Senior Manager Learning Capability Acceleration

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.

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, Kit Kat®, Dot's Pretzels, LesserEvil, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, and more.

About the role

This role plays a critical part in helping Hershey strengthen how intelligence is generated, shared, and activated across the enterprise. Reporting to the Director, Enterprise Intelligence & Learning Capability Advancement, this leader will shape and advance the strategy for enterprise research capabilities, intelligence activation, AI-enabled learning, and future-ready ways of working.

As part of the Enterprise Intelligence & Learning Capability Acceleration team, you will create the connective tissue across consumer insights, commercial intelligence, market intelligence, foresight, analytics, AI, and enterprise capability development. This role will help accelerate how teams leverage research, intelligence, technology, and learning to improve decision quality, anticipate future opportunities, drive innovation, and unlock sustainable growth.

This is a unique opportunity for a strategic capability builder, research champion, and change leader who is passionate about transforming intelligence into action, advancing research excellence, and building the future capabilities required to win in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute Hershey's enterprise strategy and multi-year roadmap for a primary research capability and learning ecosystem, grounded in AI-enabled intelligence, future-focused thinking, and enterprise capability acceleration.
• Identify high-impact primary research opportunities where emerging methodologies, learning models, technologies, and external partnerships can strengthen enterprise insight capabilities, foresight, and business decision-making.
• Build enterprise capabilities that enable teams to more effectively generate, interpret, synthesize, and activate consumer, shopper, commercial, market, and competitive intelligence.
• Translate business priorities into actionable research, intelligence, and capability-building agendas that drive investment decisions, learning strategies, innovation priorities, and enterprise growth.
• Build scalable systems, frameworks, playbooks, and learning experiences that improve how teams leverage consumer, shopper, commercial, market, and competitive intelligence to influence business outcomes.
• Partner with Consumer & Commercial Intelligence leaders, business stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to identify capability gaps and develop practical learning roadmaps aligned to enterprise growth priorities.
• Accelerate adoption of AI-enabled intelligence solutions, advanced research methodologies, automation tools, and learning technologies that improve the speed, quality, and impact of business recommendations.
• Evaluate emerging research methodologies, data sources, technologies, trends, and best practices to ensure Hershey remains at the forefront of intelligence generation, learning innovation, and future-ready decision making.
• Establish governance frameworks, success measures, and operating routines that ensure research, intelligence, and capability investments deliver measurable business impact.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, consumer obsession, experimentation, evidence-based decision making, and continuous learning across Consumer & Commercial Intelligence and enterprise stakeholders.
• Lead external partner and supplier ecosystem strategies, including identifying, evaluating, and managing strategic relationships with research providers, technology partners, academic institutions, and capability-building organizations.
• Influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams to embrace new ways of working, intelligence-driven decision making, and sustainable capability development.

Requirements

• 7+ years of progressive experience in consumer insights, market research, commercial intelligence, strategy, analytics, foresight, capability building, organizational learning, transformation, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated expertise in primary research methodologies and applying consumer, shopper, market, commercial, or competitive intelligence to solve business challenges and influence strategic decisions.
• Experience building enterprise capabilities through learning programs, enablement initiatives, adoption strategies, or organizational transformation efforts.
• Experience developing strategic roadmaps, operating models, insight ecosystems, external partnerships, research programs, or capability-building initiatives.
• Demonstrated success driving change management, stakeholder engagement, and adoption of new tools, methodologies, processes, and ways of working within a matrixed organization.
• Experience with AI-enabled research tools, advanced analytics, business intelligence platforms, consumer research technologies, knowledge management systems, digital learning solutions, or related technologies preferred.
• Bachelor's degree required. Advanced degree in Marketing, Consumer Insights, Market Research, Business, Analytics, Organizational Development, Behavioral Science, Strategy, Learning, or a related field preferred.

Location: Hershey, PA