Associate Director, Operational Excellence

About the Role

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. The Associate Director, Operational Excellence builds and sustains the information infrastructure, AI-powered tools, and process visualization systems that make value stream performance continuously visible—from the functional team level to senior leadership. This role is a standing technical capability within BRD's Operational Excellence & Transformation function, making the broader continuous improvement culture visible, measurable, and data-driven.

The person in this role partners closely with scientists, project managers, and business leaders to translate complex cross-functional flows into clear, actionable intelligence, and with subject matter experts to ensure every visualization reflects accurate, validated content. As BRD's priorities evolve, this role adapts its tools and focus areas while sustaining a consistent, reusable process analytics and visualization capability across the division to support productivity and efficiency gains. This role also directly supports the overall maturity journey of the Operational Excellence system and standards by using visualization and analytics to show functional teams and senior leaders where BRD's OpEx system stands today and what it takes to progress to the next level of maturity.

Responsibilities

• Value Stream Visualization & Process Mapping
  • Partner with CMC and BRD subject matter experts to map end-to-end value stream flows, translating validated scientific and operational content into clear, accurate process visualizations.
  • Build and maintain interactive, navigable process hierarchy tools that show where work stands, how long each stage takes, and where handoffs and capacity constraints occur.
  • Develop leadership-ready lifecycle and flow visualizations designed for senior audiences, without requiring expert facilitation to interpret.
  • Build and deploy innovative solutions to complex problems through AI, enabling prioritization, clarity, and standard work across BRD's value streams from discovery to GMP manufacturing and launch.
• Intelligent Systems
  • Design and deploy real-time dashboards serving two audiences at once: trend-level visibility for senior leaders and process-level drill-down for functional teams.
  • Build AI-connected tools that surface value stream KPIs automatically, reducing manual data assembly and duplicative entry across systems, and supporting BRD's daily management and huddle cadence.
  • Identify, design, and pilot AI-enabled solutions that reduce friction in how operational data is captured, structured, and made accessible to decision-makers, adapting to new infrastructure gaps as OpEx priorities evolve (e.g., untracked material flows or hand-offs with no current owner).
• Capability Building & OpEx Leadership
  • Serve as a flexible extension of the Senior Director, OpEx & Transformation, providing direct, hands-on support across broader OpEx initiatives and priorities as they arise, beyond this role's core focus areas.
  • Provide continuous improvement coaching across BRD functional teams (e.g., through a superuser network or equivalent model) so every project leaves the team more capable, with clear documentation, ownership, and maintenance plans for every system and dashboard.
  • Build knowledge management systems and standard work that codify best-in-class science across BRD, making institutional expertise reusable rather than person-dependent.
  • Initiate and actively engage with other technical resources across BRD, and maintain broad awareness of best practices across PRD, bringing outside learning back into BRD's OpEx and value stream work.
  • Support delivery of regular senior leadership read-out on value stream performance and improvement opportunities, in a format that drives prioritization decisions.
  • Maintain a consistent cadence with OpEx leadership and functional stakeholders and conduct on-site observation of work as it actually happens, to ensure visualization systems reflect reality rather than assumptions.
  • Support the overall maturity journey of the Operational Excellence system and standards, evolving visualization and reporting tools as BRD's OpEx system matures and standards are updated.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, data science, information systems, life sciences, or an equivalent technical field.
• Minimum of five years of experience designing process visualizations, business process hierarchies, or end-to-end flow maps in a cross-functional organizational context.
• Experience leading change with or without authority by utilizing and enabling others' use of operational excellence systems, standards, and lean six sigma methodology.
• Experience working directly with subject matter experts to develop technically accurate process content.
• Proficiency with data visualization and dashboard tools, with experience building outputs for non-technical senior leadership audiences.

Skills & Preferences

• Experience with AI-powered tools, automation, or machine learning in an operational or analytical context, particularly to reduce manual data entry or surface real-time performance data.
• Familiarity with business process hierarchy (BPH) design and cross-functional flow structuring across R&D or manufacturing operations.
• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, or regulated life sciences environments preferred.
• Experience building daily management systems, performance dashboards, or tiered review structures in a pharmaceutical R&D or manufacturing context.
• Ability to work with SMEs in the lab or GMP facility and conduct direct observation of work processes.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex operational and data concepts for senior leadership audiences.
• Ability to influence diverse stakeholders across scientific, technical, and business functions without direct authority.
• Lean Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or higher) or equivalent Lean practitioner credential, with demonstrated structured problem-solving capability (e.g., root cause analysis, A3, DMAIC).

Benefits

• Eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k) and pension plan.
• Vacation benefits and 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).

Pay

The anticipated wage for this position is $115,500 - $169,400. Full-time equivalent employees are also eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance).