Production Line Lead

The Hershey Company

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.

Posted Date: Sep 30, 2026

Requisition Number: 130439

Why Hershey: At The Hershey Company, our culture is rooted in purpose and inspired by Milton Hershey’s enduring vision that business should create opportunity for others. Through our commitment to corporate philanthropy, we create positive impact by supporting communities, helping children thrive, and operating as a business for good. This includes our deep and long standing partnership with Milton Hershey School, where we invest in education, workforce readiness, and hands on engagement to help students succeed beyond the classroom. Supported by strategic grantmaking, product donations, cross brand collaboration, and strong employee volunteerism, Hershey offers a place to work where making a difference—locally and globally—is part of how we do business every day.

Job

Location

Hershey, PA

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?

The Production Line Lead plays a key role in driving operational excellence at our West Hershey plant. This role is responsible for leading hourly production personnel while ensuring compliance with company policies, safety standards, and regulatory requirements. You will be empowered to independently identify opportunities, eliminate root causes of manufacturing challenges, and drive improvements that impact the business today and into the future—all while contributing to a culture that makes Hershey the Sweetest Place on Earth.

What will you do?

• Lead and manage hourly production personnel to safely meet operational and business needs
• Ensure adherence to plant policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements
• Independently execute assignments and projects, escalating only the most complex issues
• Propose, plan, and implement solutions to address manufacturing challenges and drive continuous improvement
• Lead high-impact initiatives that influence safety, quality, cost, and productivity
• Oversee financial planning considerations within the production area
• Collaborate across departments to support maintenance and operational needs of the plant
• Interpret production performance reports to drive decision-making
• Support a flexible work schedule, including weekends and all shifts as required

Minimum Education & Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s degree preferred

Experience

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in manufacturing or a high-speed, complex environment required
• Minimum of 1 year of supervisory experience preferred
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite required
• Food manufacturing experience preferred
• SAP experience preferred

Skills & Capabilities:

• Strong leadership and people management skills

• Change management expertise with a focus on safety, quality, and cost optimization

• Effective written and verbal communication skills

• Knowledge of production systems and manufacturing processes

• Problem-solving and decision-making capabilities

• Understanding of union contracts and labor relations

• Ability to work effectively across all levels of the organization

• Knowledge of product quality standards and regulatory requirements

• General understanding of cost accounting and engineering principles

• LI-CE1

• LI-Onsite

• The anticipated base salary range for this role is $X to $X per year. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of job-related factors, including, but not limited to, experience, skill set, education, and training. In addition to a market-competitive base salary, our Total Rewards package includes performance-based incentives and a comprehensive, competitive benefits package designed to support overall physical, mental, and financial well-being (as applicable). Learn more about Hershey’s benefits and all the resources Hershey provides to support our employees’ physical, emotional, and financial well-being by visiting the Hershey Digital Employee Experience at www.askHRbenefits.hersheys.com

• 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.