Principal Digital Solutions Engineer

Overview

Design, develop, support and own digital solutions across Lilly's global manufacturing network, acting as product owner for one or more Digital Manufacturing Engineering (DME) digital products and maturing validated prototypes into production-grade, scalable solutions.

What you'll do

• Design, develop, support and continuously enhance digital solutions in support of the Engineering Digital Strategy for Manufacturing and Quality across its four pillars: Asset Delivery & Qualification, Asset Performance/Maintenance & Reliability, Engineering Fundamentals, and Training & Knowledge Management.
• Build and own solutions across a broad portfolio that may include the Intralogistics Monitor (ILM), Audit Trail solutions, Condition-Based Maintenance solutions, equipment health and predictive maintenance dashboards, RCA and troubleshooting tools, capital project and equipment qualification workflow tools, engineering knowledge search, change-management assistants, and inspection-readiness data products.
• Serve as owner for one or more DME-developed digital products, including the product roadmap, backlog, technical architecture, and full lifecycle from build through sustained operation.
• Partner with the Rapid Innovation branch to take in validated prototypes and proof-of-value solutions and mature them into production-grade, validated, scalable solutions ready for global deployment.
• Lead deployment of solutions across Lilly Manufacturing sites, including site onboarding, configuration, change management, training, and stand-up of ongoing support.
• Provide direct technical support for owned solutions across the global manufacturing network, including triaging issues, performing root cause analysis, delivering fixes, and managing the change and release process.
• Drive continuous enhancement of solutions in production, prioritizing improvements based on user feedback, operational data, evolving site needs, and emerging technology capabilities.
• Leverage AI tools and platforms such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, GitHub Copilot, and Anthropic's Claude to accelerate solution development, automate routine engineering tasks, and embed AI capability into DME solutions, including agent skills, prompts, retrieval-augmented patterns, and automated workflows on Lilly-approved AI platforms.
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and patterns and integrate them responsibly, in alignment with Lilly's AI governance, data integrity, and validated-system requirements.
• Write, review, and maintain production-quality Python code that powers DME digital solutions; establish and uphold development standards, code review practices, and version control discipline.
• Build analytics, monitoring, and visualization capabilities using Seeq and Power BI to surface manufacturing insights to engineers, operators, and leadership.
• Partner with data leads within DME to define the IT, OT, and ET data requirements for each solution and ensure data flows are reliable, governed, and fit-for-purpose.
• Ensure all solutions are designed, operated, and enhanced in accordance with validated-system, data-integrity, and GMP requirements, and develop and implement the associated technical requirements and documentation.
• Develop proof-of-concept solutions to explore new concepts within the Engineering Digital Strategy and progress them toward production-grade deployments.
• Ensure solutions focus on value generation and demonstrate measurable impact on manufacturing capacity, resilience, compliance, and operational excellence.

What you'll need

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Computer/Software Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering/science field.
• Minimum 3 years manufacturing experience.
• Demonstrated software development experience, with a strong working knowledge of Python.
• Knowledge of manufacturing datasets and experience accessing and using IT, OT, and ET data sources.
• Experience leveraging data to solve problems within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience working with validated systems.
• Experience in pharma or GMP industry.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience building solutions in Seeq (advanced analytics, asset framework, monitoring) and Power BI (data modeling, DAX, dashboards).
• Experience acting as an owner or product owner for a production digital solution, including roadmap, backlog, technical support, and lifecycle ownership.
• Demonstrated experience providing ongoing technical support and continuous enhancement of digital solutions in a production environment.
• Experience leveraging AI tools and platforms (e.g., Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, GitHub Copilot, Claude, or similar) to accelerate development and build agent skills, prompts, and automated workflows.
• Familiarity with industrial data sources and protocols (e.g., Aveva PI, OPC UA, MQTT, historian/SCADA systems) and with enterprise data platforms (e.g., Databricks, SQL/relational data stores).
• Experience with one or more example solution domains: intralogistics monitoring, audit trail/data-integrity tooling, condition-based maintenance, equipment health monitoring, RCA/troubleshooting, equipment qualification, capital project workflows, or engineering knowledge management.
• Familiarity with modern software engineering practices: source control (Git/Azure DevOps), CI/CD, automated testing, and code review.
• Strong technical writing and communication skills; ability to translate between manufacturing engineers, IT/OT teams, and software developers.
• Ability to work well across different cultures and global manufacturing sites.

Details

• Location: India, Hyderabad.
• This is a global role supporting functional initiatives and all Lilly Manufacturing sites globally.
• Works under guidance of the Digital Program Lead.