Full Job Description
The Associate Director, Frontline Workforce Communications leads communications strategy for Lilly's non-desk-based manufacturing workforce, the largest and most operationally critical employee population in M&Q.
This role owns the end-to-end communications approach for frontline employees, partnering with HR on storytelling and workforce engagement, driving the integration of new communications platforms built for non-desk audiences, including AI, and establishing the measurement infrastructure to track reach, resonance, and impact. The Associate Director works at the intersection of people strategy, technology adoption, and communications craft, ensuring Lilly's frontline workforce is informed, connected, and engaged regardless of where or how they work.
Key Objectives/Deliverables
HR Partnership: Storytelling & Workforce Engagement
Serve as the primary communications partner to M&Q HR on manufacturing associate workforce storytelling, developing content and campaigns that bring the manufacturing associate career journey to life for frontline employees and help individuals see their own growth potential within Lilly's manufacturing organization.
Collaborate with HR to design and implement workforce engagement communications strategies that reflect the realities of the frontline experience, including shift-based schedules, limited screen time, and the primacy of in-person connection.
Translate manufacturing associate priorities, programs, and initiatives into compelling, plain-language communications for frontline audiences, ensuring messaging is accessible, relevant, and motivating.
Develop communications for key HR-driven moments in the frontline employee lifecycle, including onboarding, recognition, benefits enrollment, workforce development, and culture programs.
Partner with M&Q HR business partners and site HR teams to ensure workforce engagement communications are coordinated across the US and OUS network and reflect both enterprise direction and local culture.
Frontline Communications Strategy
Own and advance the overall frontline communications strategy for non-desk-based employees across M&Q, developing a channel architecture, content approach, and editorial cadence designed for the operational realities of a manufacturing workforce.
Build deep understanding of frontline employee needs, information habits, and engagement drivers by maintaining close partnership with site operations, HR, and employee resource groups across the network.
Develop audience-appropriate content that meets frontline employees where they are, with formats, language, and tone calibrated for shift workers, production environments, and employees with limited access to enterprise digital channels.
Establish editorial standards and messaging guides for frontline communications across M&Q, ensuring quality and consistency while allowing for local adaptation at the site level.
Partner with site leads and local HR teams to influence the frontline communications strategy at the site level, building capability and ensuring implementation fidelity across a distributed network.
New Platform Integration
Lead the manufacturing associate portion of the communications workstream for new platform rollouts targeting frontline and non-desk-based employees, including change management communications, adoption campaigns, and ongoing engagement content.
Partner with Workforce Engagement, IT, HR, and site operations to ensure frontline platform launches are accompanied by communications that drive awareness, understanding, and sustained adoption across a workforce that may have limited prior experience with enterprise digital tools.
Develop training and resource content that supports frontline employees in navigating new platforms, translating technical capability into plain-language guidance.
Act as the communications voice of the frontline workforce in platform design and deployment conversations, advocating for user experience considerations and surfacing adoption barriers before and after launch.
Build feedback loops between frontline employees, platform owners, and HR to collect real-time signals on platform performance and continuously improve communications and adoption support.
Pilot and scale AI-enabled communications tools and platforms that reach M&Q's frontline and deskless workforce, partnering across Global Communications and Digital to ensure manufacturing employees have timely, relevant, and accessible information regardless of shift, site, or role.
Measurement
Design and own the measurement framework for frontline workforce communications across M&Q, establishing baselines, KPIs, and reporting cadences that track reach, comprehension, engagement, and impact.
Partner with platform owners, IT, and HR analytics to identify and instrument the right data sources for frontline communications measurement, including digital platform metrics, survey data, and site-level feedback.
Produce regular communications effectiveness reports for the M&Q Communications leadership team, translating data into clear insights and actionable recommendations.
Use measurement findings to continuously refine the frontline communications strategy, channel mix, content approach, and platform integration priorities.
Contribute to broader M&Q and enterprise Workforce Engagement measurement infrastructure, sharing frontline-specific findings and helping build a more complete picture of employee communications effectiveness across the organization.
Serve as a flexible communications resource across the Workforce Engagement function - deploying against emerging priorities, filling critical capability gaps, and leading work where the business demands it.
Basic Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, or a related field.
• 7 years of experience in internal communications, employee communications, or workforce engagement
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1
Additional Skills/Preferences
• Demonstrated experience developing communications for non-desk-based, hourly, or frontline employee populations.
• Experience partnering with HR on workforce engagement programs or people-strategy communications, including familiarity with the employee lifecycle and how communications support culture and retention.
• Experience leading or contributing to technology or platform adoption communications, including change management and employee-facing rollout programs.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage communications measurement frameworks, including familiarity with digital analytics platforms and employee listening tools.
• Familiarity with manufacturing, operations, life sciences, or pharmaceutical environments strongly preferred.
Frontline Audience Expertise: Deep understanding of how non-desk-based and shift-based employees consume information, with the instinct to design communications that are accessible, relevant, and actionable for people who are not sitting at a computer.
HR Partnership: Proven track record collaborating with HR business partners and people-strategy teams to translate workforce priorities into compelling employee communications.
Manufacturing Associate & Career Storytelling: Ability to develop authentic, motivating narratives around manufacturing associate career journeys and workforce development that resonate with frontline employees and reinforce Lilly's investment in its manufacturing workforce.
Change & Platform Communications: Experience developing and implementing communications that drive technology adoption in operational environments, including the ability to simplify complex platform capabilities for non-technical audiences.
Measurement & Analytics: Comfortable building measurement frameworks from the ground up, working with multiple data sources, and translating metrics into clear stories for leadership.
Editorial Craft: Strong writer with the range to move between frontline-facing content, HR partnership deliverables, and leadership reporting without losing quality or clarity.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work across Communications, HR, IT, and site operations with the organizational agility to build alignment across functions that do not always share the same priorities or timelines.
Operational Agility: Comfortable managing a broad and varied portfolio across a geographically distributed manufacturing network, with the rigor to prioritize and implement in a fast-moving environment.
Platform Fluency: Proficiency with internal communications platforms including LillyNow, Viva Engage, and enterprise email tools; experience with frontline-specific platforms (digital signage, shift communication apps, or similar) a plus.
Additional Information
This position is not permanent. It is for a fixed term position up to a maximum of 4 years.
Actual compensation will depend on a candidate's education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is
$127,500 - $187,000
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.