Senior Director - ExploR&D Business Operations and Alliance Management

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.

Organization Overview

Lilly Catalyze360 is a comprehensive approach to enabling the early-stage biotech ecosystem by democratizing access to infrastructure, expertise, and resources. Through its interconnected pillars—Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs, Lilly ExploR&D, and Lilly TuneLab—Catalyze360 strategically removes barriers that traditionally block bold science from becoming life-changing medicines, providing biotechs with flexible combinations of capital, physical lab space, R&D capabilities, AI/ML tools, and decades of enterprise learning.

Lilly ExploR&D is a team of drug discovery and development experts who partner with biotechs from discovery through clinical proof-of-concept, putting Lilly's industry-leading capabilities behind their missions. We provide flexible support—from strategic consulting to full program execution—making it faster, easier, and more capital-efficient for innovators to transform bold science into life-changing medicines.

Job Summary

The Senior Director, ExploR&D Business Operations and Alliance Management will lead Alliance Management for the ExploR&D portfolio of biotech collaborations and oversee associated contract negotiations to support our external collaborators.  This individual will balance strategic oversight with operational execution to ensure successful partner relationships and seamless collaboration execution. 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead alliance management across the entire ExploR&D portfolio, serving as the primary interface between Lilly and biotech partners to maintain strategic alignment and foster strong relationships
• Establish and oversee performance monitoring frameworks and tools for KPI tracking to ensure both parties meet contractual obligations and achieve collaboration objectives
• Serve as the primary escalation point for partners, proactively identifying and resolving complex partnership challenges while maintaining partner satisfaction and protecting Lilly's strategic interests
• Coordinate and oversee amendments and contract modifications to existing ExploR&D collaboration agreements, ensuring alignment with business objectives, compliance requirements, and partner expectations throughout the lifecycle
• Lead a team of contract negotiators responsible for agreements across drug discovery and development, facilitating consistent contract strategy, risk assessment, and risk mitigation
• Oversee cross-functional coordination with the business, legal, finance, and other teams to align internal stakeholders and ensure integrated support for collaborations
• Drive continuous improvement in processes, tools, and frameworks to improve contracts and alliance management and enhance operational efficiency, partner satisfaction, and collaboration outcomes

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree
• 10+ years of extensive experience in contract negotiations (either business development or vendor relationships) across drug discovery and development
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical R&D operations, drug development lifecycle, regulatory environment, and biotech business models
• Scientific background required for technical credibility when engaging with R&D partners
• Experience managing a team focused on R&D contract negotiations
• Experience managing relationships with biotech companies

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Proficient in conflict resolution, negotiation, and stakeholder management at senior executive levels with demonstrated ability to maintain relationships during challenging situations
• Demonstrated track record of successfully resolving challenges with other parties, managing amendments and disputes, and maintaining long-term collaborative relationships
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills with ability to balance portfolio-level oversight with detailed operational execution and identify opportunities for value creation
• Proven ability to drive rapid execution through complex matrixed environments by identifying process bottlenecks, identifying solutions, and maintaining momentum to achieve critical milestones
• Significant experience supporting Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) efforts as well as other areas of drug discovery and/or development

Additional Information

• Travel: Minimal travel required (less than 10%)
• This role requires occasional flexibility for partner meetings across different time zones

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

$169,500 - $275,000

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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