Lilly Posted August 28, 2026

Post-Doc Scientist – Parenteral Product Network – TSMS Sterility Assurance and Microbiology Support

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America FULL_TIME
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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.

Company Overview:

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our 39,000 employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world. #WeAreLilly

Organization Overview:

Lilly is entering an exciting period of growth, and we are committed to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world. Lilly is investing to create a new technical services laboratory capability in Indianapolis, Indiana. This new capability will be used to support the entire Lilly operational network as well as evaluate and develop new technologies that will enable Lilly to be an industry leader and enhance our service to patients.

Position Title: Post-Doc Scientist – Parenteral Product Network – TSMS Sterility Assurance and Microbiology Support

Pay Grade Level: R0

Job Function: TS/MS

Position Brand Description:

Post-Doctoral Sterility Assurance and Microbiology Scientists at Lilly are responsible for:

Ensuring reliability of our manufacturing systems

Searching for and implementing continuous improvements

Driving technical projects

Maintaining our processes in a state of compliance with US and global regulations

Designing and developing improved Sterility Assurance and Applied Pharmaceutical Microbiology processes and controls

The position is a Post-Doctoral scientist position in the Technical Services/Manufacturing Science (TS/MS) organization.  The position will provide technical and scientific support within a dynamic manufacturing environment for aseptic manufacturing and laboratory methods.  The successful candidate will be responsible for designing and executing experiments to advance technical capability associated to sterility assurance and applied pharmaceutical microbiology both in a manufacturing and laboratory environment.

Scientists actively contribute to the TS/MS organization and have extensive opportunities for involvement in cross-functional teams. This position allows for development of a comprehensive understanding of the pharmaceutical industry, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), regulatory requirements, and the essential role scientists play in making medicine and creating real-world solutions.

Key Objectives/Deliverables

Work closely with site and cross-functional SMEs to drive alignment. Ensure control strategies are robust, consistent with regulatory and compliance expectations, and are continuously improved.

Assume SME leadership role for a specific topic area within Sterility Assurance across the network, including harmonization of aspects of the topic area and dissemination of the knowledge across the network.

Provide mentoring leadership to site SMEs to help continue to build capability and talent, particularly at the newer sites or where deep technical expertise is lacking.

Building, maintaining, and growing capability across the organization in the sterility assurance space

Benchmark industry trends and new technologies to ensure Lilly stays current with new trends and technologies and share with the network with the goal of staying current with industry best practices.

Work with PR&D on new technology / platform development and implementation for pipeline products. Influence the agenda within PR&D to ensure the needs of Manufacturing are met, and the control strategies are fit-for-purpose for robust and compliant commercial manufacturing.

Develop appropriate laboratory models for potential manufacturing solutions related to Sterility Assurance.

Design, conduct, and analyze statistically-designed experiments.

Strong technical writing and documentation of all work in an appropriate manner.

Mentor lab associates to enhance their technical capabilities.

Ability to work well independently and collaboratively.

Basic Requirements:

Ph.D. in scientific disciplines of Microbiology, Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry or related fields.

Demonstrated experience and proficiency in the areas of microbiology, molecular biology and/or aseptic operations

Requires a record of publication in peer reviewed journals and presentations / posters at scientific conferences.

Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Additional Preferences:

This Post-Doctoral Scientist position is not permanent. It is for a fixed duration of two years with potential to extend to 3 years and for maximum of up to 4 years. You will have opportunities to apply for full time positions after your duration is complete.

Self-motivated with the ability to work effectively independently, as well as collaboratively in teams.

Strong scheduling and organizational skills.

Written and oral communication skills.

Proficiency in data analysis.

Ability to prioritize, attention to detail, critical decision-making skills, complex problem-solving abilities.

Understanding of the scientific method and scientific principles of microbiology.

Understanding of general laboratory safety expectations.

Minimal Travel Required

Strong problem solving and communication skills.

Prior laboratory work experience and experience with general microbiology laboratory testing techniques and practices.

Effective time management

Education Requirements:

Ph.D. in scientific disciplines of Microbiology, Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry or related fields.

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

$58,000 - $123,200

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
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 161 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 35 biopharma companies.

161Comparable roles tracked
146Currently active
35Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

53 of 161 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 $58,000/yr – $123,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Lab Associate Flow Cytometry · IQVIA $34,700/yr – $72,300/yr
Highest disclosed · Advisor - Isotopic Chemistry · Lilly $153,000/yr – $246,400/yr
Peer group range $53,500 – $199,700 (median $84,578)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 161 comparable roles

United States107
France14
Germany11
Belgium7
Switzerland4
United Kingdom3

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

161 of 161 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc83
Associate78

Therapeutic area mix

15 of 161 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology8
Neuroscience4
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Immunology1

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
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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.

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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.