Associate Director, Materials – Direct Materials Planning & Procurement Medicine Foundry

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Lilly recently announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will allow Lilly to further develop innovative solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, while also reducing costs and environmental impact.

The Associate Director of Materials will lead the planning and procurement of direct materials supporting clinical supply manufacturing across small molecule, biologics, and peptides at the Lilly Medicine Foundry. This role ensures on-time availability of critical raw materials, active ingredients, excipients, packaging components, and single-use systems to meet the complex and dynamic needs of clinical manufacturing and development.

You will oversee a team of buyers and planners, ensuring agility, compliance, and alignment with site and global supply chain strategies. Success in this role requires the ability to navigate variable demand, short lead times, and evolving product requirements while maintaining high service levels and adherence to GMP standards.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of buyers and planners to support all phases of clinical supply production.
• Build functional capability in handling diverse modalities (small molecule, biologics, and peptides) and fast-paced development timelines.

Clinical Material Planning & Execution

• Oversee end-to-end material requirements planning (MRP) for direct materials across multiple manufacturing platforms.
• Manage rapid changes in demand for clinical batches, including new product introductions, scale-ups, and technical transfers.
• Ensure accuracy of bill of materials (BOMs), routings, and master data for complex and evolving products.

Supplier & Inventory Management

• Collaborate with global procurement and technical subject matter experts to qualify suppliers and secure materials with constrained or variable supply chains.
• Develop strategies to manage inventory levels that balance supply assurance, flexibility, and cost, with attention to expiry and clinical phase constraints.
• Partner with suppliers to ensure readiness for novel or custom materials often required in peptide or biologics manufacturing.

Process Excellence & Systems

• Implement and refine processes to handle short lead-time orders, small batch sizes, and unique clinical material requirements.
• Drive ERP/MRP enhancements to support the complexity of multiple modalities and accelerated production schedules.
• Use Lean/Six Sigma principles to improve planning accuracy, supplier performance, and end-to-end visibility.

Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration

• Serve as the primary site interface for global supply chain, procurement, manufacturing, process development, and quality teams for direct material readiness.
• Support tech transfer and scale-up projects with proactive material readiness plans.
• Work closely with Clinical Supply Operations to ensure alignment on batch planning and shipment timelines.

Risk & Compliance Management

• Identify and mitigate risks related to material availability, single-source suppliers, and regulatory changes.
• Ensure all activities comply with GMP, GDP, and site quality standards.
• Develop contingency strategies for critical clinical materials to protect study timelines.

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in materials management, planning, or procurement in pharmaceutical, biotech, or regulated manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience managing materials for clinical supply and multiple modalities (small molecule, biologics, peptides).
• 3+ years leading teams in a GMP environment.
• Proficiency in ERP systems and advanced planning tools.

Additional Preferences: