Associate Director - External Innovation S&E Diabetes & Obesity

Role Summary

As Associate Director, External Innovation Diabetes & Obesity, this role will help develop and implement Eli Lilly’s External Innovation (EI) and Search & Evaluation strategy and priorities to secure pipeline impact across Diabetes & Obesity. The Search and Evaluation scope will include Diabetes & Obesity. Working closely with partners in the Cardiometabolic Research (CMR), this role will support all relevant processes related to the identification and evaluation of new opportunities, preparation of in-depth documents clearly delineating the opportunity from a scientific and business perspective and partner interactions as projects progress from initial sanctioning through deal closure.

• Identify and map new innovative opportunities with bold understanding of disease biology.
• Rigorously assess programs from biotech, small and large pharma companies for potential in-licensing/partnering opportunities that have been assigned for review by leadership or identified proactively.
• Manage all stages of partner interactions and evaluations, including initial contact, securing internal interest, meeting execution, coordinating internal debriefs, support CMR Search & Evaluation leadership as needed.
• Ensure prompt evaluation by functional experts (Biology, Chemistry, CMC, ADME, TOX, PK, legal etc.) for opportunity evaluation and pre-diligence and provide partners with essential feedback/guidance.
• Identify gaps and key issues and appropriate expertise to enable resolution.
• Collaborate with internal scientific teams to identify, design, and implement the scientific experiments necessary to validate external opportunities.
• Support consolidation of scientific feedback leading to internal recommendations and provision of partner responses.
• Maintain awareness of external competitive landscapes for key target areas and assets by actively monitoring all relevant external preclinical- and clinical-stage assets within therapeutic areas
• Engage in scientific conferences as directed by CMR Search & Evaluation leadership to scout for new assets and technologies in line with R&D priorities.
• Provide regular updates at the EI deals review sessions.

• Required: PhD in Life Sciences related field, with track record in pre-clinical research, deep understanding of R&D processes and new modalities in the Diabetes & Obesity area.
• Required: Minimum of 1-5 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry
• Required: Strong scientific pedigree as evidenced by publications and presentations.
• Required: Minimum of 1-2 years of experience in external research collaborations and S&E
• Preferred: Proven ability to work independently as well as in highly integrated cross functional teams.
• Preferred: Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to represent Lilly in a highly professional manner.
• Preferred: Track record of participation to scientific conferences in the cardiometabolic /WHS area and partnering conferences
• Preferred: Demonstrated track record in managing complex partnerships

• 25% travel anticipated
• Remote location tbd.