Lilly Posted July 26, 2026

Sr. Director - Quality Control Laboratories

Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America FULL_TIME
Quality Senior 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.

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 35,000 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 is currently constructing an advanced manufacturing facility for production of API molecules located in Huntsvilles Alabama.  This facility is Lilly’s largest investment in manufacturing capacity and is intended to provide APIs for current and future products, including new modalities.  This is a unique opportunity to be a part of the Lilly Site leadership team for the startup of a greenfield manufacturing site, and the successful candidate will help to build the organization, the facility and the culture to enable a successful startup into GMP manufacturing operations.

The Sr. Director – QC Laboratories will provide administrative leadership for the quality laboratories and ensure appropriate capabilities and business processes are developed at the site.  The role will define and lead the organization that will support the quality control and analytical laboratories in support of the site and Lilly’s growing pipeline.   Within quality control, a state-of-the-art facility will utilize the latest in automation to further the analytical capabilities.  These capabilities include everything from on-line in process testing through stability and ongoing process monitoring.  The analytical capabilities team will consist of high-level scientist focused on the implementation/transfer of new modalities, proposal, and implementation analytical process improvements, along with the establishment of a center of excellence for molecule characterization.  This position involves working cross functionally within the site and across the network to develop the strategic functional capabilities needed to support the mission of the site.

The individual in this role must have expertise in analytical operations and quality systems and a demonstrated ability to develop and lead large teams, lead leaders within an organization, and influence across the networks and with global organizations.

Responsibilities:

Business Support

Build a high-quality organization in support of Quality Laboratory Operations

Maintain GMP Compliance in all Laboratory Operations

Deliver the lab of the future vision for LP1 including integrated digital, paperless processes.

Participate on the local area lead teams and Quality Lead Team.

Works closely with Global Quality Laboratories and Global QC Operations to ensure consistent and standardized approaches to laboratory organizational design, business processes, and systems.

Exhibit critical business decision bringing about successful results.

Communicate to and strive for integration with support groups inside and outside the plant.

Coordinate laboratory related business planning and budget management.

Ensure safe work environment that complies with regulations.

Serve as a conduit for corporate communications as needed.

Compliance Oversight

Quality and compliance consistency across laboratories.

Coordinate and manage all regulatory and internal inspections.

Personnel Development

Participate in Human Resource Development, Human Resource Planning, and Performance Management plans for direct reports.

Recruit new talent and develop site capabilities to deliver a high functioning QCL organization.

Ensure administrative and technical capability within the organization.

Basic Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, microbiology, engineering, or related discipline

Minimum of 10 years supporting complex analytical testing (chromatography, bioassay, and analytical characterization)

2+ years working in a GMP/cGMP environment

5+ years leadership experience

Expertise in quality and compliance requirements for analytical laboratories

Experience with regulatory submissions

Additional Skills/Preferences:

Proficiency with computer systems including Microsoft Office products

Demonstrated technical writing ability

Demonstrated strong oral and written communication

Demonstrated interpersonal skills with ability to lead leaders and influence cross-functionally and externally

Demonstrated ability to maintain a safe work environment

Additional Information:

Ability to travel (approximately 10%)

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

$156,000 - $228,800

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
Senior Director
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 31 comparable Senior Director Quality roles across 13 biopharma companies.

31Comparable roles tracked
24Currently active
13Companies hiring similar roles
10Countries represented

Salary context

14 of 31 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 $156,000/yr – $228,800/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Director - API Manufacturing Quality Assurance · Lilly $156,000/yr – $228,800/yr
Highest disclosed · Executive Director, QA Microbiology · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $203,000/yr – $399,400/yr
Peer group range $192,400 – $301,200 (median $235,431)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 31 comparable roles

United States20
Ireland2
Singapore2
China1
Netherlands1
Canada1

+ 4 more countries

Seniority mix

31 of 31 peers have a known seniority level

Director24
Senior Director6
Executive/VP1

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 31 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 Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Concord, North Carolina, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Mt. Vernon, Indiana, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Adjacent 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%
Sr. Director - API Manufacturing Quality Assurance
Lilly · Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Quality
AstraZeneca · Mt. Vernon, Indiana, United States of America · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
Director, Study Quality and Compliance - Nonclinical Safety/Toxicology
Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Director, QA Validation & Computer Systems Assurance
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Saratoga Springs, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent 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.