Team Lead FSQA

Hershey Company; Plymouth (IN); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Wellbeing: Medical, dental, a

Financial Security: Competitive pay

Time Off & Flexibility: Paid time off

Growth & Development: Career programs

Job summary

The Hershey Company in Plymouth, Indiana, is seeking a hands-on Team Lead FSQA to protect product safety and quality across a high-speed pretzels operation. You will bridge QA and Manufacturing, ensuring regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.

The role partners with Operations, R&D, Supply Chain, and regulatory teams; you’ll lead QA Technicians, guide audits, sampling, and incident management; you’ll use SAP, RedZone, and other tools to drive action.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant experience in Quality Assurance, Food Safety, or manufacturing QA.
• Experience leading or influencing teams, and conducting audits.
• Knowledge of GMP, HACCP, PEP, and GFSI standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead QA Technicians on the designated shift, manage standard work and reinforce food quality and safety expectations.
• Provide QA guidance to production, train staff, perform audits, and manage incidents.
• Plan sampling, analytical testing, environmental monitoring, and retain samples; document results and escalate out-of-tolerance findings.
• Coordinate QA verification activities including sampling plans, sensory programs, sanitation verification, and allergen control.
• Investigate quality and safety incidents, analyze data, identify root causes, and implement preventive actions.
• Utilize systems like RedZone, SAP, LIMS, QIMS, and production reporting to monitor trends and drive improvements.
• Prepare reports and dashboards highlighting risks and share insights with leaders.

Skills

Leadership

Quality Assurance

Problem solving

Communication

Data analysis

MS Office

Education

Bachelor’s or Associate degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related field

Tools

SAP

RedZone

LIMS

QIMS

Job description

Note: To protect the confidentiality, privacy, and security of The Hershey Company, its personnel, and its interview process, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools during interviews to listen, transcribe, record, or assist with answering interview questions is prohibited unless explicitly approved in advance. This is consistent with local data protection laws.

Note: If you apply for a role at Hershey through our career’s website, we may use technologies that use automation to filter your candidacy based on objective criteria. We also use AI-enabled tools that help us facilitate the selection of our future Hershey talent. These tools may help with activities such as matching and scoring candidates to roles based on requirements and scheduling interviews. These systems process only the information you provide in your application, including your resume, work history, education, and responses to screening questions. While these technologies assist with certain steps in our recruitment process and may provide recommendations, all final decisions, including those affecting whether candidates advance to subsequent stages in the applicant process, are made by our talent acquisition teams with meaningful human review and independent judgment. Depending on your location and the specific role you apply for, additional disclosures about our use of AI in recruitment may be provided to you separately.

Why Hershey:

Location: Plymouth, IN

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?

You’ll help protect the products and brands people love by leading Food Safety and Quality Assurance support for our Plymouth, Indiana pretzels operation, a high-speed, complex environment producing favorites such as Dots Pretzels and Reese Filled Pretzels. As a Team Lead FSQA, you’ll serve as a key connection point between QA and Manufacturing, helping ensure product safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement across your assigned area.

This is a great opportunity for a hands‑on quality leader who enjoys solving problems, coaching others, using data to improve systems, and partnering across Operations, R&D, Supply Chain, and regulatory teams to keep Hershey moving with confidence.

What will you do?

• Lead QA Technicians on the designated shift, helping manage standard work, support daily execution, and reinforce food quality and safety expectations.
• Support production activities by providing QA guidance, troubleshooting, training, audits, and incident management to meet company and regulatory requirements.
• Plan and execute sampling, analytical, microbiological, environmental monitoring, and retained sample programs; document results and elevate out-of-tolerance findings.
• Coordinate QA verification activities such as sampling plans, specification checks, sensory programs, sanitation verification, hygiene audits, allergen control validation, and HACCP/PEP system checks.
• Investigate quality and food safety incidents, analyze data and trends, identify root causes, and partner cross-functionally on corrective and preventive actions.
• Use systems such as RedZone, SAP, LIMS, QIMS, Line Production Reporting, and CONC reporting to isolate issues, monitor trends, and support continuous improvement.
• Prepare reports and dashboards that highlight quality, food safety, laboratory, and operational risks; share insights and recommended actions with leaders and partners.

Experience: 3+ years of relevant experience in Quality Assurance, Food Safety, Manufacturing Quality, or a related technical/manufacturing environment. Experience leading or influencing teams, troubleshooting quality issues, conducting audits, and supporting compliance programs is required.

Education: Bachelor’s or Associate degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent related experience.

Knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Working knowledge of food industry regulations, GMP, HACCP, PEP, sanitation, pest control, and GFSI standards.
• Strong attention to detail, documentation discipline, auditing/assessment capability, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively, influence without direct reporting authority, and support a fast‑paced production environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and quality/production systems such as SAP and RedZone.
• Ability to work flexible hours and perform hands‑on plant/lab activities, including sampling, testing, stair/platform access, and occasional lifting of test equipment or product cases.

Preferred: SQF Practitioner, HACCP Certification, PCQI, Lean/Six Sigma experience, working knowledge of SPC, and experience with ERP implementation or integration of quality processes.

Benefits and Perks

• Health & Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus wellness programs that support your physical and mental health
• Financial Security: Competitive pay, annual incentive opportunities, and a 401(k) with company match
• Time Off & Flexibility: Paid time off, company holidays, and flexible ways of working where applicable
• Growth & Development: Career development programs, learning opportunities, and internal mobility

Benefits may vary based on role, location, and eligibility.

The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The policy of The Hershey Company is to extend opportunities to qualified applicants and employees on an equal basis regardless of an individual's race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other categories protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans.

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