Future Opportunities Product Development Intern R&D (Summer 2027)

About the Role

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.

This internship resides at the Hershey Company's Technical Center, offering a unique opportunity to work within the Research & Development team. The team evaluates new technologies and ingredients to improve current processes and products, and to provide new product opportunities through researching new discoveries, taking product concepts to prototype, and scaling up through commercialization.

The Product Development Intern will work independently and as part of cross-functional teams, interacting with scientists, product developers, marketing, sensory, consumer research, and management. The role offers the opportunity to work in areas such as Chocolate, Sweets and Refreshments, Better For You/Protein, Salty, or International Product Development.

Responsibilities

• Carry out experimental designs, create prototypes, perform experiments, and report results.
• Create trial protocols using DOE principles, conduct benchtop development, evaluate prototypes, analyze experimental data, execute experiments on pilot-scale equipment, and prepare trial reports including next steps.
• Support research projects or portions of larger projects to provide innovative new products and/or product/process improvements in R&D.
• Perform prototyping and development from benchtop to pilot plant to full manufacturing scale.
• Test ideas through experimentation, applying technical rigor and scientific principles and practices.
• Determine next steps through problem-solving while understanding business impact.
• Assist the team in accomplishing project tasks.
• Interact closely with cross-functional groups including technical, professional, and managerial staff of R&D, production, engineering, sensory, science and technology, analytical, and marketing teams.
• Provide input for technical feasibility of new product concepts.
• Partner with Supply Chain to provide technical support to drive quality and value improvement in products and processes.

Requirements

• Pursuing an undergraduate Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Engineering (Food Processing, Chemical, Ag & Biological, etc.), Chemistry, or Biology (preferably junior or senior).
• Minimum GPA: 3.0.
• Prior internships with related experience are highly valued.

Skills

• Strong interest in hands-on work and applying technical rigor and scientific principles.
• Highly motivated and comfortable with laboratory and pilot plant equipment.
• Proficient in written and verbal communication.
• Computer literate (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Demonstrated problem-solving and evaluation capabilities.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Open and comfortable with change.

Additional Information

The internship is located in Hershey, PA, and runs from May 2027 to August 2027. The prospective candidate must identify a reliable source of transportation for the duration of the internship, preferably a car.

The candidate may need to handle allergens including dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, eggs, and other food ingredient chemicals while wearing appropriate PPE. The manufacturing facility handles dairy, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, egg, and sesame on a regular basis.