Associate Director, Operational Readiness, Lilly Medicine Foundry

Overview

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 put people first and are looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Lilly recently announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will allow Lilly to further develop innovative solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, while also reducing costs and environmental impact.

The Associate Director Operational Readiness is responsible for managing the delivery of operational readiness aspects of the Foundry site. This role works in partnership with front line resources, leadership, and project stakeholders to ensure site deliverables to support startup are appropriately planned, scheduled, and executed to enable on-schedule and on-budget project delivery. This role ensures alignment and coordination across key stakeholders to deliver a fully integrated and executable plan for operational readiness.

This role will focus on risk identification, mitigation oversight, and governance at the tactical level, ensuring that startup activities are delivered safely and on time.

The scope of operational readiness deliverables is expansive, stretching across all functional areas of the site, requiring the Associate Director Operational Readiness to build breadth of knowledge and work well cross-functionally. This role also works across teams to enable successful integration of the operational readiness schedule with the construction and qualification schedules.

• Strategic Planning and Performance Monitoring: Partner with leaders and SMEs to develop operational readiness plan across multiple technical areas simultaneously.
  • Lead cross-functional project teams to develop operational readiness scope into an integrated schedule.
  • Manage and track execution of operational readiness deliverables and provide required metrics for stakeholder accountability.
  • Integrate operational readiness schedules with the overall project schedule to enable integrated critical path tracking.
• Process Optimization: Identify gaps and implement improvements in readiness frameworks, tools, and processes to enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Risk Management: Assess operational risks and develop mitigation plans to support successful delivery of critical programs.
• Leadership & Project Management: Provide direction and mentorship to readiness teams, site leadership team, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement. Act as a Subject Matter Expert for Project Management, driving good Project Management best practices across all areas of influence.

• Bachelor’s degree required in Engineering, Chemistry, or other relevant scientific discipline.
• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in multidisciplinary business functions within pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry and project management.
• Prior experience in pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry with knowledge of various manufacturing business functions.
• 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.

• Experience working on large-scale capital projects or plant startups is highly desirable.
• Experience managing projects in pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry.
• Strong understanding of project management principles and startup readiness frameworks.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic…