Director - Discovery Immunology

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.

Lilly Immunology is a therapeutic area focused on many autoimmune diseases spanning gastroenterology, dermatology and rheumatology. We are seeking an accomplished and creative Director for the New Target Validation within Discovery Immunology to develop biological strategy with translational readiness for projects and execution target identification through mechanistic validation. The ideal candidate is a seasoned discovery biology leader with deep expertise in functional genomics, phenotypic and mechanistic discovery platforms, and physiologically relevant primary human model systems.

This role will provide scientific and strategic leadership across cross‑functional discovery teams, enabling confident target nomination, modality selection, and early portfolio advancement in immunology.

• Define and lead the end‑to‑end strategy for new target validation, spanning genetic perturbation, pathway deconvolution, cellular pharmacology, and translational model design.
• Drive scientific decision‑making across multidisciplinary project teams to ensure robust biological rationale, mechanism‑of‑action understanding, and data‑supported progression criteria.
• Lead and mentor a team of discovery biologists.
• Develop comprehensive project plans and risk mitigation strategies to address scientific and operational challenges.
• Communicate program progress, risks, and results to senior management and cross‑functional partners.

• Expand functional genomics capability, including pooled and arrayed CRISPR knockout, CRISPR base‑editing, multiplexed perturbation systems, barcoding technologies, and data‑integrated mechanistic workflows.
• Champion the development and application of primary human and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)–derived or organoid model systems and whole‑blood assays.
• Lead the creation of and operationalize phenotypic discovery workflows to enable rapid target triage, mechanistic deconvolution, and clear go/no‑go determination.
• Integrate these models with multimodal profiling (imaging, transcriptomics, cytokine and proteomics readouts) to strengthen human disease relevance and predictive validity. Ensure translational confidence by driving model selection, benchmarking, and alignment with patient‑derived data and clinical insights.

• Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology, Immunology, or a related field.
• 7-10 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery biology.

• Demonstrated leadership in developing high‑performing teams by coaching, mentoring, and empowering diverse talent to grow in capability, influence, and leadership impact.
• Proven track record of advancing novel biological targets into early discovery portfolios and delivering data packages supporting IND submissions.
• Ability to make data‑driven decisions and find innovative solutions to overcome scientific and operational obstacles within matrix environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex scientific data to diverse audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills for effective collaboration with internal teams, external partners, and vendors.

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