Lilly Posted August 12, 2026

Director - Engineering - Purification & Conjugation Technologies - BR&D

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC Director

Lilly is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work, but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.

Overview:

At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. We make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, more active lives. Not only do we deliver breakthrough medications, but you also can count on us to develop creative solutions to support communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.

Organization Overview:

The Bioprocess Biologics Operations team within Bioproduct Research and Development (BRD) is responsible for the GMP manufacture of drug substance (DS) to support clinical trials within the BRD portfolio. This includes the internal manufacture of monoclonal antibodies, bioconjugates and adeno associated viruses, as well as oversight of DS manufacturing at qualified collaboration partners.

The technical director of engineering will consult with process development and manufacturing network partners to ensure facility fit for process technical transfers, advise on new manufacturing facility designs, and implement new technology.  In addition, the technical director will utilize a holistic understanding of process operations, engineering fundamentals, and cGMP requirements to provide leadership and technical oversight for the design, implementation, and lifecycle management for the process equipment within the Bioprocess Pilot Plant.  The main focus area of this role is in purification and conjugation technologies in support of GMP manufacturing.

Responsibilities:

Provide technical expertise and oversight to assist in the design and operation of manufacturing processes for drug substance, with a focus on chromatography, filtration and bulk unit operations (large scale).

Develop control systems for unit operations and process improvements.

Perform impact and risk assessments for new processes, unit operations and technology.

Collaborate with development scientists and commercial manufacturing to ensure that technology adoption and integration is aligned to strategies of the broader organization.

Maintains awareness of new and developing technologies to evaluate and implement, as required, that enhance current capabilities and align with commercial manufacturing needs.

Provide engineering support for tech transfers to internal and external manufacturing (commercial and clinical) sites, as required.

Teach, mentor and ensure knowledge transfer to other engineers and scientists within the organization.

Ensures processing equipment and technology remain compliant with PR&D Quality System requirements, applicable engineering standards, and cGMP requirements.

Provide technical input and impact assessment for global and local Quality Standards and SOPs, as requested.

Participate in audits (internal and external), as requested.

Support regulatory submissions and response to questions, as requested.

Basic Requirements:

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering or a related field with 8+ years of experience in process development or biologics manufacturing or a BS/MS in Chemical Engineering or a related field with 10-12+ years of experience in process development or biologics manufacturing.

Strong experience in biopharmaceutical production unit operations for downstream processing

Design and qualification of downstream equipment

Strong oral and written communication skills with a demonstrated ability to communicate across a wide variety of audiences, e.g., technical personnel, operations, and management.

Strong problem-solving skills.

Ability to provide technical leadership across diverse teams.

Experience with process control systems like Unicorn or DeltaV

Additional Information:

Position is 8 hour days with flexibility to support activities during shutdowns, weekends, etc.

Travel is possible, but expected to be minimal

Physical Demands/Travel:

The physical demands of this job are consistent with a manufacturing environment.  

The physical demands here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Work Environment:

This position’s work environment is in a manufacturing environment.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

*To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the role and responsibilities satisfactorily. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form ( https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation ) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.

Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

$151,500 - $239,800

Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

#WeAreLilly

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 163 comparable Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 25 biopharma companies.

163Comparable roles tracked
157Currently active
25Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

118 of 163 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $151,500/yr – $239,800/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior/Principal Scientist, Bioprocess Purification Development · Lilly $79,500/yr – $116,600/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Director Operations · Hospira, Inc. $214,900/yr – $358,100/yr
Peer group range $98,050 – $286,500 (median $184,900)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 163 comparable roles

United States139
India11
Netherlands4
Ireland2
France1
United Kingdom1

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

163 of 163 peers have a known seniority level

Principal79
Director63
Senior Director21

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 163 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
AstraZeneca Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Director, Integrated Bioanalysis Oncology Development
AstraZeneca · Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director - Analytical Chemistry
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Vaccine Formulation Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director of GMP Analytical, Pharmaceutical Analytical Sciences
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.