Director, Human-Centered Design

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 Overview:

The Senior Industrial Design Advisor will support the Industrial Design Team Lead in driving design activities for drug delivery devices and systems within the Delivery, Device, and Connected Solutions (DDCS) department. We are looking for a highly driven individual who will help craft a design culture within Lilly and develop a community of design thinking champions who will always put the user first.

Your extensive expertise in design will play an essential role in establishing a process that produces a design output of world-class quality and consistency. The role will drive design vision in partnership with a multi-disciplinary design team and multi-functional partners to apply human-centered design methodologies to provide intuitive, aesthetically purposeful, emotionally satisfying, and manufacturable products that meet the expectations of users as well as Lilly’s brand identity.
 

Responsibilities:

Technical

• Initiates, plans, leads, and directs industrial design to optimize function, usability, user experience, value, and appearance of drug delivery systems for users and Lilly.

• Ensures outputs are consistent with Lilly’s brand and established design language.

• Collaborates with Designers, Human Factors Engineers, and Systems Engineers in identifying user needs and serves as the user’s advocate.

• Leads cross‑functional research, ideation, innovation, and planning with Human Factors, Mechanical, Electrical, and Systems Engineering for next‑generation devices, experiences, and technologies using human‑centered design methods.

Strategic

• Collaborates with others on the development of product design language documents, style guides, design specifications, concepts, and prototypes.

• Builds and maintains Industrial Design capabilities and helps to define the team’s operating mechanisms and metrics.

• Aligns design strategy with business objectives and portfolio priorities across DDCS and enterprise partners.

Leadership and Communication

• Communicates design strategies across DDCS and to internal business partners; represents design appropriately with external partners.

• Advocates for design and user experience across the organization; influences decisions with evidence from research and prototyping.

Basic Requirements:

• Master's degree in Industrial Design, Interaction/UX Design, or related field with 8+ years of experience in product development, systems engineering, manufacturing or other relevant field

• Design experience in medical/pharmaceutical device design and development.

• Sound understanding of digital and/or physical product development from user needs to commercialization.

• Proven team leadership capability, including experience driving project groups, strategic decision making, change management, cross-training and process creation and implementation

• Working knowledge of tools such as Figma, SolidWorks, Rhino, or Fusion 360.

• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office Suite.

Additional Preferences:

• PhD in Industrial Design, Interaction/UX Design, or related field + 4 years of experience

• Experience creating design strategies and design language systems.

• Portfolio of design solutions demonstrating strategic thinking and effective communication of solutions.

• Proficiency in leading brainstorming, storyboarding, concept development/evaluation, and idea refinement.

• Mastery of design/usability principles (e.g., Gestalt Principles, Nielsen’s Heuristics, Universal/Inclusive Design, Color Theory).

• Ability to identify systemic problems and drive strategic improvements.

• Experience in circular design/design for sustainability.

Other Information:

• Hybrid; 3+ days on-site (Indianapolis) during core hours, depending on project needs.

• Domestic/international travel up to 10%.

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 Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

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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