Lilly Posted September 10, 2026

Sr. Principal Facilities & Project Engineering

Richmond, Virginia, 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.

Senior Principal Facilities & Project Engineering

Lilly is currently constructing an advanced manufacturing facility for monoclonal antibodies, bioconjugates, and aseptic drug product manufacturing in Goochland County, Virginia. This facility is intended to provide capacity for current and future products. The successful candidate will help to build the organization, the facility and the culture to enable a successful startup into GMP manufacturing operations.

We are seeking a Senior Principal Facilities & Project Engineering to support our new Manufacturing Facility in Goochland County, Virginia.

Responsibilities

Lead capital project delivery for facilities and utilities systems, typically in the $5M–$10M range, covering piping, clean utilities, and facility infrastructure projects from scope development through execution and closeout

Partner with Maintenance and Operations to understand facility system needs and reliability/performance metrics, translating that input into project requirements and scope

Manage full project lifecycle activities, including team meetings, schedule development, contractor management, budget development and tracking, and stakeholder communication

Meet regularly with plant customers (Operations, Engineering, Quality) to gather feedback on projects and business needs, and represent those needs in project planning

Oversee contractors and vendors to ensure project work is executed safely, on schedule, and within budget, in compliance with GMP and EHS requirements

Apply working knowledge of clean utility systems and facility infrastructure to inform project design, sequencing, and execution decisions

Participate in regular project and operations meetings, providing status updates and surfacing risks or resourcing needs to leadership

Contribute project engineering expertise to support the broader facilities organization's reliability and preventive maintenance planning efforts

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in engineering ( Mechanical/Chemical/Electrical/ Civil)

Minimum of 5 + years’ experience in Facility or Maintenance Engineering Teams, within a manufacturing environment.

5+ years Project Management/ Capital Project Delivery

Previous experience of owning a facility management program.

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 Skills/Preferences

Excellent written and verbal communication skills and interpersonal skills including consultative and relationship management skills with ability to drive achievement of objectives

GMP Manufacturing Experience

Knowledge of mechanical building services

Strong leadership skills with demonstrated ability to influence change

Proven success adhering to and leading project schedules and managing projects

Substantial understanding and knowledge of facilities systems and preventive maintenance programs

Substantial knowledge of facilities related government regulations, GMP, and EHS

Strong problem-solving, organizational, analytical and critical thinking skills

Other Information

Occasional travel required 0–10%

Required to be working onsite

Required to be on call

Occasional shift work may apply

#LI_MNLC

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

$118,500 - $173,800

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
Principal
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Richmond, Virginia, 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 489 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 83 biopharma companies.

489Comparable roles tracked
461Currently active
83Companies hiring similar roles
33Countries represented

Salary context

191 of 489 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 $118,500/yr – $173,800/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Technician Calibration - Maintenance · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $37,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $58,500 – $288,000 (median $150,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 489 comparable roles

United States307
India40
Ireland22
Netherlands18
United Kingdom10
Singapore9

+ 27 more countries

Seniority mix

489 of 489 peers have a known seniority level

Senior323
Principal87
Director79

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 489 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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 Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Principal
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60%similar
AbbVie Pleasanton, CA Principal
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60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Sanofi US Services Inc. Waltham, United States Principal
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60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Principal
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%
Senior Principal Scientist - Bioanalytical Research
Lilly · Louisville, Colorado, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Principal Supply Planning Specialist, Advanced Therapies
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
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Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · 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.