Senior Principal Engineer - Automation Engineering – Biologics

Role Summary

Senior Principal Engineer - Automation Engineering will be a key member of the Automation Engineering Department at Eli Lilly, Foundry, providing automation support across site areas and capital projects. The role leads technical excellence in process control, mentors the process control team, and ensures reliable and compliant control systems for GMP operations and facility startup. During the project delivery and startup phases (2025–2028), the role will help build a new organization and implement systems and processes to support GMP operations and site culture, requiring collaboration, creativity, and resilience.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
• Mentor process control team, including design, controls philosophy, implementation and commissioning
• Process control work implementation and coordination
• Develop and implement the Automation Engineering Project Plan
• Technically lead and oversee the work of Site Area leads and System Integrator including Functional Requirements, Design Specifications, DCS Application Software, Test Specifications
• Lead/Participate in design reviews and DeltaV application software reviews, attend equipment and software FATs
• Lead a team of automation engineers supporting commissioning
• Provide periodic status updates to Project Management
• Devising functional requirements and process control strategies for control systems in collaboration with Process Engineering
• DCS and SCADA software design, coding/configuration and testing (sequence logic, graphics, batch software etc.)
• Perform automation engineering activities including design, tuning and troubleshooting of control loops
• Implement and support electronic systems (such as plant historians, applications and software integration) used to capture process automation related production data
• Maintain the validated state of the site control systems in line with Lilly quality standards including the development and execution of validation strategies and associated documentation
• Automation support for capital projects including new product introductions
• Promoting the use of automation to improve productivity, operational efficiency and compliance
• Developing a network of corporate contacts and leveraging corporate expertise when needed

Qualifications

• 8+ years working experience in Biopharma engineering, operations, or manufacturing
• Experience in design, development, commissioning and qualification of highly automated greenfield manufacturing sites utilizing SCADA, DCS, PLC and MES systems (DeltaV, Rockwell, Syncade, etc)
• Experience in facilitating and driving decision-making at an organizational level

Skills

• Technical leadership and mentorship
• Process control design, implementation, and commissioning
• DCS/SCADA software design, coding, configuration, and testing
• PLC and MES integration
• Automation validation and compliance (GMP, computer system validation)
• Tuning and troubleshooting of control loops
• Electronic systems and data capture (plant historians, software integration)
• Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Problem-solving, initiative, and continuous improvement mindset

Education

• Minimum B.S. in Engineering