Associate Director - Project Controls - GFD

Associate Director - Project Controls

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.

Role Summary

The Associate Director - Project Controls is the central steward for project controls functions within Global Facilities Delivery (GFD). With focus on projects within a manufacturing network, this role ensures best-in-class practices in budgeting, cost control, earned value management, change and risk management, forecasting, and planning. The Project Controls Advisor provides strategic governance, leadership, and mentorship to project controls teams across a diverse portfolio of capital projects, with a strong focus on driving cost and schedule certainty, oversees continuous improvement, compliance, and capability development, enabling successful project delivery and organizational growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and continuously improve project controls processes, standards, and systems to ensure alignment with industry best practices and organizational objectives.
• Conduct reviews of project controls across the portfolio, identifying gaps and driving corrective actions.
• Author and update standards, work instructions, and playbooks to establish and maintain best practices.
• Provide governance, mentoring, and training to project controls teams, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous learning.
• Lead organizational change initiatives to adopt advanced project management and controls methodologies.
• Advise project teams and contractors on effective project management systems for scope, cost, and schedule performance.
• Collaborate in developing project estimates, budgets, and value engineering strategies.
• Analyze contractor spend and invoices to ensure accuracy and prevent financial loss.
• Establish and maintain comprehensive risk management processes, including risk registers and probabilistic assessments.
• Implement robust change control processes in alignment with standard operating procedures.
• Ensure consistent and proper use of project controls systems, processes, and resources across all projects.
• Ensure proper application of company finance policies on capital projects, safeguarding compliance and financial integrity.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement and innovation in project controls, driving adoption of new tools and techniques.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business management, finance, engineering, construction, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of experience in project control, quantity surveying, or similar field.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 25%.
• Residency in Indianapolis IN.
• 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

• Professional certification from a project control body such as RICS, AACE, or PMI.
• Proficiency with project management and estimating systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle Unifier, Primavera P6, Acumen Fuse, Primavera Risk or similar).
• Experience on multi-billion-dollar programs ('Mega' projects).
• Advanced understanding of project control functions including estimating, cost management theory (e.g. TCM), project change and risk management, earned value, project planning and scheduling, and KPI's, data analysis, etc.
• Capacity to achieve results and influence people.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills.
• Effective communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Self-disciplined, motivated, and able to work with limited supervision.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and innovative thinking.

Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form for further assistance.

Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women's Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate's education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $123,000 - $180,400.