Scientific Advisor, Target Discovery and External Innovation Laison – Lilly Gene Therapy

Eli Lilly and Company; United States; Remote; USD 126,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Eli Lilly and Company is looking for a Scientific Advisor to support gene therapy innovation and business development. The role requires significant experience in gene therapy along with strong communication and collaboration skills. The candidate will coordinate activities across multiple therapeutic areas and manage projects effectively.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits program

Eligibility for a company bonus

401(k) and pension plans

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant industry experience in gene therapy.
• Minimum 2 years in business development or external innovation role.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate internal and external collaboration for gene therapy.
• Support documentation for governance meetings.
• Manage timelines and project execution.

Skills

Analytic thinking

Collaboration

Creative problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher (Masters, PhD)

Job description

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 Scientific Advisor plays a key facilitative role in the company’sactivities related to discovery-stage innovation, including external innovation and alliance management,supporting ongoing and new efforts for Lilly Gene Therapy. The role will support projects spanning multiple therapeutics areas, with an initial focus on CNS delivery and inner ear.

Theideal candidate will have in-depth scientific understanding of gene therapy basics and strong verbal and written communication skills that enable succinct updates to internal management and governance teams / committees and to external partnership governance meetings. The ideal candidate will be able to strategically navigate confidential communications internally and with partnerships in collaboration with the alliance manager.

A highly collaborative mindset, with ability to build strong, positive relationships and influence without authority is critical, as the candidate will be expected to proactively solicit feedback and deliverables from relevant internal experts and functions while maintaining appropriate confidentiality. The ideal candidate will consistently demonstrateeffective cross-functional collaboration to support the design of relevant experiments / studies, draft statements of work, and support data interpretation and summaries to inform future efforts.

Key Responsibilities:

Discovery Research and External Innovation Strategy

• Coordinate activities and relationships necessary to deliver: collaborate with internal groups, including CMC (manufacturing and analytics at LGT and BRD), Research (e.g.,in vitroandin vivoexperiments), Translational and Bioanalytics (e.g., NHP study planning, execution, reporting).
• Partner with Gene Therapy leadership and functional teams to collaboratively support data-driven decision making, data-driven understanding of the developability of EI-sourced technology, the design of critical experiments, and alignment on resourcing options.
• Document cross-functional execution strategy on a project-by-project basis, managing granular and general timelines, and work cross-functionally to creatively identify options to accelerate deliverables and to mitigate risks to the timelines,ensuring alignment with organization-wide priorities.
• Encompass strongin vitroandin vivoskills for gene therapy to contribute to internal and external scientific discussions, data analysis, and to inform larger discussions / decision-making process based on generated data.
• Accountable for the internal work on project execution and completion (MTA, license agreement, and strategic collaboration with internal functional teams and leaders).

Business Development and Alliance Management

• Partner with Business Development and Alliance Management teams on company/technology due diligence and evaluations
• Partner, as a Scientific Advisor, with Business Development team and/or Gene Therapy leadership on evaluation agreement and strategic collaboration workplans, including but not limited to: materials needed, experimental design, timelines, critical success factors, and key outputs needed to determine success and/or completion of aligned upon workplan
• Set up recurring internal and external meeting updatesfor active alliances
• Execute on documentation of both internal and external governance meetings that include meeting minutes with decisions and action items follow through, and coordinate and review all relevant scientific internal and external partnership presentations.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher level degree (i.e., Masters, PhD) with 5+ years of relevant industry experience in gene therapy
• Minimum 2 years of direct experience in a business development / external innovation role.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Strong experience with proof-of-concept studies including designingin vitroandin vivostudies, assay development and providing clear and concise summary of generated data, with appropriate level of self-awareness with respect to knowledge gapsand self-motivation to solicit and coordinate expertise of colleagues while maintaining appropriate confidentiality.
• Strong analytic thinking skills, with ability to professionally and effectively communicate unpopular opinions to colleagues across all levels
• Demonstrated ability to:
• Manage granular and general timelines and identify ways to accelerate deliverables and to mitigate risks to the timelines
• Influence without authority and coordinate cross-functional efforts to execute on responsibilities.
• Articulate issues, and extract and synthesize complex issues into key focus
• Proven record of:
• Creative problem-solving
• Collaboration and networking across a wide variety of internal functions
• Communicating effectively with external partners
• Passion, knowledge, and experience in rare disease or genetic medicine (including gene therapy, gene editing).

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 Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is

$126,000 - $184,800

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.

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