Permitting & Communications Lead
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Project: Major Greenfield Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Campus
Position Type: Project-Based / Owner’s Representative (OR/PMC)
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Permitting & Communications Lead to support a major pharmaceutical capital project in Huntsville, Alabama. This individual will provide permitting expertise, support coordination with Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), maintain visibility into project-wide permitting activities, and lead community engagement activities in close coordination with Lilly.
This is an advisory and oversight position—not the permit applicant. The Permitting & Communications Lead will not be responsible for obtaining permits or serving as Lilly’s direct liaison with AHJs unless specifically directed by Lilly. Instead, the Lead will advise project stakeholders, track permitting activities, maintain the Master Permitting Matrix, coordinate AHJ interactions, and promptly identify and report permitting and regulatory risks to Lilly. These responsibilities align directly with Workstream 7 of the project Scope of Services.
The role supports Lilly’s Owner’s Representative/PMC model, which is intended to function as a trusted advisor and extension of Lilly while providing independent oversight, technical expertise, and proactive project management.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as a project subject matter resource for permitting strategy, regulatory requirements, AHJ coordination, and approval processes.
- Provide permitting expertise and practical advice to Lilly and project stakeholders regarding permitting requirements, sequencing, dependencies, potential constraints, and regulatory risks.
- Develop, maintain, and regularly update the Master Permitting Matrix, including required permits, responsible parties, submission milestones, required approval dates, current status, dependencies, and potential schedule impacts.
- Track permitting activities across designers, contractors, consultants, and other responsible project parties.
- Monitor permit and approval milestones against the overall project schedule and identify potential delays or constraints.
- Provide Lilly with timely reporting on permitting status, emerging issues, risks, required decisions, and recommended mitigation actions.
- Promptly escalate AHJ or permitting issues that could affect project cost, schedule, construction, commissioning, or overall delivery.
- Support coordination of meetings and interactions between project parties and applicable AHJs while maintaining clear responsibility for who owns each permit or submission.
- Develop and maintain an AHJ Engagement Log documenting interactions, commitments, decisions, action items, responsible parties, and follow-up requirements.
- Develop effective working relationships with local authorities and provide project stakeholders with insight regarding local permitting and regulatory processes.
- At Lilly’s request, review and comment on permit applications, regulatory submissions, and other documentation prepared by the parties responsible for submission.
- Coordinate closely with engineering, environmental, construction, HSE, project controls, commissioning, legal, communications, and other project functions.
- Ensure permitting information and risks are incorporated into appropriate project reporting, risk management, and escalation processes.
The project's overall OR/PMC structure places particular importance on interface management, including providing Lilly with visibility into status, risks, outstanding actions, and issues requiring escalation.
Communications & Community Engagement
The Permitting & Communications Lead will also lead local community communications and engagement in close coordination with Lilly. Responsibilities will include identifying key community stakeholders, supporting positive relationships with the Huntsville-area community, understanding potential community impacts, and helping ensure activities affecting the community are communicated appropriately and proactively.
The Lead will support development and implementation of the project's Public Relations Plan, which is identified as a Workstream 7 deliverable during mobilization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, Construction Management, Planning, Public Administration, Communications, or related field preferred.
- 10+ years of relevant experience in permitting, regulatory affairs, AHJ coordination, environmental permitting, public affairs, community engagement, or major capital-project delivery preferred.
- Experience supporting large-scale industrial, pharmaceutical, life sciences, chemical/process, advanced manufacturing, or complex greenfield construction projects strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated knowledge of permitting processes and regulatory approvals associated with major industrial developments.
- Experience developing and maintaining permitting matrices, regulatory trackers, AHJ logs, risk registers, and executive-level status reporting.
- Strong understanding of how permitting and regulatory approvals interface with engineering, construction sequencing, project controls, commissioning, and overall project schedules.
- Experience working with government agencies, AHJs, engineering organizations, construction contractors, environmental consultants, and corporate stakeholders.
- Familiarity with Alabama and Huntsville-area permitting and governmental processes is highly desirable.
- Strong stakeholder-management, communication, facilitation, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to identify risks early, communicate them clearly, and provide practical recommendations to project leadership.
What Success Looks Like
The successful Permitting & Communications Lead will provide Lilly with a reliable, forward-looking view of the project's permitting landscape. Permitting requirements will be clearly identified, ownership will be established, critical approval dates will be visible, AHJ engagements will be tracked, and potential regulatory or community risks will be escalated early enough for the project team to act.
This is particularly important given the scale of the Huntsville development—a planned next-generation API manufacturing campus of approximately 200 acres and more than one million square feet, with an estimated capital investment exceeding $6 billion.
Important Role Clarification: This position does not own or submit permits on behalf of the project unless specifically directed by Lilly. The role is to advise, coordinate, track, review when requested, maintain the Master Permitting Matrix, support AHJ and community engagement, and report permitting risks.
EOE