Manager, Human Rights

Reports to: Head of Sustainability & ESG

Dept / Function: Sustainability/Legal

Location: Hershey, PA

Summary Statement

The Manager of Human Rights is responsible for developing and implementing The Hershey Company's human rights strategy across its global operations and supply chain. This role leads enterprise-wide human rights due and environmental diligence (HREDD), human rights disclosures and rater ranker surveys, ensures compliance with relevant regulations, provides expert advisory services to leadership, and engages with external stakeholders to advance the company's human rights agenda. This role also leads Hershey’s living wage and income agenda along with the company’s work to improve the financial resilience of farmers and workers in prioritized agricultural supply chains. Reporting to the Head of Sustainability & ESG, this position plays a critical role in identifying and mitigating human rights risks while driving continuous improvement of Hershey's human rights programs and initiatives and reporting.

Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and advance Hershey's enterprise-wide human rights strategy, including policy setting and saliency assessments
• Establish effective human rights governance frameworks with clear decision-making processes and issue escalation protocols
• Work with strategy teams on the design and cross-organizational implementation of new human rights initiatives
• Coordinate with environmental teams to integrate human rights and environmental due diligence into systems and processes , while advancing an approach that aligns environmental progress with support for people and communities

Due Diligence & Compliance

• Own the enterprise HREDD strategy across Hershey’s value chain including developing and managing risk assessment processes, best practices on supplier and farm level due diligence and  remediation, informing enterprise traceability requirements, and ongoing development and continuous improvement in close partnership with legal to reflect evolving regulation, best practice, and business context
• Own the enterprise compliance readiness roadmap for human rights, coordinating with the cocoa, responsible sourcing legal, ethics and compliance to track regulatory deadlines, manage milestones, and ensure integration into financial planning cycles
• Manage cross-functional working groups to monitor progress and address bottlenecks
• Identify and mitigate human rights-related risks, including reputational, operational, and financial risks
• Coordinate with procurement on business impact assessments and mitigation plans

Living Wage, Income and Financial Resilience:

• Lead enterprise living wage and living income initiatives, coordinating across HR, responsible sourcing, and cocoa teams to ensure coherent, measurable approaches to closing income gaps in priority supply chains
• Define and maintain Hershey’s enterprise framework for financial resilience, including establishing the definitions, criteria, indicators, and thresholds used to assess farmer and worker economic wellbeing across prioritized agricultural supply chains
• Partner with procurement teams to identify, evaluate, and prioritize projects and interventions that strengthen farmer and worker financial resilience, providing strategic guidance on program design, supplier selection criteria, and investment scale
• Engage with external partners, industry coalitions, and peer companies to stay current on best practices, tools, and standards for measuring and advancing financial resilience in agricultural supply chains to inform monitoring and evaluation approach and reporting cadences

Reporting & Data Management

• Lead enterprise approach to human rights voluntary and mandatory reporting and disclosures
• Own the process of creating and auditing HRDD disclosure reports and oversee signoff processes
• Support continuous improvement of data quality and identify opportunities for automation
• Work with internal audit, legal, and compliance teams to ensure due diligence meets requirements
• Monitor progress on human rights efforts and resolve obstacles

Advisory & Stakeholder Engagement

• Provide expert advisory services to business units and leadership on human rights topics
• Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including NGOs
• Represent Hershey in cross-sector efforts and technical forums
• Engage externally to stay current with latest industry trends and developments

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Master’s degree strongly preferred in a relevant field such as International Development, Law, Human Rights, Sustainability, Environmental Studies, Public Policy, or Business

Experience

• 7+ years of experience in human rights, responsible sourcing, ESG, or sustainability; corporate experience at a food, beverage, or agriculture company highly sought after
•  Experience managing human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) programs at a multinational company or in support of a company process
• Proven experience with human rights rater & ranker processes and human rights disclosures
• Strong knowledge of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and key human rights regulations including EUFL, CSDDD, EUDR CSRD, etc.
• Solid understanding of complex, multi-tier global supply chains and sourcing practices, including traceability tools, supplier audits, and farm-level due diligence
• Experience with living wage/living income frameworks and financial resilience initiatives for farmers and workers preferred
• Advanced analytical skills to support interpretation of human rights risks across business operations and value chains
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and deliver results in a matrixed, complex operating environment
• Strong influencing and collaboration skills across all levels of an organization, including senior leadership and C-suite
• Strong executive presence with proven ability to advise and present to senior leaders on complex human rights and regulatory topics
• Clear, concise, and compelling oral and written communication skills, including policy writing and executive reporting
• Highly organized with strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple priorities and regulatory deadlines simultaneously

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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.
 
The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans.  

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