Senior Advisor- R&D

Elanco Tiergesundheit AG; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation packages

Two weeklong shutdowns (mid-summer and

year-end) in the US (in addition to 0)

8-week parental leave

9 Employee Resource Groups

Annual bonus offering

Flexible work arrangements

Up to 6% 401K matching

Job summary

Elanco seeks a Senior Advisor, Vaccine Discovery Project Leadership – Farm Animal R&D, to drive vaccine and infectious disease projects from idea to lead/candidate. You will oversee discovery portfolios, lead cross-functional teams, and collaborate with internal and external partners to push innovative vaccine strategies for farm animals.

The role emphasizes strategic oversight, project execution in the discovery phase, and leadership in expanding vaccine platforms with a global approach.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline and industry experience.
• Proven vaccine project leadership history across species and R&D stages.
• Experience working within regulated product development.
• Strong leadership and strategic thinking.
• High emotional intelligence.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Clear written and oral communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as Discovery Project Leader for a portfolio of Farm Animal Infectious Disease projects.
• Coordinate technical plans, lead cross-functional meetings, manage budgets.
• Collaborate with Discovery Research to design vaccine concepts for swine, poultry, and ruminants.
• Ensure timely execution of vaccine construct design, bioanalysis, and potency assays.
• Interface with Clinical Development to plan proof-of-principle studies.
• Engage with External Innovation to evaluate assets and partnerships.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Emotional intelligence

Education

Master's degree

PhD

DVM

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

• 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

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

Elanco Benefits and Perks

• 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.

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE: ELAN) is a global leader in animal health dedicated to innovating and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets, creating value for farmers, pet owners, veterinarians, stakeholders, and society as a whole. With nearly 70 years of animal health heritage, we are committed to helping our customers improve the health of animals in their care, while also making a meaningful impact on our local and global communities. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching life and our Elanco Healthy Purpose™ CSR framework – all to advance the health of animals, people and the planet.

Learn more at www.elanco.com.