Principal Process Engineer - Snacking

Job Location: US Remote

Summary:

This senior leadership role reports to the Director of Engineering - Hershey Salty Snacks. The principal process engineer leads the Process Engineering strategic technology plan for the Salty Snacks division, to include selection, design, standardization and implementation. Working with the Salty Snacks Engineering and Confectionary Engineering leadership teams, they provide Salty Snacks process expertise and insight into strategic decisions and process technology standards.

Scope of Responsibility:

The principal process engineer reviews and approves process designs for Salty Snacks projects, ensuring proposed process solutions give maximum return on Hershey’s capital investment. A successful candidate challenges and advances new ways of achieving process manufacturing results that provide the best value and process designs that ensure personnel safety and product safety and quality. In addition, this individual collaborates with colleagues across all the Salty Snacks businesses to develop and set Salty Snacks engineering standards to meet requirements in safety, quality, capacity, capability and capital efficiency. They may have the following day-to-day duties:

Subject Matter Expertise

• Providing technical direction in process engineering development, design, scale-up, installation and start-up throughout the Salty Snacks division.
• Providing technical advice to Process Engineering management in the design and approach to major engineering and process innovation development efforts.
• Acting as an advisor and subject matter expert with technical and business leadership for strategic capability and capacity plans.
• Preparing manufacturing feasibility assessments and capital cost estimates for various process-related projects.
• Providing recommendations for process technical development, schedule and budget.
• Supporting capital projects in process design and equipment selection, piping and instrumentation diagram creation, equipment and construction bid specifications preparation, process equipment and systems acquisition, installation and start-up, troubleshooting, and line supervisor, operator and maintenance personnel training.
• Ensuring all implementation activities for process projects are in full compliance with capital control policies and procedures.
  
  

Project Management

• Acting as project lead as required to execute critical process-focused engineering projects.
• Managing multiple large and complex unit operations simultaneously, devising methods and procedures to ensure process equipment systems operate as designed.
• Managing budget, scheduling decisions, people resources and final project results for the process engineering portion of capital projects.
• Developing processes suitable for implementation in a manufacturing facility within the required project timetable.
• Optimizing processes during start-up and early production.
• Ensuring all process designs deliver personnel safety and product safety and quality.
  
  

Leadership

• Leading diverse process teams, including engineers, plant operations, contractors and suppliers.
• Leading and implementing process-designed engineering solutions.
• Communicating business critical project activities effectively to all levels of management.
• Mentoring and coaching junior process engineers, technical specialists and project managers in essential process technical skills.
• Developing critical thinking and creativity in junior engineers.
• Working well as an individual contributor on a project team or managing a small group of engineers as part of a larger project team.
• Representing The Hershey Company in professional and industrial organizations as required.
  
  

Strategic Direction

• Developing future capital projects for Salty Snacks division process improvement.
• Supplying key process engineering functional evaluations and direction for comprehensive process project scopes, equipment schedules and capital budgets.
  
  

Skills and Experience:

Ideal candidates possess at least 8-10 years’ experience in snacking process engineering. In addition, we look for experience in process designs for people and food safety and many of the following operations:

• Powder and liquid storage
• Ingredient Weighing and delivery
• Dough Mixing/Blending systems
• Co-Extrusion
• Direct Expansion - Extrusion
• Oven/Dryers
• Fryers
• Seasoning & Slurry technology
• Popcorn Kettle systems
  
  

Minimum Requirements and Education:

• Bachelor degree in chemical or mechanical engineering. We prefer candidates to have master’s in chemical or mechanical engineering or other relevant field of study.