Principal - Engineer - HSE (Environmental)

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. 

Lilly is constructing an advanced manufacturing facility in Houston, TX, for the production of API molecules, supporting current and future products, including new modalities. The HSE Environmental Engineer will support the development, implementation, and sustainment of site environmental programs, permits, plans, procedures, and management systems, with an emphasis on waste management and water compliance. During construction, commissioning, qualification, pre-startup, and startup, this role will partner with Project Delivery, Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and HSE teams to help establish environmental compliance systems and integrate environmental requirements into site readiness activities. After startup, the role will transition into an operational environmental support position focused on supporting compliance with applicable federal, state, local, and corporate environmental requirements, including but not limited to TPDES, POTW, and RCRA; supporting assigned environmental programs; preparing required records and reports; and contributing to continuous improvement across site operations.

Responsibilities:

Pre-Startup and Startup Phase

• Support the development and implementation of site environmental programs, procedures, training, tools, and management systems required for successful startup and long-term compliance, including waste and water management programs.
• Provide environmental technical input during facility design, construction, commissioning, qualification, and startup to ensure applicable permit, regulatory, and corporate requirements are identified and incorporated before transition to GMP operations.
• Support environmental permitting strategies for projects and startup activities, including waste and water permitting; help identify required permits, review applications, track commitments, prepare regulatory documentation, and support required calculations, records, and reports.
• Partner with Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and HSE teams to integrate environmental requirements into startup readiness plans, operational procedures, training, equipment handover, governance processes, and assigned environmental program implementation.
• Participate in design reviews, environmental reviews, process hazard reviews, change evaluations, and project impact assessments; support onboarding, training, and knowledge-sharing activities to build environmental capability and reinforce compliant work practices.

Post-Startup Phase

• Provide environmental technical support for API manufacturing operations to help maintain compliance with applicable permits, regulations, corporate standards, and assigned environmental programs, including EPA and TCEQ hazardous and non-hazardous waste requirements.
• Support the maintenance and administration of assigned environmental program documents, procedures, permits, records, tools, metrics, training materials, and compliance deliverables, including reports, permit renewals, regulatory documentation, emissions calculations, and waste records.
• Support operational areas in understanding and implementing environmental requirements, including troubleshooting, field engagement, periodic inspections, coaching, corrective and preventive action follow-up, and waste classification and disposal outlet confirmation.
• Support evaluation of process changes, capital projects, chemical substances, deviations, and events to identify potential environmental impacts, required controls, permit implications, reporting obligations, and prevention or improvement opportunities.
• Participate in incident investigations, root cause analyses, environmental reviews, self-assessments, audits, regulatory inspections, agency interactions, environmental release reporting on-call rotation, metrics review, trend analysis, and continuous improvement planning.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, or related engineering field.
• Minimum of 5 years of environmental, engineering, manufacturing, or compliance-related experience.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Additional Skills/ Preferences:

• Experience in the Pharmaceutical or Chemical Manufacturing Industry.

• Preferred qualifications include experience supporting environmental programs, permitting, compliance reporting, inspections, audits, or environmental calculations in a manufacturing or industrial setting.
• Engineer in Training (EIT) or Professional Engineer (PE) certification preferred.
• Working knowledge of environmental regulatory requirements and programs such as air emissions, wastewater, stormwater, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, spill prevention, refrigerants, and DOT hazardous materials.
• Experience preparing or supporting environmental records, regulatory reports, permit applications, permit renewals, calculations, or second-person verifications.
• Previous experience interfacing with HSE-related regulatory agencies, consultants, contractors, or corporate environmental resources.
• Strong technical writing, documentation, data analysis, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively across cross-functional teams and communicate environmental requirements effectively to diverse audiences.
• Strong organizational, time management, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic startup environment.
• Willingness to operate in a dynamic, greenfield startup environment requiring creativity, flexibility, and resilience as organizational systems and culture are being built.

Additional Information:

This role supports a greenfield facility currently under construction; the scope and day-to-day responsibilities will evolve significantly between the project/startup phase (through approximately 2029–2030) and full GMP operations.

• Candidate will contribute technical process safety expertise to site readiness, program development, and operational support activities.
• Position Location: US: Houston TX
• Travel Percentage (%): Less than 5% annually.

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

$65,250 - $169,400

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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