Senior Principal Microbiologist

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 39,000 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. #We Are Lilly

Lilly is designing and building a new state of the art Parenteral, Device, and Packaging Assembly Facility in Concord, North Carolina. This is an exciting opportunity to help build a state-of-the-art facility and Quality System from the ground up. The Quality Control Laboratory assures patients worldwide receive safe and efficacious drug and drug/device combination products through effective execution of product testing.

The Sr. Principal Microbiologist influences and participates in the design and installation of systems, procedures, and methods for the startup of the QC Microbiological testing and environmental monitoring labs at the site. Additionally, the Sr. Principal Microbiologist participates in the design, installation, qualification, and startup of Clean Utilities systems supporting GMP manufacturing operations. This role provides technical leadership for microbiological control strategies for Purified Water (PW), Water for Injection (WFI), clean steam, compressed gases, and associated distribution systems.

The Sr. Principal Microbiologist leads and supports Clean Utilities qualification, validation, technology transfer, remediation, and lifecycle management activities. The Sr. Principal Microbiologist leads the design and execution of method development, validations, technology transfers, and equipment evaluation/qualification. The Sr. Principal Microbiologist utilizes their technical skills to ensure inspection readiness, perform in-depth problem solving, proactively identify opportunities for continuous improvement, and completes thorough investigations of aberrant data and results.

Outcomes of these activities including results, conclusions, and action plans are thoroughly and accurately documented by the Sr. Principal Microbiologist and may be published in regulatory and/or technical documents. The position is responsible for technical mentoring of lab staff, sharing technical information and best practice within the work group and across plant sites.

• Technical review, interpretation, and release of raw material, in-process, and finished product data.
• Serve as subject‑matter expert for Clean Utilities systems, including PW, WFI, clean steam, and critical process gases.
• Serve as subject-matter expert for Microbiological Test Methods
• Support qualification, validation, and lifecycle management of Clean Utilities systems.
• Contributes to annual product reviews and process validations as required.
• Perform technical training and mentor analysts through formal process/program.
• Lead and/or review change controls and complex deviations.
• Utilizes technical skills to lead or perform in-depth investigations into out of spec results and aberrant data. Draws conclusions and performs root cause analysis investigations and recommends solutions to prevent reoccurrence.
• Lead investigations into Clean Utilities excursions and…