Specialist Business Development

Job description

About The Hershey Company 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, KitKat®, Dot’s Pretzels, Lesser Evil, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, and more. At Hershey, we are committed to making a meaningful difference in the communities where we live, work, and do business.

This commitment originated with our founder, Milton Hershey, and continues to shape who we are today. Guided by our employee value proposition, Lead Today. Create Tomorrow, we empower our people to drive impact now while shaping what comes next. Our One Hershey mindset brings teams together across functions, geographies, and businesses, enabling us to operate with speed, collaboration, and shared purpose. The Hershey Company is proud to be recognized as a top employer in the United States, reflecting our commitment to our people, culture, and purpose.

How Will You Fit in the Big Picture? The Specialist Business Development, Export Cluster will lead the expansion of Hershey’s footprint across Africa by opening new markets and new customers, while strengthening performance with existing Regional Distributors. This is a builder role for a self-starting, entrepreneurial operator who has personally opened export markets before, carries an established network of contacts across the region, and is comfortable owning the full commercial agenda end-to-end in a lean, start-up-style setup with minimal day-to-day oversight.

What Will You Do? Market Development & New Customer Acquisition Identify, prospect, and open new customers and new markets across Africa, using an existing network of regional contacts and relationships. Build the go-to-market approach for markets where Hershey has limited or no current presence, from initial market entry through to a running commercial operation. Develop and execute customer growth plans and joint business plans for newly onboarded accounts.

Distributor Management Manage and grow relationships with current Regional Distributors handling Hershey’s export business across Africa. Monitor distributor performance, compliance, and route-to-market effectiveness. Partner with distributors to improve sales execution, coverage, and in-market capability. Regulatory & Market Intelligence Navigate and advise on import, trade, and regulatory requirements specific to Africa market.

Track competitive activity, market dynamics, and regulatory shifts, translating them into commercial action. Commercial Execution Ensure strong in-store execution across newly opened and existing accounts. Drive visibility, distribution, and assortment objectives. Support innovation launches and promotional campaigns across the cluster. Business Analytics & Reporting Analyze sales trends, customer performance, and new-market pipeline.

Generate actionable insights to guide expansion priorities. Support forecasting and business planning activities for the Export Cluster.

Minimum Requirements

Experience Minimum 4-7 years of commercial experience within FMCG, with a track record in export or new-market business development. Demonstrated experience personally opening new markets and/or new customers in Africa. An established, ready-to-activate network of trade and distributor contacts across Africa market. Working knowledge of the regulatory and trade landscape across Africa market. Key Account Management experience.

Distributor Management experience. Strong commercial and negotiation skills. An entrepreneurial, agile operator profile — comfortable working independently in a lean, start-up-style setup, self-directed, resilient, and driven to pursue growth without close supervision. Preferred E-commerce experience. Experience within multinational FMCG organizations. Additional regional language skills relevant to Africa market.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Commerce, or a related discipline. Benefits and Perks At Hershey, we offer competitive pay and a comprehensive total rewards package designed to support your wellbeing, financial security, and life outside of work.

Health & Wellbeing

Medical, plus wellness programs that support your physical and mental health.

Financial Security

Competitive pay, annual incentive opportunities.

Time Off & Flexibility

Paid time off, company holidays, and flexible ways of working where applicable.

Growth & Development

Career development programs, learning opportunities, and internal mobility. Benefits may vary based on role, location, and eligibility.