ExploR&D Pre-clinical Program Lead

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.

Job Summary

The ExploR&D Pre-clinical Program Lead (EPL) serves as the single point of accountability for external pre-clinical collaboration projects within Lilly’s ExploR&D organization with the potential to extend to clinical planning and development. The role focuses on defining strategy, developing aggressive timelines and budgets, and leading cross-functional teams from Catalyze360 and Lilly Research Laboratories to deliver high-quality results on time and on budget. Reporting within the Catalyze360 Project Management structure, the EPL leads diverse, cross-functional teams to deliver innovation by pioneering novel science and technologies that advance future medicines and transform R&D collaboration models.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership and Project Management

• Lead multiple collaboration teams comprised of ExploR&D personnel, LRL subject matter experts and external biotech collaborators.
• Create a high-performing team with a culture of trust, autonomy, agency, collaboration, and inclusion.
• Develop work plans and assist with contract negotiation prior to execution.
• Execute work plans post-signature including delivering projects ‘on time, on budget’, and within scope from discovery/pre-clinical development through clinical proof-of-concept using contemporary project management tools and approaches.

Scientific and Technical Leadership

• Identify and synthesize relevant, technical information from a variety of sources including scientific literature, internal and external subject matter experts, and experimental or trial data to address key questions and guide study design and program strategy.
• Provide and critically evaluate content within critical project management documents.
• Serve as the ExploR&D scientific leader responsible for rationale, integration of cross-functional data, synthesis of the risk/benefit profile, strategic conclusions, and designs to drive data-driven decision making.

Collaboration and Relationship Management:

• Serve as primary liaison between Lilly and external biotech collaborators, fostering strong relationships, transparent communication and ensuring alignment on project goals.
• Anticipate and resolve barriers to success by identifying potential roadblocks early, offering innovative solutions, and ensuring that collaboration programs are executed with excellence.
• Create a ‘partner of choice’ experience accounting for partner’s goals and priorities, optimizing strategic plans with the spirit of an entrepreneurial drug developer to enable stakeholder decision-making and value-creation.

Operational Excellence and Process Improvement:

• Contribute to diligence and workplan development that optimize outcomes for Lilly and external collaborators.
• Drive operational excellence in program management by identifying and implementing process improvements that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of external collaborations.

Basic Qualifications/Requirements

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in a biology or STEM-related field.

Experience:

• 10+ years of work experience in the pharmaceutical industry including preclinical-translational sciences and/or clinical drug development across therapeutic modalities such as cell and gene, antibodies, peptides, oligonucleotides, vaccines, and small molecules.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Advanced graduate degree (PhD, MS, PharmD, MBA) in a health-related, scientific or engineering field.
• Prior experience managing external collaborations with proven track record of overseeing complex, cross-functional and external partnering projects.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence teams in a matrixed environment, driving collaboration across diverse functions and geographies.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with ability to clearly articulate project goals, strategies, and results to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate challenges, diagnose root causes, and implement creative solutions that drive project success.
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