Principal - Engineer - Process (Critical Utilities)

Eli Lilly and Company; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 68,000 - 152,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Pension

Vacation benefits

Healthcare

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Flexible benefits

Life insurance

Time off

Well-being programs

Job summary

Eli Lilly and Company is hiring a Principal Process Engineer for Critical Utilities in Houston to support GMP API production. You will lead start-up activities, qualification, and ongoing operation of critical utility systems, ensuring safety and compliance across the plant.

The role emphasizes process optimization, cross-functional collaboration, and hands-on problem solving within a high-stakes manufacturing environment. Occasional travel and on-site work are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering.
• 3+ years of relevant experience in manufacturing operations.
• Authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; Lilly will not sponsor visas.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering support for facility start-up and readiness, including design reviews, safety assessments, and qualification of equipment.
• Support ongoing operations and continuous improvement of critical utilities, applying process modeling and root cause analysis to enhance performance.

Skills

Pharma manufacturing

Chemical engineering

Process optimization

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

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. Lilly is constructing an advanced manufacturing facility in Houston, TX, to produce API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) molecules. The site will supply APIs for current and future products, including new modalities. This is a chance to join the startup team for a greenfield manufacturing site. The successful candidate will help build the processes and facility that carry the site into GMP manufacturing operations. We are seeking a Principal Process Engineer for Critical Utilities to support the API manufacturing business in Houston. This engineer will be responsible for critical utilities in a GMP environment, including GMP water pre-treatment, generation, storage and distribution, along with other utility systems that support manufacturing. The role is core to delivering our product pipeline across batch and continuous API production and development.

Responsibilities:

• Facility Start-Up Provide engineering support to the Global Facility Delivery Team (Lilly's global large scale capital delivery team) with a strong focus on right first time and on schedule facility start-up. This includes design reviews, process safety assessments, user requirements, C&Q support, unit operation shakedown and start-up, and facility operational readiness. Contribute to the integrated operational readiness plan and own the elements assigned to you, such as SOP development, maintenance strategy, automation optimization, pre-startup safety reviews, alarm requirements, and performance qualification requirements and protocol development. Own the qualified state of equipment for your assigned systems. Develop and implement unit operation and equipment control strategy to sustain and optimize critical utilities systems in support of manufacturing operations. Support initial operations training as the equipment and area SME for assigned systems.
• Facility Operations Provide engineering support in critical utilities operations through application of chemical and/or mechanical engineering fundamentals. Monitor, assess and document equipment performance to maintain ongoing qualification. Support development and maintenance of the basis of safety for equipment as required. Apply mechanistic modelling, process simulation and analysis to enhance process understanding and control. Identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities related to equipment and processes as a core member of the cross-functional process team. Use root cause analysis techniques to investigate process and equipment issues and deliver robust and sustainable corrective and preventative actions. Collaborate with maintenance teams to plan and execute scheduled maintenance activities, including equipment calibration and testing.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering.
• 3+ years of relevant experience in manufacturing operations.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
• Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Experience in Pharmaceutical or Chemical Manufacturing.
• Deep technical interest and understanding in the field of chemical engineering.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Working knowledge of GMP utility systems such as purified water, water for injection, clean steam, or process gases.
• Exposure to facility start-up, commissioning and qualification, or operational readiness work.
• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a process team consisting of a diverse group of management, production, science and engineering professionals.
• Creativity to identify improvement opportunities and the tenacity/initiative to see them implemented.
• Guidance/mentoring of others through processes.
• Flexibility to meet business needs.

Other Information:

• Occasional travel required, 5 to 10%.
• Required to be working onsite.
• Required to be on-call.
• Occasional 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 $67,500 - $151,800 Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance).

• 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;
• 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 At Lilly we strive to ensure our employees are part of a team that cares about them and our shared purpose of making life better for those around the world. How do we do this? We continue to look for ways to include, innovate, accelerate and deliver while maintaining integrity, excellence and respect for people. We hope that you seek to join us on our journey as we create medicine and deliver improved outcomes for patients across the globe! #WeAreLilly