Principal Scientist - Process Translation and Execution Lilly Medicine Foundry

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.

Lilly recently announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will allow Lilly to further develop innovative solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, while also reducing costs and environmental impact.

The Process Translation and Execution (PTE) team translates API/DS process knowledge into clinical supply readiness, oversees technology transfer, implements phase-appropriate control strategies, and ensures right-first-time clinical manufacturing for a variety of modalities, including synthetic molecules, biologics, peptides, oligonucleotide, and bioconjugates (ADC, ARC, etc.) Through cross-functional collaboration, PTE influences process design, revolutionizes clinical manufacturing, builds capabilities in emerging technologies and aligns with corporate and Lilly Research Labs (LRL) goals, drives scientific excellence and innovation to accelerate manufacturing advancements and propels the site toward long-term business success.

In the Foundry Construction and Project Delivery/Startup Phase (2026 to 2028), roles will be fluid and dynamic as we build a new organization, design and implement the necessary systems and business processes required to enable operational readiness, support the project delivery, and build the site culture. Success will require significant collaboration, creativity, and resilience as the Lilly Medicine Foundry transitions from design to startup and ultimately to steady-state operations and continuous improvement.

This period presents a unique opportunity for learning, growth, and making a lasting impact.

We are seeking passionate and agile engineers to join the PTE team and help bring the Lilly Medicine Foundry’s vision to life.

Responsibilities In this role, the Engineer will be responsible with facilitating the transfer of chemical processes, under appropriate supervisory guidance, from development laboratories to pilot plant operations (including kilo-scale or pilot-scale production). This enables the successful transition to early-phase cGMP manufacturing of kilogram quantities of API required for clinical trial supply.

• Operate and troubleshoot kilo-scale equipment including multi-purpose reactors, filtration systems, drying equipment (including AFD and tray dryer).
• Apply chemical engineering principles (heat/mass transfer, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics) to scale-up calculations and equipment sizing.
• Develop and apply appropriate cake filtration models to predict filtration rate, cake resistance, and deliquoring performance. Design and execute filtration wash studies.
• Apply appropriate modeling or semi-empirical approaches to predict and control particle size distribution (PSD) during crystallization.
• Actively involved in receiving chemical process from early phase process research and development labs and evaluating the safety of the incoming procedures in collaboration with the chemist and safety group.
• Documentation:
  Author, review technical documents, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), batch records, campaign summary reports, and deviation reports.
• Perform and document Definitive Lab Trials of crystallization step to confirm plant readiness.
• Perform familiarization reactions to ensure plant readiness of process steps with focus on crystallization and filtration at the Lilly Medicine Foundry.
• Ordering and staging process-related GMP consumables and equipment parts for kilolab runs.
• Efficient with summarizing and presenting experimental results and challenges.
• Analyze data to make fact-based decisions.
• Maintain a well-organized and detailed lab notebook to enable the preparation of technical packages/technical transfers and accurate replication in receiving labs.
• Process improvement:
  Apply scientific knowledge to identify areas for improvement and implement new technologies or procedures.
• Contribute to process troubleshooting and investigations by supporting process deviations, quality events, and non-conformances.
• Demonstrate engagement and employ a quality mindset in all endeavors by proactively identifying quality issues and communicating appropriately.