Associate Director - Business Development Operations

100 Eli Lilly and Company; Indianapolis (IN); Hybrid; USD 137,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) matching

Pension plan

Medical, dental, vision benefits

Well-being programs

Job summary

Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN is seeking an Associate with extensive experience in Business Development Operations and Intelligence to optimize global processes and drive digital transformation. The role emphasizes leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic project execution.

The position requires a Bachelor’s degree in a scientific field and at least 7 years in pharma/biotech, with hands-on experience in AI tools and IT systems supporting multiple teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a scientific or medical related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech industry or academia research.
• Strong leadership, communication, and project management skills.
• Experience with AI systems (Claude, Co-pilot, Cortex) and prompt engineering.

Responsibilities

• Support global external innovation team by managing CRM and SharePoint with access requests, training, and daily information management.
• Provide direction and accountability for 4–6 Bengaluru team members; mentor and develop staff.
• Develop and refine reports, dashboards, and real-time information to inform leadership and manage WIP.
• Drive business process improvements and adoption of AI/tech solutions within External Innovation.
• Support right-to-operate activities including procurement, governance, and onboarding processes.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Project management

Business acumen

Collaboration

Learning agility

Education

Bachelor's degree in a scientific or medical related field

Tools

Claude

Co-pilot

Cortex

Power Automate/PowerApps

Job description

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.

Organization Overview:

External innovation is a critical element of our R&D engine and has enabled more than half of Lilly’s NME launches since 2014. As we continue to accelerate our external innovation engine, Business Development will play an even greater role in the overall success of Lilly. The Associate- Business Development Operations and Intelligence, will work within the operations team to ensure the Business Development teams are operating efficiently and swiftly. The position will engage across the entirety of the responsibility of BD operations including information systems management, reporting and analysis, business process improvement, right-to-operate activities, as well as leading the Lilly Bengaluru BD Operations team.

Location: Indianapolis, IN - hybrid

Responsibilities:

• Support of Business Development Information Solutions and Processes: Support the global external innovation team (Asia, Europe, US) by helping to manage CRM and SharePoint repositories including access requests, training, and daily management of information. Position will require ability to support users globally across all business hours to ensure continuity of business across geographies and time zones. Work within the team to identify business process improvements with a focus on utilization of automation and artificial intelligence capabilities that increase efficiency, integrity and usability of information. Work across global team to ensure systems provide adequate support for all relevant business processes.
• Lilly Bengaluru Operations Team Management: Provide direction and accountability of ~4-6 individuals at Lilly Bengaluru. Set aggressive but achievable team goals that deliver impact on the broader BD operations team initiatives. Mentor the local team leader to prioritize and deliver projects and work outputs. Provide mentorship and guidance to foster career growth and development. Assist Bengaluru site leadership with performance management activities through feedback on team performance.
• Report Management and Authorship: Work within the BD operations and intelligence team by supporting routine reporting of information to ensure business continuity in the areas we support. Continue to develop and refine reports/information with automation technologies and proactively determining what next level analysis will push the business forward. Align with the team in support of real-time dashboards to inform leadership of activities as well as to enable teams to manage WIP.
• Business Process Improvement: Work within the corporate business development team to identify areas for business process improvement, and determine the best implementation strategy, utilizing technology to drive implementation of solutions. Be a catalyst for integration of technologies including Claude, Co-pilot, and other AI and Tech@lilly solutions within the external innovation ecosystem. Must be able to understand capabilities as well as limitations of current technologies and work to facilitate cutting-edge solutions that provide Lilly CBD a distinct advantage over our large pharma peers.
• Right to Operate activities: Work within the team to support right to operate activities including; procurement, conference congress strategy development and execution, Power Automate / PowerApps workflow authorship and maintenance, distribution list ownership and maintenance, and Employee onboarding activities. Ensure broad compliance across external innovation to global procedures and expectations including; Global Record Retention Schedule, Protect Lilly, Insider trader training, Partner confidentiality training and management. Drive information management best practices within the operations team as well as in the broader External Innovation ecosystem.

Skills/Preferences:

Leadership Consistent demonstration of the Lilly leadership behaviors related to the associate director level. Established credibility and trust across all business partners Exhibit a strong passion for pharmaceutical innovation Excellent self-management and organizational skills Strong collaboration skills with colleagues at all levels Business Acumen and Expertise Strong learning agility Strong and independent project management capabilities. General understanding of external innovation processes and business development activities. Communication Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to make the complex simple, and maturity to interact at all levels, including senior executives Must be able to create and maintain reports and presentations that are professional and requisite of senior leadership needs A strong sense of pride in work and attention to detail

Basic Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in a scientific or medical related field Minimum 7 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech industry or academia research Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT,J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

General understanding of the design, development and implementation of IT systems to support multiple integrated teams Experience with AI systems (Claude, Co-pilot, Cortex), and prompt engineering capabilities Knowledge of database architecture and design. 2 years' experience in Business Development and Innovation within pharma / biotech

Additional Information:

Less than 10% domestic travel required Required to work in office 3 days a week. Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response. Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL). Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $136,500 - $200,200 Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

#WeAreLilly At Lilly we strive to ensure our employees are part of a team that cares about them and our shared purpose of making life better for those around the world. How do we do this? We continue to look for ways to include, innovate, accelerate and deliver while maintaining integrity, excellence and respect for people. We hope that you seek to join us on our journey as we create medicine and deliver improved outcomes for patients across the globe! #WeAreLilly