Sr. Director- Software Engineering Manager

Eli Lilly and Company • Us, IN

1d

About The Position

The Software Product Engineering organization is actively looking for a Software Engineering Manager. This role involves setting the multi-year technical direction for domains within Lilly's Commercial or Clinical portfolio, designing solutions that transform patient experiences and improve treatment outcomes. The manager will collaborate closely with user-experience, product, business, medical, and regulatory partners. Responsibilities include defining engineering standards, platform investments, and ways of working that extend beyond their own team. They will partner with business and technology leaders to translate portfolio strategy into a funded, staffed engineering roadmap responsive to business and patient needs. A key focus will be preparing domains for an agentic future by increasing AI-assisted engineering fluency, designing systems and data for safe agent action, and making evidence-based choices about AI and agentic capabilities. The role requires a blend of leadership and technical depth to exceed product goals and transform the ecosystem. The manager will guide the team's work, resolve complex technical problems, and own technology and architecture direction, including build-versus-buy, platform consolidation, and technical-debt investment decisions. They will own a multi-year technical roadmap, sequence platform investments against business outcomes, and quantify trade-offs. Maximizing team potential through guidance, mentorship, and growth opportunities is crucial, as is fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment. The role involves matching product needs to team resources, owning headcount, budget, and vendor sourcing, and forecasting capacity. Driving process change beyond the team, enhancing software engineering processes, methodologies, and tools for efficiency and quality, and establishing adoptable engineering standards and metrics are also key. Owning the operational health of domains, including service levels, reliability, incident response, security, and regulatory compliance, is essential. The manager will act as a superb communicator and influencer, collaborating effectively with team and product stakeholders, building alignment across departments, and representing engineering at Director and Executive Director levels. Setting clear objectives, scope, and schedules, ensuring team understanding of expectations, and making transparent trade-offs when strategy, capacity, and timelines conflict are expected. Owning the hiring bar and talent strategy, attracting talent, building succession depth, and managing performance with candor are also part of the role.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical engineering discipline (Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Information Science, Network Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Management Information Systems (MIS), Cloud Computing, Data Science).
• 8+ years working in software engineering roles.
• 5+ years of experience as a software engineering manager.
• Experience of ownership of the technical strategy and delivery roadmap for one or more domains, sustained across multiple planning cycles.
• Experience with web and cloud technologies.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree preferred.
• Experience leading multiple concurrent, complex engineering programs from inception to production, including modernizing or retiring legacy systems.
• Deep professional work experience in software engineering, building customer facing applications using Node.js, Vue.js, Python, Java, Scala, Go or Rust.
• Depth across full-stack and platform engineering — RESTful APIs, microservice and event-driven architectures, distributed data management, observability, DevOps and CI/CD, and public cloud (AWS or Azure).
• Ability to architect and design robust, high-scale systems and challenge engineers to think bigger and more generically.
• Ability to make and document durable architectural decisions that other teams build on.
• Demonstrated ability to scope, schedule and resource multiple complex programs in collaboration with cross-functional partners and external delivery partners.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business or portfolio strategy into an engineering roadmap, and to communicate that roadmap credibly to senior leadership.
• Self-motivated, independent, and proactive, with outstanding communication skills.
• Ability to effectively communicate complex ideas and make compelling arguments, and influence outcomes without formal authority.
• Excellent cross-functional influencer with experience working in a fast-paced environment with frequent context switching, including sustained engagement with senior stakeholders.
• A working understanding of core concepts related to Machine Learning/AI and Data Engineering, and a clear point of view on where they create leverage in your domains.
• Distributed data storage and processing framework experience (Spark and Hadoop).
• Experience growing and maturing software engineering teams and technical leaders, including coaching tech leads and emerging managers.
• Experience operating in a regulated environment (healthcare, life sciences, or financial services), with working knowledge of data privacy, security, and quality or compliance expectations for sensitive personal data.

Responsibilities

• Set the multi-year technical direction for one or more domains or bounded contexts within Lilly's Commercial or Clinical portfolio.
• Design solutions that transform patient experiences and improve treatment outcomes through modern web technologies and architecture.
• Collaborate closely with user-experience, product, business, medical, and regulatory partners.
• Define engineering standards, platform investments, and ways of working that extend beyond the immediate team.
• Partner with business and technology leaders to translate portfolio strategy into a funded, staffed engineering roadmap.
• Prepare domains for an agentic future by raising AI-assisted engineering fluency and designing systems for safe agent action.
• Guide the team's work, resolve ambiguous and technically complex problems, and own technology and architecture direction.
• Make build-versus-buy, platform consolidation, and technical-debt investment decisions.
• Own a multi-year technical roadmap for domains, sequencing platform investment against business outcomes.
• Quantify trade-offs and defend the roadmap in annual planning and funding cycles.
• Maximize the potential of the team by providing guidance, mentorship, and growth opportunities.
• Deepen the technical capability of the team and develop the next generation of technical leads and people managers.
• Foster a collaborative work environment that promotes innovation.
• Match unique product needs to team resources and skills.
• Own headcount planning, budget, and vendor and partner sourcing for domains.
• Forecast capacity several quarters ahead against a demand pipeline.
• Drive process change beyond the team, continuously evaluating and enhancing software engineering processes, methodologies, and tools.
• Establish engineering standards and metrics that peer teams adopt.
• Own the operational health of domains, including service levels, reliability, incident response, security posture, and adherence to data privacy and regulatory requirements.
• Make the investment case when operational health needs attention.
• Work and collaborate effectively with the team and product stakeholders.
• Build alignment across engineering, product, design, and business leadership.
• Represent engineering at the Director and Executive Director level.
• Set clear objectives, scope, and schedules, ensuring team understanding of expectations and priorities.
• Make transparent, well-reasoned trade-offs when strategy, capacity, and timelines conflict.
• Own the hiring bar and talent strategy for domains.
• Attract strong technical talent, build succession depth for critical roles, and manage performance with candor.

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• 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)

What This Job Offers

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