Lilly Posted July 18, 2026

Engineering Associate Director (AD) - Device Assembly

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC Associate Director

Lilly is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

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.

Overview:

Lilly is entering an exciting period of growth, and we are committed to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world. Lilly is investing over $3 billion to create a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The brand-new facility will utilize the latest technology to increase the company's manufacturing capacity in parenteral (injectable) medications, device assembly and packaging operations. This is an exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help build and operate a new site.  The Lilly Kenosha County site will be built using the latest high-tech equipment, advanced highly integrated and automated manufacturing systems, and have a focus on minimizing the impact to our environment. This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Position Brand Description:

The Engineering Associate Director (AD)- Device Assembly is responsible for the staffing, training, and leadership of the engineering group (both process, automation and maintenance) supporting asset delivery, process development, commissioning, qualification, validation and startup of the packaging lines in the site expansion project. After startup, the Engineering AD will be responsible for supporting the day-to-day engineering activities as well as planning for the 3 - 6-month horizon.  The Engineering AD is expected to lead by example and provide coaching to others in the areas of safety, quality, engineering, optimization and continuous improvement.

Key Objectives/Deliverables:

Manage for Results /Strategic Planning:

Manage Engineering and Maintenance support for Commercial Manufacturing Operations:

Manage team of process and automation engineers and maintenance technicians providing Front Line support in one or more of the following areas:

Parenteral Operations (Parts Washers, Autoclaves, Formulation, Isolator – Syringe Filler, Automated Visual Inspection)

Device Assembly

Packaging Operations

Warehouse and Logistics (Autonomous Guided Vehicles, Automatic Storage and Retrieval System, etc.)

Site Utilities (HVAC, Steam Water, Gases, etc.), BMS, Chambers (i.e. Refrigerators, Incubators, Cold Rooms, etc.)

Ensure appropriate technical and maintenance support for manufacturing or utilities processes of the assigned area.

Guide SMEs that will provide coaching/assistance to Front Line Engineers and drive increased equipment reliability and uptime, continuous improvements, support capital delivery, among other key strategic initiatives.

Understand, ensure and decision making based on engineering standards and policies, procedures and business plan that impact the ability of the team members to meet performance objectives.

Provide Functional Leadership to engineering and maintenance representatives by coaching the following business processes: Change Management, Deviations/Investigations, Equipment and Process Improvements, Process Controls and Variability Reduction

Lead, support and peer review root cause analysis around equipment and operational events, support complex change controls and quality investigations with strong Root Cause analysis focus.

Prioritize teams work to optimize equipment output and impact, ensuring proactive and continuous improvement mindset for process and operational improvements and optimization.

Apply statistical thinking and data analysis methods to understand process variability and capability to drive improvements.

Support regulatory inspections.

Utilize control systems to monitor, trend and verify equipment performance and downtime.  Identify and Optimize unit operation cycle time, yield performance, loop tuning, recipes, etc.

Support or lead troubleshooting efforts to resolve equipment and operational problems and ensure formal problem-solving techniques are appropriately utilized.  On call/off hours support required.

Understand and ensure compliance with environment health & safety requirements.

Present and attend various Governance teams to represent engineering.

Represent group as technical SMEs on capital projects supporting/leading design, modifications, testing, qualifications, and associated documentation.

Support commissioning and qualification activities.

Leadership

This position involves direct management of front-line & SME engineering and maintenance team members.

Provide leadership, training, development, coaching and support of engineering team members.

Engage and promote use of internal and external networks and partnerships to help deliver sound technical decisions.

Promote use of first principals with engineering staff and drive engineering solutions for problems.

Monitor and ensure compliance with quality requirements. (trainings, CAPA, deviations)

Basic Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in engineering

At least 7 years process engineering experience

Additional Preferences:

Previous management or leadership experience including leading or working effectively with a cross functional group

Strong experience in equipment optimization, reliability and troubleshooting

Strong technical aptitude and ability to train and mentor others

Solid understanding of basic requirements of regulatory agencies such as the FDA, EMEA, DEKRA, and OSHA.

Previous experience with highly automated equipment.

Previous experience with combination products, device assembly, pharmaceutical packaging, drug product formulation and filling in aseptic environment.

Previous facility or area start up experience.

Previous equipment qualification and process validation experience.

Previous experience with Manufacturing Execution Systems and electronic batch release.

Previous experience with Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) Warehouses or AGVs.

Previous experience with deviation and change management systems including Trackwise.

Other Information: 

Up to 20% travel and more can be expected during the startup phase.

Required to be on call, as applicable.

Shift work may apply.

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

$123,000 - $198,000

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
Associate Director
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, 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 459 comparable Associate Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 66 biopharma companies.

459Comparable roles tracked
426Currently active
66Companies hiring similar roles
27Countries represented

Salary context

150 of 459 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 $123,000/yr – $198,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Scientist II – CMC Developmental Sciences · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Associate Director Packaging Development · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $182,070/yr – $235,620/yr
Peer group range $0 – $208,845 (median $150,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 459 comparable roles

United States275
India67
Ireland18
Singapore14
China's Mainland11
Switzerland10

+ 21 more countries

Seniority mix

459 of 459 peers have a known seniority level

Senior251
Manager165
Associate Director43

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 459 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Novartis Watertown (Massachusetts), United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

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%
Associate Director, CMC Project Management
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, CMC Portfolio Management
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Assoc Director, Outsourced Manufacturing
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Master Production Planner
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
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.