Senior Advisor- R&D

Elanco; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation packages

Bonus program

Job summary

Elanco is seeking a Senior Advisor, Vaccine Discovery Project Leadership – Farm Animal R&D, to drive novel vaccine projects from idea through lead/candidate stages. You will coordinate internal and external resources, oversee discovery portfolios, and align with global strategy to advance infectious disease innovation in farm animals.

The role requires leading cross-functional teams, designing concepts, and collaborating with external partners to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline plus industry experience.
• Proven vaccine project leadership across species, technology types & R&D stages.
• Experience working within regulated product development.
• Demonstrated strong leadership and strategic thinking.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Align with Corporate & Global Innovation Strategy to identify major technical gaps for key disease indication target product profiles (TPPs) and propose relevant technical solutions for farm animal TPPs.
• Act as Discovery Project Leader for a portfolio of Farm Animal Infectious Disease projects, coordinating and defining technical plans, leading cross-functional project team meetings, assembling project budgets, and providing governance updates.
• Collaborate with Discovery Research to design vaccine concepts addressing target profiles in swine, poultry, and ruminants.
• Work with laboratory teams to ensure timely execution of vaccine construct design, characterization, and bioanalytical methods.
• Coordinate with Clinical Development to design proof-of-principle studies for safety and efficacy of vaccine candidates.
• Engage with External Innovation to review assets and opportunities and define academic partner strategies.

Skills

Vaccine project leadership

Strategic thinking

Strong leadership

Communication skills

Independent working

Education

Master's degree in a relevant scientific discipline

PhD and/or DVM (preferred)

Job description

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals!

As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our purpose – all to Go Beyond for Animals, Customers, Society and Our People.

At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success. Here, you’ll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights.

Making animals’ lives better makes life better – join our team today!

Your Role

As a Senior Advisor, Vaccine Discovery Project Leadership – Farm Animal R&D, you will be accountable for driving novel vaccine and infectious disease projects from Idea through Hit/Lead and Lead/Candidate, using both internal and external resources. You will identify approaches to apply transformative technologies to address infectious disease in novel ways in the veterinary industry. You will work closely with laboratory-based colleagues to ensure internal scientific execution aligns with infectious disease farm animal target product profiles, while being responsible for strategic oversight of our Discovery ID portfolio. You will collaborate closely with R&D peers, External Innovation colleagues, Innovation Marketing, and Commercial leaders to identify and advance new Infectious Disease innovation opportunities aligned with Elanco’s global strategy, while ensuring project execution through the Discovery phase. Additionally, this role offers the opportunity to follow Discovery phase projects into Late Research and Full Development. Taken together, you will be a key leader in influencing and Leading Elanco’s Discovery Vaccine strategy.

Your Responsibilities

• Align with Corporate & Global Innovation Strategy to identify major technical gaps for key disease indication target product profiles (TPPs), and propose relevant technical solutions for farm animal TPPs
• Act as Discovery Project Leader for a portfolio of Farm Animal Infectious Disease projects, coordinating and defining technical plans, leading cross-functional project team meetings, assembling project budgets, and providing governance forum updates
• With Discovery Research peers, collaboratively design and assemble molecular vaccine concepts to address key infectious disease target product profiles in swine, poultry and ruminant indications
• Collaborate with laboratory scientists to ensure timely and quality execution of vaccine construct design and characterization, bioanalytical methods, and potency assays
• Work closely with Clinical Development colleagues to design and execute proof of principle serology and challenge model studies to confirm safety and efficacy of novel vaccine candidates.
• Collaborate with Antibody Discovery, Functional Immunology, and AI/ML colleagues to enable Reverse Vaccinology 2.0/3.0 discovery approaches for antigen identification and vaccine design
• Work closely with External Innovation colleagues to review asset, platform, and capability opportunities from external sources, including defining an academic partner strategy in the Infectious Disease space
• Influence the assessment of novel infectious disease technologies, including vaccine platforms, delivery technologies, antigen identification and validation

• Define optimized project plans for projects including internal/external resource needs for R&D and manufacturing, development costs, cost of goods and margin.

• Collaborate effectively and timely communicate with functional SMEs to plan and execute projects.

• Set clear goals and objectives for the project team members, hold self and others accountable.

• Positively influence, foster creativity, and motivate project team members.

• Identify & communicate to executive leadership project specific risks, status and opportunity, including impacts.

What You Need to Succeed (minimum qualifications)

• Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline (e.g. animal science, veterinary medicine, chemistry, biology or related sciences) plus relevant industry experience
• Proven vaccine project leadership history across species, technology types & R&D stages, including familiarity with farm animal vaccines.
• Demonstrated ability to work within regulated product development.
• Demonstrated strong leadership skills and strategic thinking
• High emotional intelligence
• Proven ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Clear written and oral communication skills

What will give you a competitive edge (preferred qualifications)

• PhD and/or DVM with >5 years of R&D project leadership experience in the animal health industry
• Deep understanding of one or more of the following technical disciplines: molecular biology, functional immunology, protein/antigen design and engineering
• Successful project leadership in a matrixed R&D environment

Additional Information

• Domestic/International travel required (20%)
• 0-2 direct reports

Elanco Benefits and Perks:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package focusing on financial, physical, and mental well-being while encouraging our employees to pursue our purpose! Some highlights include:

• Multiple relocation packages
• Two weeklong shutdowns (mid-summer and year-end) in the US (in addition to PTO)
• 8-week parental leave
• 9 Employee Resource Groups
• Annual bonus offering
• Flexible work arrangements
• Up to 6% 401K matching

Elanco is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

Elanco may use automated tools, including AI, to support parts of our recruitment process, such as reviewing applications against job‑related criteria and/or transferrable skills. These tools help ensure a consistent, structured evaluation, but they do not make hiring decisions. All decisions involve a human reviewer. For more information on how we handle personal data, please see our Elanco Workforce Privacy Notice.

Elanco is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

Elanco may use automated tools, including AI, to support parts of our recruitment process, such as reviewing applications against job‑related criteria and/or transferrable skills. These tools help ensure a consistent, structured evaluation, but they do not make hiring decisions. All decisions involve a human reviewer. For more information on how we handle personal data, please see our Elanco Workforce Privacy Notice.