Associate Director - Software Engineering

Location: India, Bengaluru

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.

About Lilly

At Lilly, everything we do starts with patients. We unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our global team of over 50,000 employees work with urgency and purpose to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. We bring our best to this work because people depend on it. If you're driven by purpose and determined to make a meaningful difference for patients, we invite you to bring your skill and your commitment to Lilly.

About Technology@Lilly

At Lilly, technology is not a support function. It is how a global medicine company operates, innovates, and delivers. Lilly in Bengaluru builds the capabilities that make this possible, cloud platforms, AI systems, and automation at enterprise scale, all in service of a purpose that makes this technology work genuinely distinctive, from advancing drug discovery to enabling connected clinical trials to keeping a global medicine company running at the standard patients deserve.

About Role

The Associate Director - Software Engineering is a technical leader responsible for the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of software and data engineering solutions, with a solid foundation in software and data engineering concepts and a proven track record of leading engineering teams. This role combines deep hands-on technical expertise with people leadership to set direction, grow talent, and deliver scalable, high-quality systems.

The Associate Director - Software Engineering brings a forward-looking view of technology and actively leverages AI in day-to-day engineering work from coding and testing to monitoring and decision-making to raise team efficiency and output. The role serves as the central point of accountability connecting engineering, architecture, product, and leadership to deliver high-impact solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

Own the technical vision and architecture for software and data engineering initiatives, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, and built to a high engineering bar.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of software and data engineers, drawing on prior experience leading an engineering team; build a culture of ownership, craftsmanship, and continuous learning.

Hands-On Engineering Depth

Maintain a solid working knowledge of software engineering (languages, frameworks, design patterns, distributed systems) and data engineering (pipelines, data modelling, storage) to guide design decisions and unblock complex technical problems.

Forward-Looking Technical Strategy

Track emerging technologies and industry trends, and translate them into a forward-looking roadmap for the team's tools, architecture, and capabilities.

AI-Driven Engineering Efficiency

Champion the use of AI in day-to-day engineering work coding assistants, automated testing, intelligent monitoring, and AI-assisted decision-making to improve team velocity, code quality, and operational efficiency.

Delivery Ownership

Partner with product and program stakeholders to plan, estimate, and deliver engineering initiatives on time and to a high quality bar.

Engineering Standards

Establish and enforce engineering best practices code review, CI/CD, testing, observability, and security across the team.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with product managers, architects, and other engineering leads to align technical solutions with business priorities.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of software experience, including 2+ years leading an engineering team
• Hands on experience in fullstack cloud application development.
• Solid grounding in software engineering concepts (data structures, algorithms, design patterns, distributed systems) and data engineering concepts (ETL/ELT, pipelines, data modelling, warehousing)
• Demonstrated experience leveraging AI tools (e.g., AI coding assistants, AI-based testing or monitoring tools) to improve day-to-day engineering efficiency
• Proven ability to set technical direction and a forward-looking roadmap for a team
• Working knowledge of SDLC, CI/CD, cloud platforms, and API-based architectures
• Experience with cloud-native architectures and DevSecOps practices
• Exposure to MLOps or building AI/ML-powered product features
• Experience in regulated environments (GxP, SOX, CSV/CSA)
• Experience leading engineering teams in global, matrixed organizations

Core Competencies

Technical Leadership

• Software & Data Engineering Depth
• Team Building & Mentorship
• Forward-Thinking Strategy
• AI-Driven Efficiency
• Delivery Ownership
• Stakeholder Collaboration
• Continuous Improvement

Up to 10% travel, including international

Note: When applying internally for a position your current supervisor receives notification that you have applied to the position. We encourage employees to discuss the opportunity with their supervisor prior to applying.

Lilly does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

At Lilly, caring is not only what we do for patients, it is how we work. We believe the people who dedicate themselves to making medicines better deserve an environment that makes their lives better too, one where they are supported, respected, and given the space to do their best work. This is not just a policy; it is who we are.

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 does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

#WeAreLilly