Associate Director – Reliability

Lilly • Houston, TX

2d • $123,000 - $180,400 • Onsite

About The Position

Lilly is constructing an advanced manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas, to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for current and future products, including new modalities. This position is part of the site technical team supporting the startup of the greenfield facility and the development of the organization, facility, and culture needed for GMP manufacturing operations.

The Associate Director – Reliability leads the reliability organization supporting Houston API manufacturing. The role ensures reliability work is properly resourced and qualified to support Small Molecule and Oligonucleotide production goals and the site business agenda. The position owns reliability technical programs, the maintenance strategy executed by the maintenance organization, and analysis of equipment performance to drive improvement.

During project delivery and startup, expected between 2029 and 2030, leadership responsibilities may evolve as the site scales toward full GMP operations. Following startup, the role is accountable for the day-to-day effectiveness of maintenance support and for planning the function six to twelve months ahead. The position is based in Houston, Texas, with travel up to 20% and occasional access to manufacturing and processing areas requiring personal protective equipment and gowning. The standard schedule is Monday through Friday during the day, with flexibility during project delivery and startup and on-call support outside standard hours as the 24/7 operation begins.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
• At least 7 years of experience in engineering, maintenance, and/or reliability in a manufacturing environment.
• At least 3 years of management or people leadership experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in reliability engineering leadership at an FDA-regulated, GMP, and Process Safety Management-covered manufacturing site.
• Experience with active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, including small molecule or oligonucleotide unit operations.
• Proficiency in Reliability Centered Maintenance, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Root Cause Analysis, and failure distribution analysis.
• Experience with predictive maintenance technologies such as vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis, and motor circuit testing, and with mechanical integrity programs for Process Safety Management-covered equipment.
• Proficiency with computerized maintenance management systems such as SAP or Maximo for equipment history and failure data.
• Ability to build and sustain a team culture focused on a Safety First, Quality Always mindset, and to train, mentor, and develop engineers.
• Ability to make independent decisions, influence diverse groups across functions, and provide innovative solutions drawing on ideas from other functional areas.

Responsibilities

• Lead, supervise, and coach maintenance supervisors, planner/schedulers, craft staff, and contract resources; manage performance and development, and ensure personnel are qualified, trained, and authorized for assigned work.
• Own reliability staffing, including recruitment, resource planning, capability development, and succession planning.
• Build the organization, systems, and business processes required to support GMP operations, applying Lilly practices, external experience, and lean principles, and support project delivery and transition to the site organization.
• Develop and maintain reliability technical programs, including the reliability roadmap, equipment criticality ranking, asset qualification monitoring, and the preventive and predictive maintenance strategy.
• Ensure equipment and facilities are maintained in a compliant and qualified state throughout the equipment lifecycle.
• Analyze equipment performance, work order history, failure coding, and downtime data to identify chronic and high-impact failures; use RCM, FMEA, and RCA to eliminate them.
• Lead the site asset performance review forum, coordinating maintenance, operations, and engineering to review performance, prioritize improvements, and approve maintenance strategy changes.
• Own the Process Safety Management program within engineering scope, including the mechanical integrity strategy for covered equipment, resource assignment, metrics, audits, and action closure.
• Promote a safety culture through personal actions and coaching.
• Oversee reliability-related issues and improvement initiatives; review and approve relevant deviations and change controls affecting equipment reliability and qualified state; provide reliability input to functional groups and partners.
• Set and reinforce reliability standards with engineering and the Engineering Tech Center, and ensure compliance with corporate reliability performance expectations and the reliability roadmap.
• Identify, track, and report reliability performance indicators; support site governance through cross-functional meetings and initiatives; and represent reliability in expense, capital, and resource planning in accordance with FRAP.

Benefits

• Company bonus eligibility, depending in part on company and individual performance.
• Eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k).
• Pension.
• Vacation benefits.
• Eligibility for medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits.
• Flexible benefits, including 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, including an employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director