Sr. Director, Therapeutic Research Technology

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.

We are seeking an exceptional strategic leader to orchestrate IT transformation and digital innovation across four pivotal therapeutic areas: Neuroscience, Diabetes & Obesity, Oncology, and Immunology. This high-impact role demands a unique blend of biopharma research expertise, mastery of OMICS technologies, and the strategic foresight to translate sophisticated scientific requirements into scalable, pioneering IT solutions.

As the critical link between Research IT and scientific collaborators, you will partner directly with R&D leadership to architect enterprise-wide technology strategies that accelerate drug discovery. You will be instrumental in ensuring our data infrastructure and digital capabilities evolve ahead of scientific innovation, enabling researchers to unlock breakthrough insights across multiple disease areas.

This role represents a unique opportunity to shape the future of drug discovery through technology innovation. You will work at the intersection of innovative science and ground-breaking IT, directly impacting the development of life-changing therapies. Join us in building the digital foundation that will accelerate breakthrough discoveries across critical therapeutic areas.

What You'll Be Doing:

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Architect and implement comprehensive IT strategies across four therapeutic areas, ensuring seamless alignment with scientific priorities and business objectives
• Partner with C-suite and therapeutic area leadership to champion ground-breaking digital initiatives that drive competitive advantage
• Build forward-looking technology roadmaps that anticipate and exceed the evolving needs of modern drug discovery

Data & OMICS Strategy Excellence

• Collaborate with scientific partners to define and deliver OMICS data capabilities supporting pre-clinical discovery, including scRNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, CRISPR, and PerturbSeq technologies
• Champion the implementation of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles to improve research efficiency and reproducibility
• Design and communicate product vision for therapeutic area-specific data platforms that accelerate the drug discovery pipeline
• Establish scalable, cloud-native infrastructure supporting advanced OMICS data acquisition, processing, and analysis

Cross-Functional Leadership & Delivery

• Lead high-performing, multidisciplinary teams of bioinformaticians, data scientists, software engineers, and product designers
• Apply Agile methodologies to manage sophisticated product development lifecycles spanning multiple therapeutic areas
• Foster a culture of innovation and collaboration that breaks down silos between scientific and technical teams
• Drive clear, critical communication that synthesizes diverse partner perspectives into unified action

Strategic Partnerships & Innovation

• Cultivate strategic relationships with industry-leading technology partners (DNAnexus, Broad Institute, BioTuring, Illumina) and academic institutions
• Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies and data sources with ground-breaking potential for therapeutic research
• Lead vendor selection and partnership negotiations to enhance value and innovation across the portfolio
• Stay ahead of industry trends to find opportunities for competitive differentiation

Financial & Operational Excellence

• Manage multi-million dollar budgets across direct and indirect IT investments for all four therapeutic areas
• Drive operational excellence through process optimization and continuous improvement initiatives
• Ensure timely delivery of high-impact projects while proactively leading risks and dependencies
• Balance innovation investments with operational stability to increase ROI

What You Should Bring:

• Deep understanding of OMICS technologies and their application in drug discovery (scRNA-seq, bulk RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, CRISPR, PerturbSeq)
• Proven expertise in FAIR data principles and modern data governance frameworks
• Sophisticated technical proficiency in SQL, Python, Databricks, and enterprise BI platforms
• Experience navigating regulatory compliance requirements in pharmaceutical data management
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing science & technology strategies
• Domain expertise in one or more focus areas: Neuroscience, Diabetes & Obesity, Oncology, or Immunology
• Product management certifications (CSPO, CPM) or formal SDLC training
• Cloud platform certifications (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
• Previous experience in therapeutic area strategy or R&D leadership roles
• Track record of successful digital transformation initiatives in pharmaceutical settings
• Publications or presentations demonstrating thought leadership in computational biology or pharma IT
• Exceptional ability to influence and align diverse team members from bench scientists to C-suite executives
• Track record of leading ground-breaking change in complex pharmaceutical organizations
• Outstanding communication skills with proven track record to translate technical complexity into business value
• Experience building and mentoring high-performing, cross-functional teams
• Strategic mentality combined with execution excellence and attention to detail

Basic Requirements:

• Advanced degree (Masters or higher) in life sciences, computational biology, or related field
• 10+ years of progressive experience in biopharma, healthcare technology, or data-intensive life sciences organizations
• 5+ years in technical product management, with demonstrated success in biopharma or healthcare sectors
• 3+ years leading data science, AI, and informatics initiatives with measurable business impact

Travel Requirements: Up to 25%

Organization Overview

Lilly IT builds and maintains capabilities using cutting edge technologies like most prominent tech companies. What differentiates Lilly IT is that we redefine what’s possible through tech to advance our purpose – creating medicines that make life better for people around the world, like data driven drug discovery and connected clinical trials. We hire the best technology professionals from a variety of backgrounds, so they can bring an assortment of knowledge, skills, and diverse thinking to deliver innovative solutions in every area of our business.

Research Tech unites science with technology to accelerate the Research and Development of medicines and to deliver therapeutic innovations. The team leverages technology and platforms to streamline scientific experimentation to help Researchers follow the science, to understand the disease and identify potential therapies. They are at the forefront of advanced analytics to enable data driven drug discovery, to innovate so Scientists can rapidly analyze and accelerate the discovery of new medicines.

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

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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