Lilly Posted August 17, 2026

Sr. Director - API Manufacturing Quality Assurance

Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America FULL_TIME
Quality Senior Director
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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.

Lilly is currently constructing an advanced manufacturing facility for production of API molecules.  This facility is intended to provide APIs for current and future products, including new modalities.  This is a unique opportunity to be a part of the leadership team for the startup of a greenfield manufacturing site, and the successful candidate will help to build the organization, the facility and the culture to enable a successful startup into GMP manufacturing operations.

Position Overview

The Sr. Director – QA serves as the Site Quality Leader for the Lilly API site, overseeing manufacturing, utilities, laboratories, and warehousing. This role ensures the strength and continuous improvement of all quality and compliance systems, activities, and personnel. Additionally, the Sr. Director – QA is responsible for maintaining utilities and ensuring that raw materials and drug substances are produced and released in accordance with cGMP standards and marketing authorization requirements.

Key Responsibilities

Serve as Site Quality Leader on the Lilly Site Lead Team.

Ensure site-wide compliance with cGMPs, procedures, standards, and regulatory commitments.

Lead the API Quality Team and manage its agenda.

Support quality forums (e.g., Deviation and Change Control Boards).

Develop and monitor a site Quality Plan and metrics.

Coordinate and manage regulatory inspections.

Review and approve manufacturing and quality system documents.

Ensure adequate QA staffing and provide coaching and development.

Use HR tools for performance management, staffing, and succession planning.

Contribute to QA business planning and site-wide strategic planning.

Basic Requirements

Bachelor's degree (STEM degree preferred)

10+ years of pharmaceutical manufacturing quality experience

5+ years of supervision/leadership experience

Additional Preferences

Experience in Manufacturing, Development, QC, Technical Services, Engineering, or Regulatory Affairs

Proficient in statistical analysis and computer applications

Strong interpersonal, communication, and networking skills

Ability to influence diverse teams and manage multiple priorities

Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical thinking

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

$156,000 - $228,800

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 Director
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 61 comparable Senior Director Quality roles across 27 biopharma companies.

61Comparable roles tracked
58Currently active
27Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

31 of 61 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 $156,000/yr – $228,800/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Director - Quality Control Laboratories · Lilly $156,000/yr – $228,800/yr
Highest disclosed · Vice President, Quality Assurance - GMP · Exelixis Inc $315,500/yr – $366,500/yr
Peer group range $192,400 – $341,000 (median $241,313)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 61 comparable roles

United States38
United Kingdom3
Israel2
Netherlands2
Ireland2
Japan2

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

61 of 61 peers have a known seniority level

Director38
Senior Director19
Executive/VP4

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 61 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.

60%similar
Lilly Concord, North Carolina, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. La Verne, United States Senior Director
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%
Sr. Director HSE - GMP - Concord
Lilly · Concord, North Carolina, United States of America · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director Cell & Genetic Therapies Quality - Personalized Medicine
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) · Boston, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr. Director Quality Systems & Strategy
Johnson & Johnson · Danvers, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Head of Quality Control, T1D Mfg Ops
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) · Boston, United States · Senior Director
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.