Senior Director - External Innovation, Search & Evaluation

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.

The Drug Delivery and New Product Innovation group within Lilly’s DDCS (Delivery and Device Connected Solutions) function studies physiological barriers across various routes of administration to apply and create novel patient centric drug delivery solutions.

With a broad focus to develop injection device platforms and novel delivery devices to improve patient care, the group focuses in serving as a center of excellence in the following areas :

Injection physiology and new device ideation

Novel routes of administration / new modalities

Drug delivery of new modalities (such as nucleic acid therapeutics), monoclonal antibodies, synthetic peptides, and small molecules

Connected devices,digital biomarkers and nanomedicine

We are seeking a highly collaborative and entrepreneurial leader to head DDCS’s search and evaluation (S&E) capability. S&E seeks and evaluates early and late stage external drug delivery and device technologies and platforms for potential data driven collaborations and partnerships across all of Lilly’s therapeutic areas.

In addition, the S&E leader will manage a cross functional team of drug delivery experts to shape the discussion and advancement of new drug delivery technologies for new product creation, as well as participating in due diligence activities, and working with Lilly Venture Science and Gateway Labs for screening and identification of technologies relevant to Lilly’s portfolio.

Position Responsibilities :

Define and drive the external innovation strategy for DDCS, incorporating the needs of therapeutic areas and other Lilly organizations by identifying potential areas of technical disruption ( skate to where the puck will be ) as well as key gaps within Lilly’s portfolio requiring external partnership activities

Serve as the organizational expert in the delivery and device external environment by understanding the competitive environment, both pharma and high-tech, to anticipate potential areas of disruption and gain the advantage

Lead the identification and rigorous, objective assessments of potential in-licensing opportunities with a keen sense of key issues and appropriate expertise to facilitate resolution

Lead and / or participate in visits to external companies with senior leadership, functional groups, business development, and diligence team members

Leadership in the development of project concepts and execution of these projects when working with external groups including managing or facilitating research collaborations

Lead the communication of the results of technical evaluations to internal and external stakeholders, particularly cross-functional senior leadership

Develop, maintain, and manage relationships within the external broad technology community including in pharma and biotech companies, research institutes, academia, high tech companies, start-ups, managed healthcare organizations, and other scientific organizations.

Ensure integration of efforts through rigorous goal setting, effective teamwork, performance management, collaboration with Lilly groups and a commitment to serving customers both through the BU’s, therapeutic areas and outside the Company.

Plan and execute the cross functional drug delivery leadership team meetings with agenda, minutes, strategy and other logistical planning.

Support the establishment, maintenance, and ongoing reporting timelines for various external collaborations and using project management experience to understand various stage gates and go-nogo criteria

Minimum Requirements :

PhD. in Engineering, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical Science

Minimum of 12 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry with a strong track record for external innovation, product development and project management.

Additional Skills / Preferences :

Demonstrated scientific knowledge of Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery, Clinical Development and Intellectual Property Processes

Strong analytical skills and the ability to communicate complex information and analyses to a variety of scientific and non-scientific audiences.

Strong interpersonal & leadership skills and ability to represent Lilly in a highly professional manner.

Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to multitask efficiently and prioritize quickly.

Executive presence with strong oral and written communication skills.

Strong problem solving, project management and leadership skills.

Experience working in a matrix environment as well as leading and leveraging the matrix.

Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as in highly integrated cross functional teams.

Other Information

Trave : 25-40% (including OUS).

Location : Indianapolis, IN

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