Sr. Director - Discovery and Engineering

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

$158,250 - $275,000

The Biotechnology Discovery Research group at Lilly’s Biotechnology Center in San Diego discovers medicines that address significant unmet needs by integrating biology with innovative scientific capabilities in protein engineering and computational sciences.  In addition to our internal efforts, we collaborate with a broad network of external companies, partnering through our Catalyze360 external innovation program.  We are looking for a motivated scientific leader with large molecule discovery and protein engineering expertise and a strong ability to represent and manage teams to join us in making a difference for patients, partners and the communities we serve!  The successful candidate will oversee efforts to discover, design, and engineer protein therapeutics for desired biological function, potency, stability, developability, and low immunogenicity for external partners as part of our Catalyze360 program. There will be opportunities to engineer proteins and/or antibodies for cutting edge technologies including bi-/multi-specifics and targeted delivery of bioconjugates or nucleic acids to cells. The successful candidate will have strong scientific skills and broad knowledge, as well as the ability to manage key relationships with partners and internal stakeholders.

If you are a highly motivated teammate, with a passion for goal-oriented scientific research, with prior industry experience and external influence in protein engineering and possess a sound practical knowledge of molecular biology, structural biology, biological chemistry, immunology, and cell biology we urge you to join the Lilly Team today!

Responsibilities:

• Work within scientific discovery and engineering team to facilitate external collaborative research projects.
• Discover and engineer first- or best-in-class biotherapeutics by integrating biology and a deep understanding of molecular properties 
• Coordinate with business development, research, and external partners in design and execution of complex projects involving antibodies and other large molecules.
• Strong and effective communicator of progress on individual projects and broader programs internally and externally.
• Organize and present data to support decisions in cross-functional teams.
• Prepare, review, and sign off on technical documents and reports.
• Review the literature, attend meetings and conferences, and maintain an updated knowledge in the field.
• Contribute to the preparation of scientific products, such as presentations, writing reports, protocols when appropriate.

Basic Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in biochemistry, biophysics, biological chemistry, structural biology, molecular biology or related field
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience beyond education/postdoctoral training in a pharmaceutical, biotech, or research organization (10+ years desired)
• Excellent communication skills to drive positive internal and external interactions and relationships are critical 

Additional Skills/Preferences 

• Knowledge of formats used for biologics including standard IgG, multispecifics, domain binders, and Fc engineering.
• Experience/knowledge of discovery and engineering platforms for biologics including transgenic mouse, bacteriophage, yeast display, mutagenesis
• Experience creating complex project plans in large molecule discovery and engineering.
• Ability to collaborate with internal and external partners in design and execution of projects.
• Expertise in molecular biology, protein characterization, NGS, lab automation/robotics, protein-protein interactions, protein conjugation, and protein structure prediction are desirable skills.
• Experience/knowledge of screening assays used in biologics discovery including ELISA, FACS, reporter assays, SPR, developability analysis
• Strong mentor and coach.  Commitment to foster diverse and inclusive environments.
• Creative problem-solver who can i