Sr. Principal Associate - HSE - Waste Programs

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. The Global Facilities Management and Engineering Services (GFMES) Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) department provides technical expertise and solutions to a broad and diverse customer base to identify and mitigate workplace HSE risk. We collaborate with business areas to understand their challenges and partner with them to implement right sized operational compliance strategies, management systems and best practices in an effective and efficient manner. We combine high-quality counsel with decades of practical experience across a wide variety of industries. Our mission is to engage both Lilly employees and our contract partners in the company’s goal of achieving an injury-free workplace and ensuring that our business operations contribute to a cleaner, safer environment. Within GFMES HSE, the Indianapolis Environmental Services (IES) team owns environmental compliance and program execution across the Lilly Indianapolis campuses and supports environmental compliance for designated multi-site and national operations. IES delivers air, water, and waste compliance programs, regulatory agency interface, permitting support, and environmental risk reduction for a large, complex, and rapidly growing manufacturing and research footprint. Responsibilities: The GFMES Sr. Principal Associate – Environmental position serves as the senior technical authority and program owner for waste management within the Indianapolis Environmental Services (IES) team. This role sets program direction, establishes standards and governance, and applies senior-level judgment to complex, high-risk, and novel waste issues across hazardous, non-hazardous, universal, and other regulated waste streams generated at the Lilly Indianapolis campuses and designated supported operations. The position is accountable for the effectiveness of the waste management program, not solely its execution, including compliance assurance, third-party service provider strategy and performance, long-term liability reduction, and the capability of the broader organization to meet waste requirements. The role influences engineering, manufacturing, procurement, sustainability, and site leadership to integrate waste considerations into business and capital decisions and represents IES on waste matters with regulatory agencies and across the GFMES HSE network. Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to: Serve as Program Owner and recognized Subject Matter Expert for hazardous and non-hazardous waste management across supported Indianapolis campuses and designated multi-site operations. Define and advance a multi-year waste management strategy for the Indianapolis site network covering compliance, waste minimization, circularity, vendor strategy, and long-term liability reduction, aligned to Lilly HSE priorities and sustainability commitments. Establish, maintain, and continuously improve waste management standards, procedures, and governance frameworks, including accountability models for activities executed by third parties. Apply senior-level technical judgment to complex, ambiguous, and first-of-a-kind waste issues where clear regulatory precedent does not exist and make defensible recommendations under uncertainty. Ensure compliance with RCRA (40 CFR 260–273), Indiana hazardous waste rules (329 IAC), DOT hazardous materials requirements (49 CFR / HMR), land disposal restrictions, and applicable internal Lilly HSE standards. Own waste determinations, profiles, manifests, land disposal restriction notifications, biennial reports, and generator status documentation, including review and approval of complex or contested determinations. Own strategic and technical relationship with third-party waste service providers, including scope definition, performance standards, cost and invoice governance, non-conformance escalation, and corrective action closure. Lead treatment, storage, and disposal facility (TSDF) qualification, approval, and periodic reassessment, including on-site audits of vendor facilities and transporters, and recommend disposal pathways based on technical suitability and long-term liability exposure. Lead regional waste vendor sourcing strategy, RFP development, technical bid evaluation, negotiation support, and transition execution in partnership with Procurement. Lead waste minimization, recycling, reuse, and resource recovery initiatives to reduce generation at the source and improve diversion performance, including business case development for proposed changes. Set direction for digital waste tracking, electronic manifesting, and environmental data and reporting platform capability, including requirements definition, platform evaluation input, and implementation oversight. Provide waste management leadership for capital projects, facility start-ups, equipment decommissioning, demolition, and construction activities, including waste characterization, disposal pathway selection, and design-stage influence. Lead self-assessments, compliance audits, and inspections for assigned programs; identify systemic root causes and drive corrective and preventive actions to closure. Serve as a primary technical point of contact for regulatory agency interactions and inspections (IDEM, U.S. EPA, local authorities) on waste matters, including information requests and response strategy. Serve as root cause analysis (RCA) investigator for waste-related incidents and deviations and document in the applicable quality/HSE system. RCA training will be provided as needed. Own tracking and interpretation of external waste regulatory developments, assess business impact, and translate changes into actionable internal requirements for the GFMES business area. Influence Engineering, Manufacturing, Procurement, Sustainability, Quality, and Legal to integrate waste management considerations into design decisions, capital projects, and operational changes. Build organizational capability through training, technical guidance, and communications, and by mentoring and providing technical coaching to less experienced environmental professionals and generator-area personnel. Provide input to IES business planning, capital and expense budget development, and resource prioritization for waste program areas. Represent Lilly and IES, as appropriate, in industry groups, benchmarking forums, and trade associations on waste management practice and emerging regulatory developments. Provide waste management technical leadership to designated multi-site and national operations as assigned. Basic Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Minimum 10 years of professional experience in hazardous and non-hazardous waste management. Deep working knowledge of RCRA, DOT/HMR hazardous materials transportation