Lilly Posted September 12, 2026

Senior Engineering Advisor (SDD)

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America 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.

Job Position Overview:

Support the development of key solutions or process improvements for Lilly manufacturing processes or industry defined subjects.  Engineering Consultants are expected to bring key expertise and knowledge to the table and lead development processes through research, process engineering laboratory experimental efforts, and direct interactions with manufacturing sites, development and functional areas.

This role provides technical leadership (including oversight of the community, technology development, knowledge sharing, mentoring and coaching of others, etc.), provides technical –guidance and support to sites and external manufacturing organizations, supports major capital projects, and networks with the external community at large.

Key Objectives/Deliverables:

Provides engineering technical leadership globally in spray dried technology for amorphous solid dispersions, including solvent system selection, and process parameter definition.

Collaborates cross-functionally in manufacturing and development to direct discipline activities, new technology development, assessments, and deployment.  Stay abreast of current industry trends in spray drying, hot melt extrusion alternatives, and emerging amorphous stabilization approaches.

Collaborates with sites globally, assisting with technical evaluations, technology assessment and specific problem resolution including troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and productivity improvements.

Develops informal and formal networks with manufacturing and development peers to identify opportunities to apply engineering principles to improve Lilly operations.

Develops experimental programs, protocols and models to address technical problems. Includes development and application of vessel and other scale-down models.

Supervises laboratory experiments and partner with lab team to assure that experiments are carried out safely and with high quality and speed.

Prepares technical reports and other supporting documentation for knowledge sharing.

Leverage external resources to stay current in specific area of technology expertise and when necessary to complement internal resources.

Basic Qualifications:

BS Engineering or Science

8+ yrs manufacturing experience in a GMP regulated environment (preferably pharmaceutical manufacturing)

Additional Skills/ Preferences:

Demonstrated technical abilities and abilities in engineering as applied to the manufacturing platforms utilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing oral solid dose.

Advanced degree in engineering (MS or PhD).

Expertise in particle characterization and analysis

Experience with process modeling tools

Additional Information:

Position Location: Indianapolis

Travel Percentage (%): up to 20%

Shift Information: Days

NOTE: This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the job requirements at the time it was prepared. The job requirements of any position may change over time and may include additional responsibilities not specifically described in the job description. For GMP purposes, the job description should be updated for significant changes. As always, you should consult with your supervisor regarding your actual job responsibilities and any related duties that may be required for the position.

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

$129,000 - $209,000

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
Senior
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 485 comparable Senior Manufacturing & CMC roles across 78 biopharma companies.

485Comparable roles tracked
453Currently active
78Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

189 of 485 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 $129,000/yr – $209,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Associate Director, Digital Scientific Workflows · Merck $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Senior Principal Scientist, Upstream Process Development Group Lead · Merck $190,800/yr – $300,300/yr
Peer group range $0 – $245,550 (median $146,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 485 comparable roles

United States310
India38
Netherlands19
Ireland17
United Kingdom11
Singapore9

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

485 of 485 peers have a known seniority level

Senior322
Principal88
Associate Director75

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 485 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Oncology1

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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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AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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60%similar
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Same function Same seniority Same country

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.

60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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BMS Pharma.Ltd · Manati, United States · Senior
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.