Placement Roles

Lilly offers three types of roles; Business, System and Technical Analyst across a range of departments. Typically students remain in the same team throughout their placement, however, there may be opportunities to be involved in supplementary projects with other departments.

Business Analyst

Business Analysts engage closely with end users to understand their aims and objectives, suggest how technology can be used to improve the way they work and co-ordinate delivery of these solutions. This role will expose students to requirements gathering, project management and require an ability to present IT concepts in non-technical terminology. It will suit students who have an interest in IT and Business.

Thoughts from Lilly Placement Business Analysts:

“I have had the opportunity to work as a Project Manager, working with both application and infrastructure sectors of IT all across Europe.”

“I was given relevant training and a lot of responsibility very early on. This can seem daunting at first, but really helps you grow as a person and see what you can truly achieve.

 During this time, I also developed many soft skills such as self management, decision making and especially my communication techniques.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed working on issues which I knew would affect many users and working to meet certain deadlines.”

Systems Analyst

Systems Analysts utilise their technical expertise to deliver innovative solutions to meet the needs of end users. You will provide technical input to IT projects, be exposed to the full software development lifecycle, and provide support for systems that are already in use. This role will give students the opportunity to learn new technologies and interact with end users. The systems analyst roles will suit students who have an awareness of programming languages, and an interest in applying it to business scenarios.

Thoughts from Lilly Placement Systems Analysts

“Over my placement I have worked closely with Software Developers and Business Associates. I have built relationships with end users to manage the oncoming release of new software.”

“Being the only member of my team here in the UK, I have picked up the characteristics of being part of a virtual team. I was project manager on an upgrade of flash for my team’s web applications and took responsibility of the complete project, start-to-end.”

“I deal with a mix of customers within Lilly, from senior analysts and management to students like myself. From the day to day problems I deal with, I have also had the opportunity to create websites, propose new processes, work on complex code and form good relationships with end users”

Technical Analyst

Technical Analysts are responsible for understanding, implementing and in some cases developing complex systems to meet business needs. You will work with business analysts and project managers to understand the requirements and implement innovative new technology solutions to help Lilly gain competitive advantage. This role will give students the opportunity to develop a technical specialism and provide guidance on it to areas of the company. It will suit students who have a proven interest in software development and are on a technical degree course such as software engineering or computer science.

Thoughts from Lilly Placement Technical Analysts

My role involves making applications and solutions that make the work of scientists easier. This may be as simple as a team website or a web application all the way up to a custom global application used by thousands of scientists every day.

The best thing about this role is the knowledge that your skill in technology leads to a more efficient drug discovery, which is crucial for Lilly’s continued success.”

“A placement gives you the chance to learn skills and gain experience that isn’t possible at university. The role has enabled me to exercise the technical skills I have already acquired and test these skills in the work environment”