Wanted: A taste tester for some of Pa.’s best ice cream. Yes, it pays.

How’s this for a sweet summer gig?

For a few weeks this July, you can drive around Pennsylvania, visit dairy farms, eat lots of ice cream, and post about how cool it is on social media. You even get paid for it. Sounds good?

The American Dairy Association North East is looking for the perfect person to be its first-ever chief ice cream officer.

“We want to celebrate the amazing dairy farmers in Pennsylvania and promote that they have incredible local dairy farms with ice cream on site,” said Patrick Carney, the association’s vice president for marketing and digital strategy. “This is an incredible way to get to be fun and creative and celebrate National Ice Cream Month, which of course every year is July.”

The association is looking for one person to visit 20 select Pennsylvania dairy farms that make and sell their own ice cream. During what just might be the road trip of a lifetime, the officer will sample the ice cream at every site and create fun videos and other social media content about their experiences as they go.

They’ll do this over a period of about two to three weeks this July. For their service, they get paid $5,000. The association will cover all of the officer’s travel-related expenses, including mileage and hotels.

To qualify, the applicant must be at least 18, have a valid driver’s license, access to a car, and active car insurance. They must also be a legal resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, the District of Columbia, or Virginia.

Each applicant is required to submit a video via TikTok or Instagram saying why they should be selected. Instructions are available at: americandairy.com. The deadline is May 20.

“We’re going to be judging on creativity, originality, and excitement for ice cream,” Carney said. “We want that person who just loves and is excited about the idea. They love videos and posting on social media and they have an adventurous side to them. We want them absolutely to show their personality and their voice.”

The list of dairies with on-site creameries that the ice cream officer will visit hasn’t been finalized, but Carney said three of them are in the suburban counties just outside of Philadelphia.

With several states in the organization’s purview, why is this ice cream odyssey focused on Pennsylvania?

“Pennsylvania is a fantastic dairy state,” Carney explained. “It produces the eighth largest amount of milk of any state in the country, almost 10 billion pounds per year.”

As a comparison, Carney said there are 35 dairies in New Jersey and 15 in Delaware, but about 5,000 in Pennsylvania.

Many of the Commonwealth’s dairies and their creameries are family-owned and operated, like over 94% of all the dairy farms in the U.S., he said.

“We have great local farms, and most people probably don’t realize how close you can get ice cream on a dairy farm right here in Pennsylvania,” Carney said, “and the best part is it’s also delicious.”