Ansible Automation Platform Engineer – Linux Infrastructure (SME)

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. 

Job Description: Ansible Automation Platform Engineer – Linux Infrastructure (SME)

Job Details

• Job Posting Title:                       Ansible Automation Platform Engineer – Linux Infrastructure (SME)
• Location:                                      Bengaluru, India
• Job Profile:                                   R3-R4
• Job Type:                                      Full-Time, Permanent
• Experience Level:                   12+ years

Lilly’s Purpose

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.

Come help us unlock the power of the Platform Engineering through AI & Automation

The Cloud and Connectivity organization is actively looking for a Linux Server Platform, Ansible Subject Matter Expert to join them. Do you like to solve challenges and have an interest in large scale impact? Would you like the ability to impact a global public and private cloud infrastructure engineering through AI and Automation? If so, please apply.

Job Summary:

The Linux Server Platform SME leads with automation, the design, implementation, and management of enterprise Linux platforms (RHEL, Ubuntu, Amazon Linux, SUSE) across on-premises, public cloud, and hybrid environments.

The ideal candidate will serve as the highest-level technical authority for Linux systems, providing architectural guidance, operational excellence, and advanced troubleshooting across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

This role leads the adoption and engineering of Ansible Automation Platform across a hybrid, multi-cloud estate.  The ideal candidate brings deep Linux expertise combined with a strong automation-first mindset and proven ability to deliver Linux as a Service through Infrastructure as Code.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Ownership & System Administration

• Serve as the primary SME for enterprise Linux platforms, defining standards, architectures, and best practices.
• Design, build, configure, and maintain Linux server infrastructure.
• Lead OS lifecycle management, including upgrades and end-of-life planning.
• Perform advanced system administration: installation, configuration, tuning, patching, upgrades, performance management, and troubleshooting (kernel, CPU, memory, storage, networking).

Automation & Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• Apply GitOps principles to all automation content (version control, peer review, CI/CD pipelines).
• Enforce idempotency, modularity, and testability standards across all automation code.
• Own the “Linux as a Service” model – defining standard builds, automated delivery, and lifecycle management as code.
• Implement configuration drift detection and remediation as a continuous automated process.
• Implement and maintain Ansible-driven OS patching, provisioning, and configuration drift detection and remediation.
• Develop reusable Ansible content using Ansible Collections and Certified Content.
• Manage AAP organizations, RBAC, credentials, and inventories at enterprise at scale.
• Build and maintain rulebooks to automate incident resolution using Event Driven Ansible.
• Promote and implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices.

Security & Compliance

• Harden Linux systems following security benchmarks (CIS, internal policies).
• Manage access controls, sudo policies, SELinux, firewalls, and auditing.
• Partner with Cyber Security teams to remediate vulnerabilities and support audits.
• Assist in incident response and forensic investigations.
• Ensure SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance for Linux environments, including access control, change management, data backup, and security monitoring.

Monitoring, Reliability & Disaster Recovery

• Implement and manage system monitoring, alerting, and logging solutions.
• Design and support high-availability, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.
• Participate in root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Experience with Zerto for disaster recovery and business continuity, including Zerto Virtual Manager and Zerto Cloud Appliance.
• Manage GPFS and Pacemaker clusters for high availability.

Cloud & Virtualization Support

• Support Linux workloads on AWS, Azure, GCP, and virtualization platforms such as VMware.
• Create and maintain standardized images, templates, AMIs, and cloud-native configurations.
• Advanced knowledge of cloud infrastructure and services (EC2, S3, VPC, Azure VMs, Azure Blob Storage).

Collaboration, Leadership & Training

• Provide technical guidance and escalation support to operations and application teams.
• Review infrastructure designs and changes for Linux platform impact.
• Mentor and train junior engineers, including knowledge transfer sessions and technical workshops.
• Lead infrastructure projects such as server migrations, upgrades, and deployments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to plan and implement new technologies or enhancements.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders, providing updates on platform configuration, projects, and initiatives.

Documentation & Process Management

• Create and maintain platform documentation, SOPs, quality documents, runbooks, and disaster recovery plans.
• Ensure compliance with change management and operational processes.
• Oversee change management processes, ensuring minimal impact to production environments.

Additional Responsibilities

• Manage Red Hat Satellite for patching and system lifecycle management.
• Expertise in Centrify, RedHat IDM and LDAP integration for authentication and authorization.
• Experience building and managing CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar tools.
• Experience working in Agile environments, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.
• Ensure adherence to organizational security policies and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Maintain and troubleshoot OS-related configurations such as security updates, antivirus solutions, and vulnerability remediation.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience managing enterprise-scale Linux Server environments.
• 5+ years hands-on experience with Ansible or Ansible Automation Platform at enterprise scale.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Certifications: Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation, Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), Kubernetes/OpenShift certifications preferred. 
• Advanced expertise in RHEL, Ubuntu, OpenShift, Kubernetes, Amazon Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
• Proficiency in disaster recovery strategies, high-availability configurations (clustering), and cloud technologies (Azure, AWS, hybrid environments).
• Experience with agentic coding tools and AI-assisted development (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor) for automation content development
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Proven leadership and team management experience.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Ability to prioritize, multitask, and work effectively under pressure in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Skills

• Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)
• Knowledge of ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow) and experience in ITIL-based processes.
• Experience working in regulated environments (healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals).

Additional Information

• Role located in Bengaluru; relocation required.
• Availability to work flexible hours may be required.

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.