Lilly Posted July 1, 2026

Principal Engineer - Robotics (R3-R4)

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

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.

Eli Lilly and Company seeks a Principal Engineer – Robotics (R3 – R4) to lead efforts with global sites and Robotics program peers to develop solutions for the integration of robotic systems that enable the flow of material and data across our manufacturing sites. Work with vendors to troubleshoot, shakedown, and oversee Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) activities. Develop capabilities in robotics and PLC programming to effectively troubleshoot design and/or functional issues. Review site documentation for assigned engineering systems deployed to sites. Support the effective design and deployments of robotic technologies by working in multidisciplinary teams within manufacturing, quality, and other business units. Support GRP lab activities and application development in areas including robotic system design, 2D and 3D vision development, robot code development, End of Arm Tooling (EoAT) design, augmented / virtual reality simulation, rapid prototyping, and augmented / virtual reality simulation. #LI-DNI

Position requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Robotics Engineering, or a related field and 3 years of academic or employment experience as an engineer in a highly automated environment. Academic or employment experience must include a minimum of: 3 years of experience in the development and deployment of robotic and/or automated material movement systems; experience in control system programming and with PLC, HMI, and MES systems such as Rockwell Automation Studio5000, or FactoryTalk SE; experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, parenteral, and/or packaging processes; experience in Commissioning & Qualification, asset delivery, validation activities, and cGMP regulations; and experience in AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and/or other modeling software. Up to 5% domestic travel required. Part time telecommuting may be permitted. #LI-DNI

Job location: Indianapolis, IN.

To apply, please visit https://jobsearch.lilly.com/ and enter job requisition number R-107968 when prompted. Alternatively, please send your resume, cover letter, and a copy of the ad to: Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Drop Code 1093, Indianapolis, IN 46285.

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

$77,418.00 - $125,926.00 per year

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
Principal
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 393 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 56 biopharma companies.

393Comparable roles tracked
368Currently active
56Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

188 of 393 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 $77,418/yr – $125,926/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Scientist II – CMC Developmental Sciences · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Director, Global Automation Engineering · AbbVie $182,000/yr – $346,000/yr
Peer group range $0 – $264,000 (median $150,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 393 comparable roles

United States282
India42
Singapore10
Ireland9
Netherlands7
Switzerland6

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

393 of 393 peers have a known seniority level

Senior251
Principal78
Director64

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 393 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
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Watertown, Massachusetts, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
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%
Senior/Principal Scientist, Bioprocess Purification Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Principal Scientist, Analytical Sciences
Lilly · Watertown, Massachusetts, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr. Principal or Engineering Advisor - Agentic Lab Automation Integration
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Principal Scientist, Downstream Process Development
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · Principal
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.