Sr Controls & Electrical Engineer

Hershey

Hershey, PA

Estimated pay: Est. $28–$36/hr (market estimate, not employer-stated)

Location: Hershey, PA 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. How will you fit in the big picture? We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Controls Electrical Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and commissioning of advanced automation and electrical systems across our manufacturing network. This role is ideal for an engineer who combines strong technical expertise with project leadership, problem-solving, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams. In this role, you will help deliver capital projects, improve operational performance, enable digital manufacturing initiatives, and establish scalable controls standards across our facilities. You will serve as a trusted technical resource while mentoring developing engineers and driving engineering excellence. You will have the opportunity to work with advanced automation technologies, shape engineering standards, lead meaningful capital investments, and directly influence the future of digital manufacturing while continuing to develop both technical and leadership capabilities What will you do? Technical Leadership Design, develop, and assess industrial control systems for manufacturing and packaging operations. Lead the specification, design, programming, installation, commissioning, and startup of automation systems. Develop and maintain electrical architectures, control system standards, and engineering best practices. Provide technical leadership in PLC, HMI, SCADA, motion control, industrial networking, and instrumentation applications. Support machine integration, manufacturing data enablement, and digital transformation initiatives. Project Execution Lead the controls and electrical portions of capital projects from concept through startup. Manage project scope, budget, schedule, technical risks, and resource requirements. Develop control narratives, functional specifications, electrical schematics, network architectures, and commissioning plans. Coordinate with equipment suppliers, system integrators, contractors, and plant teams to support successful project execution. Participate in Factory Acceptance Testing, Site Acceptance Testing, startup, and troubleshooting activities. Operational Excellence Diagnose and resolve complex automation, electrical, and controls issues. Drive reliability, safety, cybersecurity, and maintainability improvements. Ensure compliance with electrical codes, industry standards, company engineering standards, and cybersecurity requirements. Support continuous improvement initiatives that increase productivity, quality, and operational efficiency. Collaboration Mentorship Partner with process engineering, packaging engineering, project management, digital engineering, operations, maintenance, and quality teams. Communicate complex technical concepts effectively to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Mentor engineers, co-ops, and contractors while helping elevate team technical capabilities. Influence engineering decisions through technical expertise, data-driven recommendations, and collaborative leadership. Minimum Requirements Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related technical discipline. 5+ years of experience designing and implementing industrial automation and electrical systems. Experience leading controls and electrical workstreams on capital projects. Strong knowledge of industrial control systems in manufacturing environments. Demonstrated experience with PLC/PAC programming, industrial networks and protocols, HMI/SCADA systems, motion control, electrical power distribution, control panel design, instrumentation, and process control. Ability to travel to manufacturing locations as required. Preferred: Experience in food, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical, chemical, or another highly automated manufacturing environment. Experience with FactoryTalk, Ignition, Siemens TIA Portal, or related automation platforms. Knowledge of EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, MQTT, OPC UA, and industrial cybersecurity principles. Understanding of NFPA, NEC, UL 508A, machine safety, and functional safety standards. What Success Looks Like: Lead medium-to-large controls and electrical projects with minimal supervision. Serve as