Advisor – Engineering – Drug Substance

At Lilly, we 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.

Lilly’s Synthetic Molecule Design and Development (SMDD) is involved in key activities for the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulated drug products from pre-clinical phases through commercialization of drug substances and drug products for small molecules, synthetic oligonucleotides, and synthetic peptides. Our scientists develop key technical and business solutions across the portfolio using their deep technical expertise to speed up testing of the clinical hypothesis and overall drug development.

SMDD tackles this diversity of responsibilities by recognizing that an even greater diversity of talents and cultures is necessary to deliver the next generation of life changing medicines to patients.

SMDD is seeking outstanding engineering candidates to work within the process design and development team. The position presents an opportunity to work side by side with chemists, analytical chemists, formulation scientists and other engineers to develop new technical solutions to accelerate our exciting portfolio. Candidates must demonstrate a history of strong technical depth, scientific leadership, and a willingness to promote a collaborative, team-based approach to problem solving.

• Apply engineering fundamentals to design and optimize chemical processes for small molecules, oligonucleotides, and synthetic peptides, ensuring robust, scalable processes that reliably supply clinical trial materials.

• Design and execute lab experiments using knowledge of reaction kinetics, heat/mass transfer, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and process modeling to support error‑free scale‑up.

• Develop proficiency across a broad range of unit operations — including crystallization, filtration, drying, milling, and batch/continuous chemistry — to assemble complete synthetic manufacturing processes.

• Serve on integrated commercialization teams to collaboratively develop, test, and oversee process execution from lab scale through manufacturing facilities.

• Operate with full compliance within a regulated industry, adhering to applicable regulations, guidelines, SOPs, and safety procedures governing drug research and development.

• Collaborate cross‑functionally with analytical, formulation, quality, regulatory, and environmental/safety teams to ensure comprehensive process development and compliance.

• Oversee scale‑up and technology transfer to internal and external manufacturing sites through team meetings, site visits, and ongoing process monitoring.

• Maintain a continuous learning mindset by engaging with relevant literature, professional organizations, and the broader scientific community through publications and conference presentations.

• With experience, provide mentorship to junior scientists and engineers while driving documentation and broad sharing of new technologies, methodologies, and process control strategies.

• Foster an inclusive, collaborative environment that encourages diverse perspectives to deliver innovative solutions to unmet technical challenges.

• PhD in Chemical Engineering

• MSc in Chemical Engineering +7 years of experience in chemical/pharmaceutical process development

• BSc in Chemical Engineering +10 years of experience in chemical/pharmaceutical process development

• Experience with design, development, and optimization of synthetic process manufacturing unit operations.

• Experience with modeling and simulation tools, data analytics and predictive analytics.

• Experience in batch and continuous unit operations. Experience on technical considerations for equipment design and integration,…