

Popcorn technology

Chip manufacturing

Extrusion/Expansion

Fats & oils

Thermal processing

Problem solving

Education

MS/PhD in Food Science or related

BS with 12-15 years experience

Tools

Rheology

Thermal analysis

Microstructure analysis

Job description

The Hershey Company is seeking a Principal Scientist, Salty Snacks to lead innovative product development and process improvements across a diverse snack portfolio. You will guide cross-functional teams, shape the technical strategy, and advance commercialization from concept to launch.

Ideal candidates bring 7–10+ years in food R&D, deep expertise in popcorn, chips, and expanded snacks, and a track record of scalable, data-driven solutions that improve quality, yield, and sustainability in