Senior/Executive Director, ExploR&D External Partnering - Eli Lilly and Company

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

Purpose

At JP Morgan 2024, Dave Ricks announced Lilly Catalyze360, our external innovation organization dedicated to biotech collaboration which is comprised of three pillars: Lilly Ventures, providing capital direct to biotechs and via a fund-of-funds investment strategy; Lilly Gateway Labs, a best-in-class network of biotech incubators; and ExploR&D

Within ExploR&D our mission is unleash Lilly’s world-leading capabilities and know-how to accelerate the science of our biotech collaborators to value inflection, and to patients. Through a unique model that mixes dedicated headcount and flexible use of functional and therapeutic area expertise, we will provide the knowledge and services to enable our collaborator’s programs.  Through our work we ensure Lilly is networked with the brightest scientific minds around the world to continue to make Lilly smarter, create value for Lilly and the entire scientific ecosystem, and position Lilly as a partner of choice for biotechs to fuel our industry-leading pipeline with best external innovation.  With the pace of technological disruption accelerating, ExploR&D also affords Lilly an agile way to pilot and deploy new technologies and vendor solutions that can increase the speed and efficiency in the way drugs are discovered and developed, both for our biotech collaborators, and by providing de-risked opportunities to evolve how Lilly and LRL operates. 

The Senior Director, ExploR&D External Partnering is a pivotal leader within the ExploR&D team, responsible for identifying, evaluating, and securing collaborations with the most innovative companies across the globe. This individual will leverage a deep understanding of breakthrough scientific discoveries to align external opportunities with Lilly's strategic goals. The role is instrumental in shaping the future of Lilly's pipeline by sourcing cutting-edge science and technologies, and fostering collaborations that that accelerate the development of transformative therapies.

This role reports to the Head of ExploR&D.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio-level Vision:
  • Apply scientific knowledge and drug discovery expertise to influence the overall scientific strategy of ExploR&D and Catalyze360.
  • Partner with the leadership team to continue to evolve the ExploR&D portfolio strategy, including disease, technology and geographic focus areas, project selection criteria, and annual project acquisition goals.
• External Innovation Search:
  • Build and nurture strong relationships with companies, venture groups, and Industry leaders to identify collaborative opportunities that align with our mission.
  • Serve as an ambassador for ExploR&D, increasing awareness of our offering and value proposition externally through meeting attendance, panels, presentations and collaboration with corporate communications on key external messaging.
  • Develop landscapes of high priority areas and identify and assess promising external assets, technologies, and platforms in alignment with Catalyze360 strategic interests.
• External Innovation Evaluation and Collaboration Design:
  • Bring a deep scientific acumen to evaluate potential partnerships, with the ability to critically assess new technologies, platforms, and innovations that could address unmet needs within Lilly’s therapeutic areas.
  • Partner with internal and external stakeholders to develop the scope of collaborations, including scientific, operational, and strategic aspects, to ensure that partnerships are delivering value to our innovation partners, match our organization’s capabilities and capacity, and deliver on the mission and strategic goals of the Catalyze360 organization.
• Scientific Leadership and Strategic Alignment:
  • Assess potential partnerships, ensuring they align with Lilly's vision of advancing science at scale, expanding the company’s research portfolio, and fueling its industry-leading pipeline. Focus on creating value both for Lilly and the broader scientific ecosystem.
  • Stay up to date on recent advances in biomedical research, Lilly R&D strategy, and Therapeutic Areas (TAs) scientific strategy; Build and maintain contacts with key stakeholders and decision makers in the TAs and functional areas (BioTDR, Genetic Medicines, SMDD etc.). 
• Cross-functional Leadership:
  • Collaborate with internal teams, including R&D, business development, legal, and commercial, to drive alignment and facilitate the seamless integration of external programs into the ExploR&D Portfolio.

Basic Qualifications

• Advanced graduate degree (PhD, MD) in a biology or health-related field from an accredited college or university
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry or related fields, with demonstrated expertise in drug discovery and early development.
• Experience in business development/external innovation, leading evaluation and/or diligence of external opportunities related to assets, companies, and technology platforms
• Broad understanding of emerging scientific and technical breakthroughs. 

Additional Preferences

• Strong business acumen and strategic thinking.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with a keen ability to understand, empathize, and navigate complex relationships and dynamics
• Outstanding EQ, problem-solving, analytical, project management skills. 
• Highly self-motivated and organized; able to multitask with concurrent processing and implementation of many active programs at various stages of evaluation and business discussions.
• Demonstrated ability to connect and influence at various levels across disciplines, both externally and internally.
• Learning Agility: Ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances, learn from past experiences, and apply those learnings to new situations.
• Portfolio Mindset: Strong ability to think with a portfolio-level mentality, ensuring that individual program decisions align with the overall goals of ExploR&D and Catalyze360.
• Independent, self-starter, work without supervision

Other Information:

• This is a US-based role, with a Boston location strongly preferred. Up to 35% travel (domestic and international), with attendance expected at key partnering conferences.

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 an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, 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 help our company develop talented individuals for future leadership roles. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia Network, African American Network, Chinese Culture Network, Early Career Professionals, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinos at Lilly, PRIDE (LGBTQ + Allies), Veterans Leadership Network, Women’s Network, Working and Living with Disabilities. Learn more about all of our groups.

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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