Associate Director, Frontline Workforce Communications - FDE

About the role

The Associate Director, Frontline Workforce Communications leads communications strategy for Lilly's non-desk-based manufacturing workforce, the largest and most operationally critical employee population in M&Q. This role owns the end-to-end communications approach for frontline employees, partnering with HR on storytelling and workforce engagement, driving the integration of new communications platforms built for non-desk audiences, including AI, and establishing the measurement infrastructure to track reach, resonance, and impact.

Responsibilities

• HR Partnership: Storytelling & Workforce Engagement
• Serve as the primary communications partner to M&Q HR on manufacturing associate workforce storytelling, developing content and campaigns that bring the manufacturing associate career journey to life for frontline employees and help individuals see their own growth potential within Lilly's manufacturing organization.
• Collaborate with HR to design and implement workforce engagement communications strategies that reflect the realities of the frontline experience, including shift-based schedules, limited screen time, and the primacy of in-person connection.
• Translate manufacturing associate priorities, programs, and initiatives into compelling, plain-language communications for frontline audiences, ensuring messaging is accessible, relevant, and motivating.
• Develop communications for key HR-driven moments in the frontline employee lifecycle, including onboarding, recognition, benefits enrollment, workforce development, and culture programs.
• Partner with M&Q HR business partners and site HR teams to ensure workforce engagement communications are coordinated across the US and OUS network and reflect both enterprise direction and local culture.
• Frontline Communications Strategy
• Own and advance the overall frontline communications strategy for non-desk-based employees across M&Q, developing a channel architecture, content approach, and editorial cadence designed for the operational realities of a manufacturing workforce.
• Build deep understanding of frontline employee needs, information habits, and engagement drivers by maintaining close partnership with site operations, HR, and employee resource groups across the network.
• Develop audience-appropriate content that meets frontline employees where they are, with formats, language, and tone calibrated for shift workers, production environments, and employees with limited access to enterprise digital channels.
• Establish editorial standards and messaging guides for frontline communications across M&Q, ensuring quality and consistency while allowing for local adaptation at the site level.
• Pilot and scale AI-enabled communications tools and platforms that reach M&Q's frontline and deskless workforce, partnering across Global Communications and Digital to ensure manufacturing employees have timely, relevant, and accessible information regardless of shift, site, or role.
• New Platform Integration
• Lead the manufacturing associate portion of the communications workstream for new platform rollouts targeting frontline and non-desk-based employees, including change management communications, adoption campaigns, and ongoing engagement content.
• Partner with Workforce Engagement, IT, HR, and site operations to ensure frontline platform launches are accompanied by communications that drive awareness, understanding, and sustained adoption across a workforce that may have limited prior experience with enterprise digital tools.
• Develop training and resource content that supports frontline employees in navigating new platforms, translating technical capability into plain-language guidance.
• Act as the communications voice of the frontline workforce in platform design and deployment conversations, advocating for user experience considerations and surfacing adoption barriers before and after launch.
• Build feedback loops between frontline employees, platform owners, and HR to collect real-time signals on platform performance and continuously improve communications and adoption support.
• Measurement
• Design and own the measurement framework for frontline workforce communications across M&Q, establishing baselines, KPIs, and reporting cadences that track reach, comprehension, engagement, and impact.
• Partner with platform owners, IT, and HR analytics to identify and instrument the right data sources for frontline communications measurement, including digital platform metrics, survey data, and site-level feedback.
• Produce regular communications effectiveness reports for the M&Q Communications leadership team, translating data into clear insights and actionable recommendations.
• Use measurement findings to continuously refine the frontline communications strategy, channel mix, content approach, and platform integration priorities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, or a related field.
• 7 years of experience in internal communications, employee communications, or workforce engagement.
• Basic Qualifications: Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Demonstrated experience developing communications for non-desk-based, hourly, or frontline employee populations.
• Experience partnering with HR on workforce engagement programs or people-strategy communications, including familiarity with the employee lifecycle and how communications support culture and retention.
• Experience leading or contributing to technology or platform adoption communications, including change management and employee-facing rollout programs.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage communications measurement frameworks, including familiarity with digital analytics platforms and employee listening tools.
• Familiarity with manufacturing, operations, life sciences, or pharmaceutical environments strongly preferred.