Associate Director, Materials – Direct Materials Planning & Procurement Medicine Foundry

Overview

Associate Director, Materials – Direct Materials Planning & Procurement Medicine Foundry. Join to apply for the career opportunity at Eli Lilly and Company
. Lilly is a global healthcare leader focused on discovering and delivering medicines and solutions to improve people’s lives.

Lilly recently announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development that combines research and manufacturing in a single location to optimize processes, increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, and reduce costs and environmental impact.

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of buyers and planners to support all phases of clinical supply production.
• Build functional capability in handling diverse modalities (small molecule, biologics, and peptides) and fast-paced development timelines.
• Oversee end-to-end material requirements planning (MRP) for direct materials across multiple manufacturing platforms.
• Manage rapid changes in demand for clinical batches, including new product introductions, scale-ups, and technical transfers.
• Ensure accuracy of bill of materials (BOMs), routings, and master data for complex and evolving products.
• Collaborate with global procurement and technical subject matter experts to qualify suppliers and secure materials with constrained or variable supply chains.
• Develop strategies to manage inventory levels that balance supply assurance, flexibility, and cost, with attention to expiry and clinical phase constraints.
• Partner with suppliers to ensure readiness for novel or custom materials often required in peptide or biologics manufacturing.
• Implement and refine processes to handle short lead-time orders, small batch sizes, and unique clinical material requirements.
• Drive ERP/MRP enhancements to support the complexity of multiple modalities and accelerated production schedules.
• Use Lean/Six Sigma principles to improve planning accuracy, supplier performance, and end-to-end visibility.
• Serve as the primary site interface for global supply chain, procurement, manufacturing, process development, and quality teams for direct material readiness.
• Support tech transfer and scale-up projects with proactive material readiness plans.
• Work closely with Clinical Supply Operations to ensure alignment on batch planning and shipment timelines.
• Identify and mitigate risks related to material availability, single-source suppliers, and regulatory changes.
• Ensure all activities comply with GMP, GDP, and site quality standards.
• Develop contingency strategies for critical clinical materials to protect study timelines.

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in materials management, planning, or procurement in pharmaceutical, biotech, or regulated manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience managing materials for clinical supply and multiple modalities (small molecule, biologics, peptides).
• 3+ years leading teams in a GMP environment.
• Proficiency in ERP systems and advanced planning tools.

• Master’s degree or MBA.
• APICS/CPIM, CSCP, or similar certification.
• Experience in supporting product launches, technical transfers, or development-to-commercial transitions.
• Strong understanding of single-use systems, custom components, and raw material qualification processes.

• Initial location at Lilly Technology Center, Indianapolis.
• Permanent location at the new Lilly Medicines Foundry in Lebanon, Indiana.

Lilly is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

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