Associate Director – Maintenance

The Associate Director – Maintenance provides leadership and direction to the maintenance organization supporting Houston API manufacturing, ensuring that maintenance deliverables are sufficiently resourced and qualified to support Small Molecule and Oligonucleotide production goals and the site business agenda. The role holder is directly responsible for maintenance planning, scheduling, and work execution, and for the systems, materials, and contract resources required to deliver that work, executing the maintenance strategy defined by the reliability function. During the project delivery and startup phase (expected 2029–2030), leadership roles will be fluid and dynamic, requiring significant collaboration and resilience as the site scales to full GMP manufacturing operations. Following startup, the role holder is responsible for the day-to-day effectiveness of maintenance support and for planning the function across a six to twelve month horizon.

Responsibilities

• Lead, supervise, and coach the maintenance organization, including maintenance supervisors, planner/schedulers, craft staff, and contract resources, completing performance management and development planning and ensuring staff are qualified, trained, and authorized to perform their assigned work.
• Own maintenance staffing, including recruitment, resource planning, capability development, and succession planning, and build the organization, systems, and business processes required to support GMP operations, leveraging existing Lilly knowledge and practices while incorporating external experience and lean principles, and support the project team as they deliver the facility to the site organization.
• Ensure maintenance planning, scheduling, and work completion meet production and site business needs, executing the preventive and predictive maintenance strategy defined by the reliability function.
• Own the computerized maintenance management system, maintenance stores, and spare parts inventory, including contractor selection and oversight, and ensure the accuracy and integrity of the work order, equipment history, and failure coding data relied upon for reliability analysis and retained as GMP records.
• Provide maintenance work coordination in support of all manufacturing areas and site objectives, provide maintenance input to key functional groups and partners, and participate in the site asset performance review forum led by the reliability function.
• Execute inspection, testing, and preventive maintenance activities for Process Safety Management (PSM) covered equipment in accordance with the mechanical integrity program, and nurture a safety culture through personal actions and coaching of the team.
• Set and reinforce maintenance standards in partnership with the engineering function and the Engineering Tech Center, ensure compliance with corporate maintenance performance expectations including preventive maintenance execution performance, and ensure equipment and facilities are maintained in a compliant and qualified state.
• Identify, track, and report key indicators of maintenance performance, support site governance through participation and leadership in cross-functional meetings and initiatives, and represent maintenance in site expense, capital, and resource planning processes in compliance with the Financial Responsibility and Authorization Policy (FRAP).

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Chemical, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering preferred).
• 7+ years of experience in engineering and/or maintenance in a manufacturing environment.
• 3+ years of management or people leadership experience.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Previous experience in maintenance leadership at an FDA regulated, GMP, and Process Safety Management covered manufacturing site.
• Previous experience with active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, including small molecule or oligonucleotide unit operations.
• Proficient in computerized maintenance management systems such as SAP or Maximo, including work management, planning and scheduling, and maintenance data governance.
• Prior work with maintenance planning and scheduling, shutdown and turnaround execution, maintenance stores management, and contractor oversight.
• Proven ability to build and sustain a team culture focused on customer responsiveness and a Safety First, Quality Always mindset, and to train, mentor, and develop supervisors and craft staff.
• Proven ability to make independent decisions and influence diverse groups across functions, and to provide innovative solutions that leverage ideas from other functional areas.
• Proficient in maintenance management practice at a level recognized by industry certification such as CMRP or CMM.