Lilly Posted September 16, 2026

Principal Project Engineer- Design Lead

CAROLINA, Puerto Rico FULL_TIME
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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.

Patients are at the center of everything we do at Lilly. We are currently hiring a Principal Project Engineer-Design Lead.

This role supports critical work that helps bring medicines and solutions to patients responsibly and efficiently. #WeAreLilly

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.

The Global Facilities Delivery (GFD) Organization, part of Corporate Engineering and Continuous Improvement, delivers new and renovated capital assets around the world.  Our mission is accomplished through a highly leveraged organization of design, construction and qualification contractors.  Many of the assets delivered focus on medical innovation and delivering innovative solutions to patients.  Some of the assets delivered will support an expansion in supply of existing medicines or making the supply chain more robust. The Design Lead (DL) will serve in the following capacity:

Responsibilities:

Lead in the identification of the applicable Engineering Design Standards, Engineering Functional Standards, Engineering Specifications and Regulatory requirements and guidance (both internal and external).

Be responsible for the overall design delivery for capital project(s).

Coordinate all design for the Project Manager during all design phases of the project and be responsible in delivering the conceptual design review and basic design review.

Direct the development of the design requirements.

Assist in development and maintenance of the design schedule to meet the project needs.

Participate in the selection of the A/E firms.

Coordinate with A/E firms to develop earned value progress systems to measure progress by discipline (monitor work versus invoice amounts).

Expedite design decisions and coordinate information flow between the design team and system owners.

Be responsible for ensuring the design meets approved intent through interactions between the design firm, design specialists, engineering tech center disciplines, and end user/customer.

Be responsible for design activities and governance, resolving design-related problems.

Examine areas of inefficiency and develop strategies for improvement to direct the design team to meet or improve on the design hours plan.

Assist in the development of standard operating procedures, project delivery work instructions, and/or best practices related to design/verification and ensure they remain current with industry best practices.

Review and approve along with the respective Project Manager the key design project personnel (both internal and external resources).

Work with Engineering Tech Center resources and other key project team technical/constructability resources to address and resolve design issues.

Ensure replication is achieved during design when applicable.

Support the Project Manager for value engineering exercises efforts to maximize project opportunities.

Review design-related invoices prior to approval and participate in KPI reviews/assessments.

Participate in the selection of the verification professional services.

Accountable for the development of the Project Verification Plan, Traceability Matrix, and risk assessments (not necessary lead the execution).

Basic Requirements:

BS in Engineering (Chemical or Mechanical preferred)

Minimum of 8 to 10 years manufacturing and/or engineering experience in support of pharmaceutical or API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) networks .

Pharmaceutical process or project engineer experience

Strong project management skills

Ability to effectively facilitate conflict to resolution

Ability to influence all levels of the project and site personnel

Understanding of the capital project delivery process, A/E design activities, and the understanding of the available Lilly technical resources (user reps, Engineering Tech Center resources, and design specialists)

Demonstrated values that are consistent with the Lilly values

Able to frame complex decisions/analyses, facilitate to a decision, and implement according to the plan

Ability to create creditability and influence to align decision agreements between site(s), corporate engineering, A/E firm decision-makers, and stakeholders who have differing opinions

Experience facilitating issue resolution, anticipating scope changes, and implementing projects safely with quality, speed and value

Comfortable maintaining an in-office presence 3-4 days per week

Additional Information:

Travel can be both domestic and international, on average about 25%, depending on the phase of the project

The potential of co-location at the A/E firm or the job site to support C&Q activities for periods of time could occur based on project needs

Important Notice: In order to maintain the excellent reputation of our company, the quality of our products, and the safety of our working environment, the company will take all reasonable measures to ensure that drug abuse by employees or other persons does not jeopardize the safety of our operations or the quality of our products or adversely affect in any way the company or its employees. The company recognizes that drug use both on and off the job can be detrimental to the company and its efforts to provide a drug-free workplace. Even if prescribed under a state medical marijuana law, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Marijuana is considered unauthorized by Lilly.

"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."

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

$90,000 - $132,000

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
CAROLINA, Puerto Rico
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 503 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 82 biopharma companies.

503Comparable roles tracked
481Currently active
82Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

185 of 503 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 $90,000/yr – $132,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Manufacturing Technician · Genz. Therap Product LP $24/hr – $32/hr (≈ $49,920–$66,560/yr)
Peer group range $58,240 – $288,000 (median $147,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 503 comparable roles

United States307
India46
Ireland23
Netherlands18
China's Mainland10
Switzerland10

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

503 of 503 peers have a known seniority level

Senior328
Principal94
Director81

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 503 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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.

50%similar
Lilly CAROLINA, Puerto Rico Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
Lilly Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Principal
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
AbbVie Pleasanton, CA Principal
Same function Same seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

50%
Director - Engineering Design Lead
Lilly · CAROLINA, Puerto Rico · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Senior/Principal Associate in Pharmaceutical Technical Development – Drug Product Formulation & Process Development - fixed term for 2 years
Roche · Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Advisor / Senior Advisor, Analytical Chemistry - Antibody-Drug Conjugates
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Principal Material Sciences Engineer
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · 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.