Senior Director, Real-World Data Operations Lead

Initial Therapeutics, Inc.; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 169,500 - 248,600; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Remote work possible

Job summary

Lilly is seeking a Senior Director, RWD Operations Lead to shape the strategy and execution of Lilly's real-world data ecosystem. The role focuses on turning raw data into AI-ready, scalable evidence assets across therapeutic areas, with governance and cross-functional collaboration at its core.

You will drive standardization, oversight, and innovation while bridging research intent and technical build. This leader guides data pipelines, coding standards, and dashboards to enable rapid,

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a quantitative, data, or health-related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of hands-on RWD experience with healthcare data structures.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience with RWD coding systems: ICD-10, CPT, NDC, LOINC, RxNorm.

Responsibilities

• Lead evaluation of raw RWD for fitness-for-use and documentation.
• Translate scientific needs into enterprise RWD infrastructure strategy and specs.
• Standardize and transform raw data into reusable, analysis-ready assets.
• Develop and document data quality controls for scalability.
• Incorporate strategic innovation (AI) into RWD operations.

Skills

RWD experience

People management

Coding systems knowledge

Education

Master's degree in quantitative/health field

Tools

SQL

R

R-Shiny

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.

Purpose:

The Senior Director, RWD Operations Lead drives the strategy, execution, innovation, and continuous improvement of Lilly's real‑world data ecosystem across therapeutic areas and enterprise data assets. This role ensures that RWD pipelines and processes are built, validated, and governed so that raw RWD is systematically evaluated, transformed, standardized, operationalized, and governed into reusable, AI‑ready assets that accelerate evidence generation at scale.

Equally this leader will translate the strategic direction and execution at the ground level, bringing deep, hands‑on RWD expertise to ensure that scientific requirements are faithfully reflected in infrastructure design and data engineering decisions — bridging the gap between research intent and technical build. This includes oversight of the construction of analytic datasets, ensuring, in collaboration with HEOR and related functions, they are built to specification, reproducible, and fit for regulatory‑grade and publication‑quality evidence generation.

This leader orchestrates cross‑functional governance, establishes the logical rules and frameworks for appropriate data use, and extends the vision for RWD value beyond HEOR to maximize enterprise‑wide impact. Responsibilities also includes support of knowledge management including, but not limited to, ownership of code list and algorithm creation and maintenance, ensuring a single source of truth of resources and a repository for said information that enables high‑quality, reproducible, and efficient evidence generation across Lilly's data portfolio. Critically, this role continuously scans for and incorporates emerging innovations— translating new capabilities into practical improvements that elevate the quality, speed, and scalability of Lilly's RWD operations.

The role sits at the core of the RWDARS transformation workstream, supporting future‑state team structure, operational governance, and execution excellence.

Primary Responsibilities

A. RWD Operational Excellence & Data Readiness

• Lead the technical and data integrity evaluation of raw RWD prior to acceptance and licensing, ensuring fitness‑for‑use, completeness, standardization, structure, and alignment with enterprise needs; ensuring all documentation is sufficient and centralized.
• Collaborate closely with RWD architect(s) and engineer(s) to translate scientific needs and intent into enterprise RWD infrastructure strategy and specifications, resolving pipeline bottlenecks and ensuring documentation meets operational standards (SAPs, data dictionaries, audit trails).
• Accelerate evidence generation by standardizing and transforming raw data into reusable, analysis‑ready assets across different business units.
• Develop, execute, and document quality‑control frameworks that qualify data completeness and ensure consistent, reliable RWD operations at scale.
• Lead with a forward‑thinking mindset to incorporate strategic innovation (AI) into RWD ecosystem operations.

B. Standardization of Coding Systems & Reusable RWD Assets

• Own end‑to‑end code list standardization, maintenance, stewardship, and hosting (e.g. ontology specifications, procedure codes, and medication codes incl. ICD‑10‑CM, ICD-9, SNOMED‑CT, NDC, CPT/HCPC, LOINC, RxNorm).
• Lead development and maintenance of reusable phenotyping algorithms, code libraries, and standardized data pipelines and modular code to accelerate study startup.
• Establish governance and documentation standards for RWD asset reuse across functions.

C. Governance & Cross‑Functional Operations Management

• Lead operational governance for the use of RWD, including access pathways, approval flows, stewardship processes, and compliance with enterprise standards.
• Partner with different stakeholders to ensure operational readiness of datasets, tools, and processes.
• Support organizational change by clarifying new operational roles, interfaces, and future‑state workflows.

D. RWD Portfolio & Workflow Visibility Tools

• Build tools and dashboards enabling stakeholders to gain rapid visibility into RWD sources – quality and density structures, limitations, and operational metadata.
• Collaborate with RWD Strategy Lead to ensure visibility into current RWD assets and pairing with RWD/RWE studies and queries to inform prioritization and resource planning for data acquisition.
• Operate with a research mindset to support building analytical, flexible TA‑specific cohorts to support fast and consistent research.

E. Training, Documentation, & Capability Building

• Develop and deliver RWD‑source‑specific trainings to ensure scientific, technical, and operational teams understand the structure, quality, and limitations of each asset.
• Maintain and evolve documentation across pipelines, datasets, reusable components, and operational standards.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

• Masters degree (MS, MPH, PharmD, PhD) in a quantitative, data, or health‑related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of RWD hands‑on experience with healthcare data structures (claims, EHR, and multi‑modal RWD, including linked clinical‑genomic/omics datasets).
• Minimum of 3 years experience with RWD healthcare coding systems: ICD‑10, CPT, NDC, LOINC, RxNorm.

Additional Preferences

• Experience driving alignment and conflict resolution across technical and scientific teams.
• Experience supporting organizational change and building operational frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex operational workflows across multiple stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
• Strong strategic thinker at enterprise level and ability to collaborate with RWD architect, engineer and strategy roles.
• Demonstrate leadership skills in influencing stakeholders to resolve conflicts.
• Demonstrate leadership in establishing external partnership.
• Proficiency in SQL, R, and R‑Shiny, including dashboarding and operational tool development.
• Familiarity with HEOR, medical, and statistical research workflows, including specification development, data quality assessment, study execution.
• Minimum of 2 years of direct people management experience, including leading, coaching, and developing team members preferred.

Additional Information

• Location: Indianapolis, IN is strongly preferred. Relocation assistance is available for qualified candidates. Remote work may be considered based on business needs and candidate qualifications.
• Domestic and international travel may be necessary.

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 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.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $169,500 - $248,600.

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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