Associate Director - Program PMO Lead

About the role

Positioned within Lilly’s Global Facilities Delivery (GFD) organization, part of Manufacturing & Quality, this role leads a single large-scale pharmaceutical capital program. The Program PMO Lead establishes and manages the program’s PMO framework—standardized processes, reporting structures, and performance metrics—across multiple workstreams including engineering, construction, validation, and quality. The role applies GFD’s enterprise project management standards, playbooks, and stage-gate processes, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices. Success is measured by consistent processes, accurate and timely visibility into progress, risk, and financial performance, and timely decision-making so the program delivers within scope, budget, and schedule.

Responsibilities

• PMO Framework, Standards & Methods: Establish and maintain the program’s PMO framework (processes, procedures, templates, roles and responsibilities, meeting and reporting cadence) across all workstreams; deploy GFD enterprise standards, playbooks, and stage-gate processes at the program level.
• Program Governance & Reporting: Own program-level reporting; provide clear, concise updates to program and senior leadership with transparency on progress, risks, issues, and financial performance; prepare the program for stage-gate reviews, funding decisions, and governance forums; track resulting actions and decisions to closure.
• Risk, Issue & Change Management: Own the program risk and issue registers; drive identification, quantification, mitigation, and escalation on a defined cadence; operate program change control so scope, cost, and schedule changes are assessed, approved, and baselined through a single disciplined process.
• Project Controls Interface: Partner with the Global Portfolio Controls Office and program controls staff to ensure integrated cost and schedule performance measurement is in place, current, and trusted; ensure program cost, schedule, and forecast data reconciles to portfolio reporting and stands up to Finance review and audit.
• Cross-Functional Coordination & Decision Support: Coordinate delivery across engineering, construction, commissioning and qualification, and quality workstreams; surface interdependencies and constraints early; facilitate communication among stakeholders and drive timely decision-making so the program delivers within scope, budget, and schedule.
• Resource Planning & Capability: Lead program resource planning and forecasting across internal staff, contingent resources, and service providers; identify gaps ahead of demand; build project management capability within the program through onboarding, coaching, and consistent application of the PMO framework.
• Quality, Compliance & Continuous Improvement: Maintain program processes, project controls, and documentation in compliance with GMP and other applicable regulatory standards; drive continuous improvement using program performance data and lessons learned, feeding those lessons back to the central PMO for enterprise adoption.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of project or program management experience on large, capital-intensive projects, including accountability for PMO framework, program governance, or project controls.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional delivery teams (engineering, construction, commissioning and qualification, and quality) to deliver within scope, budget, and schedule.
• Ability to travel, both within and outside the US as required, approximately 10% expected.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven ability to influence and lead in a complex, matrixed environment, including delivery through contractors and service providers.
• Experience supporting greenfield and/or GMP-regulated pharmaceutical or life-sciences capital programs.
• Experience on projects or programs of >$500M in total installed cost.
• Experience with commissioning, qualification, and validation delivery during a GMP facility startup.
• Professional credentials such as PMP, PgMP, PE, or AACE (CCP, EVP, PSP).
• Lean Six Sigma or continuous improvement experience.
• Familiarity with tools such as Oracle Unifier, Primavera P6, Smartsheet, Power BI, and cost/controls platforms (e.g., EcoSys).