Advisor/Sr Advisor - Program Governance and Operations - GFD

Advisor/Sr Advisor of Program Governance and Operations

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. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless workbut it's work worth doing. If you're driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.

The Global Facilities Delivery (GFD) Organization, part of Manufacturing & Quality, delivers new and renovated capital assets around the world. Our mission is accomplished through a highly leveraged organization of project management, engineering, construction, and qualification contractors. Many of the assets delivered focus on medical innovation and delivering innovative solutions to patients. Some of the assets delivered will expand the supply of existing medicines or strengthen the supply chain.

The Advisor/Sr Advisor of Program Governance and Operations is embedded within a single large-scale capital program and serves as the strategic integrator and trusted advisor to the program's senior leader. The role exists to extend leadership capacity: it converts leadership intent into clear operating norms, execution plans, and communications, and it protects leadership focus by resolving friction before it requires escalation.

The role is accountable for the program's leadership operating rhythm, executive communications, program office operations, and organizational health. It works alongside the Program PMO Lead, who owns the program's PMO framework and delivery governance; this position operates the leadership forum layer that sits above that framework and ensures decisions are made when they need to be made.

The role partners with the Global Portfolio Operations organization and Project Integrators so that leadership reporting, communications, and executive briefings are consistent with enterprise standards and reconcile with wider portfolio messaging. Success is defined by a leadership team that is prepared, aligned, and able to focus on high-value priorities, and by a program community that operates with clarity, structure, and accountability.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Advisory & Decision Support

• Act as a trusted thought partner to the program's senior leader, supporting prioritization, escalation, and decision readiness across program initiatives.

• Translate leadership direction into clear operating norms, execution plans, and communication artifacts.

• Proactively identify risks, misalignments, and execution gaps, and surface recommendations with options and implications.

• Ensure information from across the program and the wider organization reaches leadership in time to inform decisions.

Leadership Operating Rhythm

• Own the program's leadership meeting cadence, including agendas, pre-reads, action tracking, documentation, and follow-through across leadership forums.

• Facilitate leadership office hours, staff meetings, and administrative huddles, ensuring time is used effectively and outcomes are captured.

• Prepare leadership for stage-gate reviews, funding decisions, and governance forums in partnership with the Program PMO Lead, who owns the underlying governance framework and delivery reporting.

• Serve as steward of meeting and artifact quality, ensuring alignment with Lilly and GFD expectations.

Executive Communications & Stakeholder Alignment

• Partner with Project Integrators to author and deliver executive-level communications on behalf of program leadership, including steering committee talking points, organizational announcements, event remarks, and external-facing messages.

• Maintain consistent messaging across collaboration, email, and intranet channels as well as formal governance forums.

• Provide clarity during ambiguity by distilling complex inputs into clear, actionable communication.

Program Office Operations & Workplace Readiness

• Lead program office operations, including workspace readiness, site and office access, logistics, and change communications.

• Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure a seamless employee and partner experience at the program location.

• Establish and maintain the program office as a functioning working environment for the integrated program team.

External Partner Interface

• Act as a central coordination point between Lilly program leadership and external partners, including engineering, construction, staffing, and service providers.

• Support onboarding and integration of new partners by clarifying roles, interfaces, and communication norms, working from the governance expectations set by the Program PMO Lead.

• Ensure partner interactions reflect Lilly's standards for professionalism, alignment, and decision clarity.

Culture, Team Enablement & Organizational Health

• Foster a high-trust, low-friction operating culture by resolving miscommunications, reducing unnecessary escalation, and protecting leadership focus.

• Support mentoring and talent continuity programs as an active participant in building organizational relationships.

• Champion collaboration, psychological safety, and continuous improvement across the program community.

Compliance & Records

• Maintain program leadership documentation, decision records, and communications in compliance with applicable Lilly quality, records management, and regulatory standards.

Key Interfaces

• Program senior leader (AVP or equivalent) primary partner; the role exists to extend this leader's capacity and decision bandwidth.

• Program workstream leads (engineering, construction, commissioning and qualification, quality) coordination and information flow into leadership forums.

• Global Portfolio Operations alignment of leadership reporting and communications with enterprise standards and portfolio messaging.

• External delivery and service partners relationship management at the leadership interface.

Qualifications

Minimum

• Bachelor's in Business, Engineering, Construction Management, Communications, or a related field.

• 10+ years of experience in program operations, business operations or senior program management roles within a large, complex organization.

Preferred

• Experience supporting greenfield and/or GMP-regulated pharmaceutical or life-sciences capital programs.

• Experience on projects or programs of >$500M in total installed cost.

• Demonstrated experience authoring executive-level written communications on behalf of senior leadership.

• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively at both strategic and tactical levels without loss of quality, and to manage multiple concurrent workstreams under deadline pressure.

• Experience working within large, matrixed organizations and alongside external partners and contractors.

• Familiarity with capital delivery stage-gate and governance frameworks.

• Experience preparing and supporting executive or board-level governance forums.

• High emotional intelligence with mature stakeholder management and relationship-building capability.

• Lean Six Sigma or continuous improvement experience.

• Familiarity with tools such as Smartsheet, Power BI, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams; exposure to Oracle Unifier or Primavera P6 is a plus.

Additional Information

• Ability to travel, both within and outside the US as required, approximately 10% expected.

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