Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineering

This is an opportunity to be a key player in the next phase of Hershey's one-year-old software engineering organization as it grows into multiple product-focused teams. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will work with a high degree of autonomy shaping architecture, guiding cross-team initiatives, mentoring other engineers, and continuously improving engineering quality. You will help establish how we build and operate while still being hands-on, building alongside the rest of the team. Your software will directly support Hershey's business teams' daily activity through products such as assortment planning, sales routing, and sales coaching with more to come. You will connect technical decisions to product direction and business outcomes, partnering with engineers, product managers, business teams, and other technical leaders across multiple teams. This is a rare opportunity to shape both systems and engineering culture as the organization grows. If you enjoy solving real business problems, influencing technical direction, and helping other engineers succeed — without formal people management — then we'd love to tell you more.

Responsibilities

• Lead Cross-Team Technical Work
• Shape Architecture and Technical Direction
• Tackle the Hardest Technical Problems
• Raise Engineering and Operational Quality
• Mentor and Grow Other Engineers

Qualifications

Required:

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent depth and impact
• Experience designing, building, and supporting complex production systems
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions across multiple teams
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills, especially in production environments
• Ability to communicate technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences

Preferred:

• Experience working in highly ambiguous or fast-evolving environments
• Familiarity with modern distributed systems and cloud platforms
• Experience defining or influencing engineering standards beyond a single team
• Experience guiding teams using AI/ML or LLM-based services, including architectural design, API integration, and quality considerations

The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The policy of The Hershey Company is to extend opportunities to qualified applicants and employees on an equal basis regardless of an individual's race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other categories protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.