Director - Technology, Architect, and Innovation Lead - LRL Tech

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.

Lilly’s Purpose

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 35,000 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.

Come bring to life technologies to lead in Pharma-tech!

LCCI Tech Team is actively looking for a motivated and experienced Enterprise Architect, Technologist and Innovation lead who likes to strategize and design enterprise tech platforms for business scale, speed, and innovation – contributing to the respective tech core or business function and to the broader Enterprise Tech@Lilly organization. Are you a change agent who can shape strategy and decisions, influence leaders and organizations? Are you passionate about being at the heart of technical innovation? If so, please apply to jointly shape the future of our industry, powering our growth and redefining what is possible through Tech in pharma to enable Lilly purpose of creating more medicines to make life better!

What you will be doing:

Reporting to the Senior Director LCCI Tech@Lilly Leader and to the LCCI Tech@Lilly Enterprise Business Architect, you will lead, establish enterprise technologies and capabilities by researching industry innovations and trends, uncovering business use cases, and driving solutions to accelerate business outcomes for the enterprise. There are four primary components to the role for the assigned function: shaping architectural vision and leadership of key initiatives, technical oversight of the functional portfolio, owning business relationships to internally influence, align, and drive business outcomes within our company growth strategy, and external research of use-cases and industry leading technology.

We are seeking an experienced Lead Architect to guide the design, development, and deployment of a large-scale IT ecosystem that will drive innovation in pharmaceutical R&D. This role will lead complex, cross-functional teams through a strategic technology implementation, involving critical decisions around build vs. buy solutions, system integration, and the incorporation of cutting-edge AI technologies. The Lead Architect will work closely with stakeholders from R&D, AI, and IT, ensuring the creation of a scalable, secure, and innovative technology platform that accelerates drug discovery and development.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architectural Leadership: Lead the end-to-end architectural strategy, design, and implementation of a comprehensive IT platform for drug discovery, integrating AI, machine learning, data management, and cloud solutions.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with diverse teams, including R&D, Data Science, IT Operations, and AI/ML teams, to ensure that technology decisions align with business objectives and scientific goals.

• Technology Strategy & Decision Making: Evaluate and make decisions on buy vs. build for various technology components, focusing on the long-term scalability, cost-effectiveness, and innovation potential of the ecosystem.

• System Integration: Drive the integration of multiple technologies and platforms, including legacy systems, third-party solutions, and modern AI tools, ensuring seamless interoperability and data flow.

• AI & Automation: Incorporate advanced AI/ML capabilities into the IT ecosystem to enable data-driven insights, automation of complex processes, and acceleration of drug discovery timelines.

• Governance & Best Practices: Establish and enforce best practices, standards, and guidelines for system architecture, security, and data privacy across the IT ecosystem.

• Scalability & Performance: Ensure the architecture is scalable to support growth in data, user needs, and evolving technology trends, while maintaining performance and operational excellence.

• Stakeholder Management: Work closely with senior leadership, business units, and external partners to communicate architectural vision, gain alignment on priorities, and navigate technical challenges.

• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate risks associated with complex technical decisions, especially those concerning integration, scalability, security, and AI-driven innovations.

• Thought leadership: Bring long term strategic thinking while balancing immediate business needs. Act as a force multiplier in the organization by setting a high bar in tech and driving strategy transcending team boundaries.

Qualifications:

• Experience: 10+ years of experience in enterprise IT architecture, with a proven track record of leading large-scale, cross-functional IT implementations. Experience in the pharmaceutical or life sciences industry is highly preferred.

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field.

• Technical Expertise: Deep hands-on expertise in cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, or GCP), AI/ML platforms, enterprise integration patterns (API, microservices), and data management (structured/unstructured data, data lakes).

• Leadership: Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence and guide cross-functional teams in a complex, matrixed environment.

• Strategic Thinker: Ability to balance long-term strategic vision with immediate business needs, navigating technical challenges with a pragmatic approach.

• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Decision-Making: Experience in making complex architectural decisions, especially around build vs. buy solutions, with a clear understanding of trade-offs, costs, and risks.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with AI-driven drug discovery platforms or other AI/ML applications in life sciences.

• Familiarity with regulatory requirements, especially in the context of data privacy, security, and compliance in pharmaceuticals.

• Experience with automation and hyper-automation technologies.

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 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.

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