Lilly Posted September 21, 2026

Sr. Scientist Technical Services/Manufacturing Science API-EM

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America 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.

Organization Overview:

Join the energetic and growing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient - External Manufacturing Organization (API-EM) that delivers a diverse portfolio of medicines essential to our patients around the world. The API-EM TS/MS (Technical Services / Manufacturing Science) Scientist will provide technical and scientific expertise within a dynamic external manufacturing environment. The Scientist is responsible for providing technical support to achieve the reliable and compliant manufacture of API drug substance at external contract manufacturing groups to predetermined global quality standards. This person interacts daily with a wide variety of people, primarily external partners team members and site management.

The candidate will be responsible for supporting ongoing manufacturing at our External Partners through tasks such as process monitoring, response to issues, and improvements where necessary. A strong understanding of manufacturing principles and Lilly systems is required to ensure those same standards are applied to the external contract manufacturers.

This is a Biologics (Mabs, Recombinant Enzymes, ADC) position. The position requires knowledge of cGMPs, applicable global regulatory manufacturing guidance, and the corporate/industry standards. The position requires working cross-functionally within the site and other functions to deliver on technical objectives.

Responsibilities:

Provide technical oversight for biologics manufacturing processes, leveraging a strong technical foundation and previous experience supporting these processes.

Leads resolution of technical issues including those related to control strategy and manufacturing.

Employ excellent communication skills to manage internal and external relationships.

Build and maintain relationships with development and central technical organizations.

Ensure proper characterization of processes and products and ensure effective documentation of the process description, measures, acceptable ranges, and specifications (and the justification of these measures, acceptable ranges, and specifications).

Ensure that processes are compliant, capable, in control, and maintained in a validated or qualified state.

Understand, justify and document the state of validation with data that evaluate the capability of the manufacturing process to meet its stated purpose.

Influence and implement the network technical agenda and drive continuous improvement.

Maintaining biologic processes in a state of compliance with US and global regulations

Understanding the scientific principles required for manufacturing intermediates and drug substances, including the interaction of the process and equipment.

Operate with ‘Team Lilly’ in mind

Basic Requirements:

Bachelors in scientific disciplines of Biotech, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, Pharmacy, or Engineering (Biotech/Biochemistry strongly preferred)

3+ years of demonstrated hands on working experience and proficiency with pharmaceutical manufacturing and working knowledge of regulatory expectations.

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 Preferences:

Strong understanding of regulatory requirements and their application in a manufacturing environment

Proficient in data management practices across manufacturing operations

Demonstrates adaptability, a collaborative mindset, and a positive attitude toward change

Proven ability to effectively communicate and influence across diverse technical and business teams

Skilled in managing and delivering complex, cross-functional initiatives

Demonstrated project management expertise with a track record of coordinating and executing multifaceted projects

Additional Information:

Some travel ( Some off-shift work (night/weekend) may be required to support 24/7 operations.

This position is located onsite in Indianapolis, IN and is not approved for remote work. Relocation assistance will be provided.

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

$67,500 - $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
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 687 comparable Senior Manufacturing & CMC roles across 84 biopharma companies.

687Comparable roles tracked
617Currently active
84Companies hiring similar roles
36Countries represented

Salary context

268 of 687 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 $67,500/yr – $173,800/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Technician Calibration - Maintenance · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $37,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Principal Scientist, Oral Formulation Sciences · Merck $173,200/yr – $272,600/yr
Peer group range $58,500 – $222,900 (median $151,700)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 687 comparable roles

United States460
India35
Ireland28
Netherlands24
United Kingdom15
Switzerland12

+ 30 more countries

Seniority mix

687 of 687 peers have a known seniority level

Senior430
Principal138
Associate Director119

Therapeutic area mix

6 of 687 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
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
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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60%similar
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Senior
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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Manufacturing & CMC job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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 Scientist II - Biologics Drug Product Development
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist I - Peptide Analytical Chemistry
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Pfizer · Andover, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Sr. Equipment Engineer
RayzeBio, Inc · Indianapolis, 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.