Lilly Posted September 6, 2026

Principal Scientist Visual Inspection Steward

Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany 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.

Lilly unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our 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.

At Lilly Germany, we are currently planning and building a high-tech production facility in Alzey (Rhineland-Palatinate), which will expand our production of injectable drugs from 2027 and employ up to 1,000 specialists. To make the most of our innovative production site, we are looking for motivated reinforcements who, together with us, will ensure the supply of Lilly medicines in Germany, Europe, and worldwide, in line with the three Lilly values of "Excellence," "Integrity," and "Respect for People."

In this role you will be part of the TSMS (Technical Services / Manufacturing Science) team (also known as MSAT or MS&T). The TSMS team is the technical owner of the process, from tech transfer and validation through commercial lifecycle management. Our decisions on control strategy, lifecycle, and process robustness shape how this greenfield parenteral site runs for the next decades, with direct visibility to site leadership and Lilly's global technical network.

Join our Lilly team in Alzey and start as soon as possible as:

Principal Scientist Visual Inspection - Technical Services/Manufacturing Science (m/w/d)

Responsibilities:

The TS/MS Visual Inspection (VI) Principal Scientist will assume responsibility across the manufacturing site in terms of ownership and harmonization of local control strategy that are implemented and executed at the site with regarding the Visual Inspection program.

As a Subject Matter Expert (SME), he is a key member in a cross-functional team who provides technical guidance for inspection operations and projects and is responsible for teaching, mentoring and coaching personnel in all aspects relating to visual inspection processes.

The VI Principal Scientist is responsible for the training and qualification program associated with visual inspection and classification of defects and ensuring overall scientific understanding of the program.

She/He also participates in troubleshooting and driving continuous improvement as it relates to the visual inspection program. The visual inspection Principal Scientist can also participate in investigations, regulatory inspections and collaborate in site inspection readiness programs

The role will regularly interact with peers within the network and in Global TS/MS to share learning and ensure strategies are in line with technical, quality, and regulatory guidance, while supporting business expectations.

Key Objectives/Deliverables:

Serve as technical subject matter expert and program owner for all topics related to visual inspection supporting the site.

Is responsible with respect to implementation of regulatory guidance (e.g. USP ), technological advancements, and understanding of how changes could impact Eli Lilly

Provide technical oversight regarding defect classification, visual inspection technique, and visual inspection qualification program to support production operations

Provide technical support for non-routine investigations (e.g., deviations, complaints).

Author, review, or approve technical documents, including personnel qualification strategies, control strategies, investigations, change controls, expert opinions, qualifications, procedures, defect classifications, personnel qualification strategies, control strategies, technical studies, etc.

Develop, monitor, and appropriately react to established statistically based metrics to assess process variability and capability

Own the development and implementation of process improvements to improve process control, yield, and/or efficiency

Interact with regulators, customers, or other outside stakeholders on business issues or in support of internal and external agency audits.

Basic Qualifications:

Minimum of bachelor's degree in science or engineering field

Minimum 2+ years proven experience in visual inspection of pharmaceutical products

Preferred 5+ years proven experience directly supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing or quality, with experience in visual inspection of pharmaceutical products.

Skills/Preferences:

Technical writing and communication skills are used daily and the ability to effectively communicate and transfer knowledge to all levels of the organization is essential.

Ability to train/coach others and cross functional influence are critical in this role.

Ability to communicate to diverse groups on sophisticated regulatory, business, or technical issues within the site and function

Experience in basic statistics and ANSI Standards

Build relationships with internal and external customers and partners

Proficiency in delivering highly sophisticated tasks and/or tasks that are highly cross-functional

Strong analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills

Demonstrated Project Management skills and ability to coordinate complex projects

Strategic thinking and ability to balance short term needs with long term business evolution

Additional Information:

Role is Monday through Friday.  Must be flexible in providing support to accommodate other inputs (production schedules, shutdowns, etc.).  Occasional extended hours and /or off-hour work may be required.

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 does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

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

€52.500 -  €121.000

Full-time equivalent employees may also 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 pension plan; vacation benefits; eligibility for healthcare benefits; flexible benefits (if applicable) 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
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
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 458 comparable Principal Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 54 biopharma companies.

458Comparable roles tracked
425Currently active
54Companies hiring similar roles
21Countries represented

Salary context

227 of 458 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Animal Behaviorist - Primate · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $322,000 (median $169,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 458 comparable roles

United States340
China22
India16
United Kingdom11
Switzerland10
Belgium9

+ 15 more countries

Seniority mix

458 of 458 peers have a known seniority level

Senior227
Principal170
Director61

Therapeutic area mix

59 of 458 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology19
Oncology18
Neuroscience15
Cardiovascular / CVRM3
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Respiratory1
Gastroenterology1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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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.