Associate Director - Project Controls - GFD

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 work—but 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. 

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, the 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.

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 (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.

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 (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; 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; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

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