What are the responsibilities and job description for the Reliability Lead position at The Hershey Company?
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 West Hershey Maintenance Department has the tools and resources in place to be a world-class maintenance organization that maximizes preventive and predictive practices. As the Reliability Lead, you will play a critical role in driving equipment reliability, maintenance excellence, and continuous improvement within an assigned business unit. You will lead maintenance planning and reliability strategies that maximize asset performance, improve operational efficiency, and support Hershey's manufacturing journey. This role offers the opportunity to influence plant performance, develop long-term maintenance strategies, and collaborate across operations, engineering, and technical teams to deliver sustainable results.
What will you do?
Minimum Education & Requirements
The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans.
You may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our online application process as a result of a disability.
You can request an accommodation via phone or email.
To request an accommodation via phone, please call 1 877-804-1794 and leave a voicemail with your contact information. You may also email a request for accommodation to ApplicationHelp@hersheys.com. Please be sure to include “Accommodation Needed” in the subject line. This will ensure that your email is routed to the appropriate contact who will handle your request.
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 West Hershey Maintenance Department has the tools and resources in place to be a world-class maintenance organization that maximizes preventive and predictive practices. As the Reliability Lead, you will play a critical role in driving equipment reliability, maintenance excellence, and continuous improvement within an assigned business unit. You will lead maintenance planning and reliability strategies that maximize asset performance, improve operational efficiency, and support Hershey's manufacturing journey. This role offers the opportunity to influence plant performance, develop long-term maintenance strategies, and collaborate across operations, engineering, and technical teams to deliver sustainable results.
What will you do?
- Lead overall maintenance and asset reliability activities for assigned production lines or process areas.
- Manage maintenance planning and scheduling through SAP work order prioritization and development of maintenance schedules.
- Drive preventive and predictive maintenance programs through analysis of maintenance and equipment performance data.
- Partner with Technical Assurance to support asset management processes, inventory accuracy, and maintenance cost effectiveness.
- Support development of site capital plans and manage capital improvement projects.
- Lead root cause analysis, defect handling, and breakdown elimination activities to improve equipment reliability and reduce downtime.
- Participate in daily operational huddles, report maintenance performance metrics, and drive corrective actions.
- Coach and develop mechanics and operators to strengthen equipment ownership, autonomous maintenance practices, and technical capability.
- Apply advanced troubleshooting and diagnostic techniques to identify and resolve complex equipment issues.
- Ensure compliance with all safety, quality, and technical standards while promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
Minimum Education & Requirements
- 3 years of relevant maintenance, reliability, or manufacturing experience.
- Reliability-centered maintenance, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance methodologies.
- Lean Manufacturing, TPM, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- SAP-PM or similar CMMS platforms, with SAP S/4 experience preferred.
- Leading projects, driving change, and influencing cross-functional teams.
- Root Cause Analysis (RCA) methodologies.
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline preferred.
- Mechanical Engineering degree preferred.
- Equivalent combinations of education and relevant manufacturing maintenance experience will be considered.
- Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP)
- Root Cause Analysis (RCA) training
- Predictive Maintenance (PdM) experience
- Maintenance Planning & Scheduling
- Reliability Engineering
- Troubleshooting and Advanced Diagnostics
- Safety Management
- Capital Project Management
- Lean Manufacturing and TPM
- Coaching and Team Development
The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans.
You may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our online application process as a result of a disability.
You can request an accommodation via phone or email.
To request an accommodation via phone, please call 1 877-804-1794 and leave a voicemail with your contact information. You may also email a request for accommodation to ApplicationHelp@hersheys.com. Please be sure to include “Accommodation Needed” in the subject line. This will ensure that your email is routed to the appropriate contact who will handle your request.