Automation Architect

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. 

Automation Architect

Role summary: Security Architecture & Engineering needs an architect to own how the team automates its work, and to manage the engineers who build it. This person designs the automation approach, sets the patterns and standards it is built to, and leads a small team delivering against it.

Key responsibilities: Own the automation architecture and roadmap for the team; design and build automation that holds up over time; set the harness strategy for agentic workflows; contribute technical input to cloud security and application security direction; and manage and develop a small team of automation engineers.

Team and collaboration: This role manages a small team of automation engineers and works across the full Security Architecture & Engineering team, as well as with platform owners and engineering partners whose systems the automation touches.

What You'll Be Doing

As Automation Architect on the Security Architecture & Engineering team, you will own how the team automates its work. You will decide what gets automated and in what order, design the approach, and set the standards the work is built to so it stays reliable as it grows. You will set the harness strategy for how agentic workflows are built, and contribute technical input to the team's direction in cloud security and application security. You will stay hands-on in the code while managing a small team of engineers—setting their direction, reviewing their work, developing their skills, and accounting for what the team delivers.

How You'll Succeed

Engineering depth: You will write production-quality Python and build systems rather than scripts—with error handling, logging, tests, and documentation sufficient for someone else to pick the work up. You will integrate systems through APIs with attention to authentication, rate limiting, pagination, and failure modes.

Security fluency: You will understand the security data you are working with well enough to judge whether the output is sound, and you will recognize when an automated result looks wrong.

AI-augmented workflow design: You will design and operate AI and agentic workflows and own the harness strategy behind them—how agents are scaffolded, what context and tooling they are given, and how their output is evaluated. You will exercise sound judgment on where automation is appropriate and where human review needs to stay in the loop.

Reliability and maintainability: You will build for the long run. What you deliver will be documented, tested, and structured so other engineers can extend it, and you will improve the existing codebase rather than layering new work on top of fragile foundations.

Identifying the right work: You will spot where automation returns the most, make the case for it clearly, and sequence the work so value lands early rather than all at the end.

Strategic input beyond automation: You will bring a technical perspective to the team's broader direction in cloud security and application security, where automation and tooling choices shape what is practical.

Leading engineers: You will manage a small team, setting direction, reviewing code, and developing people. You will stay hands-on enough to hold technical credibility with the engineers you lead, and you will give them room to own work rather than routing everything through yourself.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the automation architecture and roadmap for the team, sequencing work against where it returns the most.

• Design and build automation in Python, including integrations with the platforms and systems the team depends on.

• Design and operate AI-augmented and agentic workflows, keeping human judgment in the loop where the decision warrants it.

• Set the harness strategy for agentic workflows — how agents are scaffolded, what context and tooling they are given, and how their output is evaluated.

• Set and uphold engineering standards for automation work, including code review, version control practice, testing, and deployment.

• Maintain and improve the existing codebase so it stays reliable and extensible.

• Identify candidates for automation across the team and work with process owners to design the replacement.

• Contribute technical input to the team's direction in cloud security and application security.

• Manage a small team of automation engineers — setting priorities, reviewing work, conducting performance and development conversations, and supporting their growth.

• Hire for and onboard into the automation team as it grows, and account for what the team delivers.

• Document what is built so the team can operate, extend, and troubleshoot it without the original author.

What You Should Bring

• Strong Python skills applied to real systems — data manipulation, API clients, error handling, logging, testing, and packaging. Able to design a system rather than only write a script.

• Experience integrating systems through REST APIs, including authentication patterns, pagination, rate limiting, and retry logic.

• Enough security depth to interpret the data the automation handles and judge whether the output is sound. Background can come from security engineering, security review and architecture work, cloud or application security, or a software engineering path that moved into security.

• Working knowledge of cloud security and application security concepts, and familiarity with the categories of tooling that produce findings in each.

• Experience with AI or agentic workflows applied to real work, or demonstrated aptitude and interest in building them.

• Git and version control fluency, with experience working in a shared codebase through pull requests and code review.

• Experience leading engineers — as a direct manager, or as a technical lead ready to step into people management. Setting direction, reviewing work, and developing others should be familiar territory.

• Clear written communication — able to document a system, explain a design decision, and write up what an automation does for a non-engineer.

• Judgment on where automation belongs and where it does not, and willingness to say so.

Basic Qualifications:

• High School Diploma/equivalent with 4+ years of experience in Cyber Security, Information Technology, or related field.

• 5+ years of professional experience across security, software engineering, or a combination, including hands-on development work.
• Experience leading engineers, whether as a direct manager or as a technical lead ready to take on people management.

Preferences:

• Bachelor's Degree (example in Cyber Security, Computer Science, Information Technology)
• Strong practical engineering skill, with fluency in Python and comfort integrating systems through APIs. Enough security depth to understand the data the automation handles and to judge whether the output is sound.
• Experience designing and operating AI-augmented or agentic workflows, or a clear aptitude and interest in doing so.

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.

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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

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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