Associate Director - Infrastructure Architect

BioSpace; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 125,000 - 183,000; Full time

Job summary

Lilly Houston is seeking an Infrastructure Architect to lead the strategy, delivery, and lifecycle management of the site IT infrastructure across manufacturing and quality domains. You will collaborate with Operations, Quality, and Engineering to ensure data integrity and secure, reliable manufacturing IT systems.

The role emphasizes GMP readiness, IT/OT convergence, and active involvement in site startup activities and ongoing digital transformation at the Houston facility.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of IT infrastructure experience in regulated manufacturing/pharma.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, delivery, and lifecycle management of site IT infrastructure, including workstations, peripherals, printers, telecommunications, and related systems.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Operations, Quality, Engineering, and Technical Services to ensure alignment with GMP, data integrity, and cyber security standards.
• Ensure network reliability, security, and integration of OT/ITI systems (DCS/ICS) with ISA/IEC 62443 guidance.
• Develop runbooks, escalation paths, and site infrastructure roadmaps; manage vendor relationships and continuous improvement.

Job description

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.

Infrastructure Architect – Tech@Lilly

This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Lilly is entering an exciting period of growth, and we are committed to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world. Lilly is investing in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Houston, Texas. The new facility for API manufacturing of Small Molecule and Oligonucleotides will be built using the latest high-tech equipment, sophisticated highly integrated and automated manufacturing systems, and have a focus on minimizing the impact to our environment.

This is an exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help build and operate a new site.

What You’ll Be Doing

You will be part of Technology at Lilly MQ (Manufacturing and Quality), an organization that drives manufacturing operational excellence and productivity efforts through utilization of technology. Technology at Lilly MQ strives to enable the making of medicine “with safety first and quality always”.

The Infrastructure Architect will be reporting to the Sr. Director Technology at Lilly for Houston.

As Infrastructure Architect, you will lead the strategy, delivery, and lifecycle management of site IT infrastructure, including business and manufacturing workstations, peripherals, printers, telecommunications, and related systems. You will support Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, and Technical Services/Manufacturing Science, serve as the primary site contact for Global Infrastructure Delivery Teams, lead site infrastructure projects, and ensure alignment with Lilly cybersecurity and compliance standards.

How You’ll Succeed

• Infrastructure & Site Operational Readiness
  • Lead the design, deployment, and qualification of site IT/OT infrastructure, ensuring readiness for GMP manufacturing operations across small molecule, oligonucleotide, and Warehouse areas.
  • Drive site start-up and integration of IT systems including: Infrastructure, Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Data Historian and Real Time Floor Tracking, Data Integration and Analytics, Data Integrity, Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), CAPA systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Warehouse Management and Logistics, Access Security, Building Monitoring, and Risk Management.
  • Monitor datacenter and virtual server environments, ensuring high availability, performance, and preventive maintenance.
  • Manage storage, backup, and disaster recovery systems to safeguard data integrity and system resilience.
  • Lead the full lifecycle of manufacturing computers, including procurement, qualification, patching, and decommissioning, in compliance with GxP and data integrity standards.
  • Ensure network reliability and security across IT and OT environments, coordinating upgrades and troubleshooting activities.
  • Collaborate with Automation and Engineering teams to integrate OT systems (DeltaV DCS, process historians) with enterprise IT layers, ensuring secure and reliable data flows aligned to ISA/IEC 62443 and Lilly cybersecurity standards.
  • Coordinate with facilities, construction, and vendors to ensure infrastructure is installed, tested, and qualified in step with construction phases (fit-out through C&Q/IV/OV).

Team Coordination

• Direct the day-to-day work priorities of a team of Infrastructure Analysts, assigning tasks and sequencing work aligned to project phases, site milestones, and operational needs.
• Serve as the technical point of contact for the analyst team, providing guidance, removing blockers, and ensuring work is executed to the required quality and timeline.
• Adjust workload allocation across the team as site priorities evolve through construction, commissioning, and production ramp phases.

Compliance & Security

• Ensure all infrastructure designs and implementations comply with Lilly cybersecurity standards, GxP data integrity requirements, and applicable regulatory guidelines (FDA, EMA).
• Maintain compliance with cybersecurity policies, IT standards, and documentation requirements including SOPs, system descriptions, and change control records.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee IT vendors and service providers to ensure SLA performance and drive continuous infrastructure improvement.
• Develop runbooks, escalation paths, and support models to sustain infrastructure from production ramp-up through steady-state operations.
• Establish monitoring, alerting, and capacity planning processes to meet manufacturing uptime requirements.
• Partner with local and global teams to define and execute the site IT infrastructure roadmap.
• Evaluate internal and external solutions and adjust plans based on site needs, strategic priorities, and emerging trends.
• Support site and enterprise initiatives focused on digital transformation, modernization, and operational efficiency.
• Maintain a safe work environment.

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of IT infrastructure experience, preferably in a regulated manufacturing or pharmaceutical environment. GxP/GMP.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience.

Additional Preferences

• Experience supporting process automation infrastructure.
• Preferred certifications include ITIL, VMware VCP, Microsoft Azure Administrator, CompTIA Security+, or GICSP.
• Technical knowledge of OT/IT convergence, industrial control systems (ICS/SCADA/DCS), and OT security frameworks such as ISA/IEC 62443. Experience with Emerson DeltaV, OSIsoft PI Historian, Citrix, or similar manufacturing and infrastructure systems is preferred.

Other Information

• Role is Monday through Friday and based on-site at the Lilly Houston Manufacturing Facility. Must be flexible in providing support to accommodate other inputs (production schedules, shutdowns, etc.). Occasional extended hour and/or off-hour work may be required.
• 5–10% business travel time.

About The Organization

Lilly IT builds and maintains capabilities using innovative technologies like most prominent tech companies. What differentiates Lilly IT is that we create new possibilities through tech to advance our purpose – creating medicines that make life better for people around the world, like data driven drug discovery and connected clinicals. We hire the best technology professionals from a variety of backgrounds so they can bring an assortment of knowledge, skills, and diverse thinking to deliver innovative solutions in every area of our business.

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.

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 Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

#WeAreLilly

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is

$124,500 - $182,600

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.

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