Associate Director - Engineering - Process (oligonucleotides)

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly · Pharma · Houston, TX

Associate Director of Process Engineering for Oligonucleotides manufacturing, responsible for leading and developing a team of process engineers. This role involves building a new manufacturing facility from the ground up, establishing operational processes, ensuring compliance with GMP standards, and overseeing engineering deliverables for both startup and ongoing operations. The position requires strong leadership, talent acquisition, and a focus on safety, quality, and operational excellence in a regulated pharmaceutical environment.

What you'd actually do

  1. Attract, hire, and onboard a significant number of top talents to the Oligonucleotides Process Engineering team, establishing the right attitude, curiosity, and learning agility to deliver on the site mission.
  2. Build the organization with the necessary capability, capacity, and culture to operate this facility to the highest standards of safety, quality, and operational excellence.
  3. Develop and implement the business systems and processes needed to run the site, leveraging existing Lilly knowledge where necessary, but also incorporating external experience.
  4. Establish lean practices and a continuous improvement mindset throughout operations and the direct supporting organizations.
  5. Support the project team to deliver the facility to you as the end user, by providing feedback and support on design decisions, commissioning & qualification strategies etc.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor of Science in Engineering or related field
  • Experience in process engineering
  • Leadership experience
  • Experience in a regulated manufacturing environment (GMP)
  • Talent acquisition and team building

Nice to have

  • Experience with Oligonucleotides manufacturing
  • Lean manufacturing principles
  • Continuous improvement methodologies
  • Commissioning and qualification strategies

What the JD emphasized

  • startup
  • greenfield manufacturing site
  • GMP manufacturing operations
  • startup into GMP manufacturing operations
  • startup and post startup phases
  • startup and post startup phases
  • startup into GMP manufacturing operations