Digital & Automation Integration Engineer - Sr. Principal

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Position Summary

We are modernizing Lilly’s end-to-end laboratory workflow by integrating advanced automation, digital platforms, and robotics to improve efficiency, reliability, and speed in laboratory operations. Our team serves as a hub for the design, development, and validation of automated solutions that support laboratory workflows and operational processes. Our goal is to develop and evaluate automation approaches that can later be scaled and deployed across global Lilly locations.

As a Digital & Automation Integration Engineer (Sr. Principal) based in Shanghai, you will serve as a critical bridge between digital platforms and physical laboratory infrastructure. You will lead the analysis of operational requirements, translate them into robust technical designs, and drive the end-to-end development and integration of software, data, and API solutions that connect digital systems with laboratory platforms, instrumentation, and automation equipment.

This is a hands-on engineering role with strong business analysis and collaboration components. You will work closely with automation engineers, global technology teams, and external vendors to implement integrated laboratory workflows in a secure, compliant, and scalable manner.

Key Responsibilities

Digital Solution Development & System Integration

• Lead the design, develop, and maintain software solutions, data pipelines, and APIs that integrate LIMS, ELN, laboratory automation platforms, and analytical instruments into unified digital workflows.
• Architect and implement cloud-native integration services and event-driven microservices to orchestrate automation system scheduling, sample tracking, and operational data capture in real time.
• Develop RESTful/gRPC APIs and instrument adapters that expose laboratory hardware and data capabilities to enterprise platforms and other consuming systems.
• Build robust data pipelines that ingest, transform, validate, and route operational data between laboratory systems and enterprise platforms.
• Ensure integrations are production-quality: well-tested, version-controlled, observable, and maintainable.

Automation Platform Integration

• Collaborate with global technology teams to design and implement integration architectures connecting digital platforms with laboratory automation execution layers.
• Design and implement interface layers (UI/UX), middleware services (API, microservices), and system adapters that allow enterprise platforms to interact with laboratory control systems safely and reliably.
• Implement state management, error recovery, and operational checkpoints within automated laboratory workflows.
• Contribute to the definition of integration standards and architectural patterns for digital laboratory solutions in alignment with global enterprise architecture.

Collaboration: Vendors, Automation Teams & Global Technology

• Serve as the integration focal point between local automation teams, laboratory operators, vendors, and global technology teams to ensure solutions are co-designed with clear standards and interfaces.
• Work closely with automation engineers and instrument vendors to understand hardware capabilities, define integration requirements, and validate system behavior in the laboratory environment.
• Partner with global platform, data, and security teams to ensure solutions adhere to enterprise architecture standards, data governance policies, and integration best practices.
• Drive vendor technical engagements, including API documentation review, integration testing, and technical issue resolution.

Compliance, Security & Solution Deployment

• Ensure all integration solutions are designed and deployed in accordance with corporate standards for cybersecurity, system validation (CSV/GxP), data privacy, and regulatory compliance.
• Collaborate with security, compliance, and validation teams during solution design and deployment to meet audit and regulatory requirements.
• Deploy and maintain containerized services using Docker and Kubernetes with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices.
• Integrate cloud-based orchestration frameworks with laboratory control systems and scheduling engines.
• Maintain observability and monitoring across integration layers using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog.

What Success Looks Like

• Measurable improvement in operational efficiency through seamless, secure integration between digital platforms and laboratory operations.
• Business requirements are consistently translated into well-documented, fit-for-purpose technical solutions adopted by engineering and operations teams.
• Integration solutions scale from initial deployments in Shanghai to broader global environments in alignment with enterprise standards.
• Systems reliably orchestrate and execute laboratory workflows through validated, cloud-enabled integration pipelines.
• All solutions meet applicable cybersecurity, system validation, and data privacy requirements with clear audit trails.

Basic Qualifications

• MS or BS with 10+ years of experience in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Robotics, or a related discipline with demonstrated software development or system integration experience.
• Strong experience with cloud infrastructure including compute, networking, messaging, and storage services.
• Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker) and Kubernetes-based orchestration in production environments.
• Demonstrated experience integrating software systems with laboratory automation platforms, instruments, laboratory data systems (LIMS, ELN), or IoT devices.
• Proficiency in Python with production-quality engineering practices such as testing, CI/CD, and version control.
• Experience designing and building scalable APIs using frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or gRPC.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation) and GitOps deployment patterns.
• Demonstrated business analysis skills: ability to gather and translate operational requirements into technical designs and implementation plans.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with LIMS, ELN, or laboratory data management systems running on top of automation systems in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or other similar industry.
• Experience integrating advanced analytics or algorithm-driven systems with laboratory automation platforms.
• Experience designing complex integration architectures across distributed digital platforms.Top of Form

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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.

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