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.
Organization Overview
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.
Functional Overview
Tech@Lilly builds and maintains capabilities using cutting edge technologies like most prominent tech companies. What differentiates Tech@Lilly is that we redefine what's possible through tech to advance our purpose — creating medicines that make life better for people around the world, like data driven drug discovery and connected clinical trials. We hire the best technology professionals from a variety of backgrounds, so they can bring an assortment of knowledge, skills, and diverse thinking to deliver innovative solutions in every area of our business.
The Advanced Intelligence organization sits at the forefront of Lilly's AI transformation, driving artificial intelligence and machine learning to revolutionize how we discover, develop, and deliver medicines to patients. Leading initiatives from AI-enabled laboratories to Kernel Lilly—the AI-enabled research infrastructure stack serving as the operating system for pharmaceutical research—to strategic partnerships with world-class technology companies, to proprietary foundation models trained on Lilly's research data, this team is building the technical foundation for AI-powered R&D. With deep expertise in cutting-edge AI technologies and pharmaceutical science, Advanced Intelligence is transforming Lilly into an AI-first drug discovery organization, accelerating breakthrough treatments to patients.
You will work as a member of the ML Engineering team supporting Lilly's Research AIOS, reporting to a Staff Engineer or Engineering Director. You will contribute to platform capabilities across one or more of the five domains (Data, Compute, Model, Experience/Workflow, and Instrumentation)—building features, fixing bugs, writing tests, and learning how large-scale AI systems are designed and operated in a regulated pharmaceutical environment. Your work will help shape an ecosystem that is foundational to how research teams at Lilly utilize AI.
Basic Qualifications
- Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
- Completion of at least 2 years (junior standing) in an undergraduate program, or currently enrolled in a graduate program
- Coursework or project experience in at least one of: machine learning, distributed systems, data engineering, or software systems design
- Familiarity with at least one cloud platform (AWS, GCP, Azure) or containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Available for 10–12 weeks full-time engagement between May–September 2027
- 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 Preferences
- Prior experience using AI tools (e.g., generative AI platforms, automation tools, or AI-assisted research/analytics tools) in an academic, project, or work setting
How You'll Succeed
Contribute to the design, implementation, and testing of platform capabilities within your assigned domain.
- You will build and ship features for an AIOS platform within your assigned domain, under guidance from your mentor
- You will write well-tested, production-quality code following team architectural standards and design patterns
- You will participate in code reviews, design discussions, and sprint ceremonies
Learning & Growth
Develop technical depth in ML systems engineering while gaining pharma R&D context.
- You will gain hands-on experience with one or more of the following: agent orchestration frameworks, model serving, data pipelines, and observability infrastructure
- You will learn how architectural decisions impact platform performance, scalability, and usability across research use cases
- You will document your work and share learnings with the broader team
Collaboration
Work effectively within a cross-functional engineering team.
- You will pair with senior engineers on complex problems, asking questions and contributing ideas
- You will participate in stand-ups, retrospectives, and planning sessions
- You will present your intern project outcomes to the team and leadership at the end of the rotation
What You Should Bring
- Curiosity about AI/ML systems and how they're built at scale
- Foundational programming skills in Python, Go, or TypeScript
- Exposure to machine learning concepts (coursework, personal projects, or research)
- Familiarity with version control (Git) and collaborative development workflows
- Strong communication skills — ability to ask good questions and document what you learn
- Self-direction balanced with knowing when to ask for help
- Interest in pharmaceutical research or life sciences applications of AI (preferred, not required)
- As part of Lilly's commitment to innovation, interns will have the opportunity to build fluency with AI tools used across the business. We expect interns to approach these tools with curiosity, apply critical thinking to AI-assisted work, and always prioritize accuracy, confidentiality, and ethical standards in how they use them.
- Lilly arranges various intern activities including sporting events, dinners, lunch and learns, volunteer activities etc. to provide opportunities for socializing, professional development, and learning more about Lilly.
- Interns will receive 1 week of paid time off during the Lilly summer shut-down (July 5th – July 9th)
- 1:1 mentoring from an experienced professional in the function
- Interns will receive a competitive salary and free parking at their work site, as well as access to Lilly’s LIFE fitness center, bike garage, and many other discounts
- If the intern's job position requires a move from another location, Lilly will provide subsidized housing
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 (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
$85,000 (Masters) annually
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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