Scientific Director - BioTDR - Lead Optimization Protein Expression and Purification

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 Biotechnology Discovery Research (BioTDR) organization has a track record of discovering, optimizing, and delivering novel biotherapeutic medicines to the clinical for the treatment of unmet medical needs in diabetes, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.  This position is within the BioTDR Lead Optimization Core Group, and we seek a motivated scientist with deep expertise in expression and purification technologies and a working knowledge of the biotherapeutics discovery and development process to join our Team.  The successful candidate will drive innovation within the Lead Optimization Core Group, oversee a Team of expression and purification scientists, and work across the discovery and development interface to deliver Lilly’s discovery portfolio.  Are you eager to drive innovation in a fast-paced, collaborative environment? Our commitment to our employees, patients, and communities is unmatched, and we want you to be a part of our Team.

Responsibilities:

• Technical and operational oversight of the BioTDR Lead Optimization Core Group Protein Expression and Purification Team including molecular biology, stable and transient mammalian expression, microbial expression, and purification activities to advance the portfolio.

• Supervise associate and senior-level scientists and drive career development; effectively manage flexible staffing; determine resourcing for new projects and makes assignments.

• Drive innovation to expand the Team’s expression and purification capabilities and capacity to meet the challenges of a growing and complex portfolio.

• Build effective partnerships with Teams within BioTDR and across the discovery/development interface to identify; effectively manage partnerships with outside vendors.

• Acquire knowledge and promote shared learnings through active engagement in technical forums.

• Maintain strong engagement with the external scientific community through the academic literature, collaborations/partnerships, active participation in technical meetings/consortia, and other professional networking.

Basic Requirements:

• Ph.D. in cellular biology, microbiology, biochemistry or related discipline.

• 10+ years of experience in biotherapeutics R&D.

• Expertise in mammalian (including CHO, HEK293) and microbial (including E. coli) expression and protein purification technologies.

• Supervisory experience and talent management.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Promoting a culture of safety and inclusion in the workplace.

• Proven track record of effective collaboration and scientific excellence, including strong publication record.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• Excellent time management and organizational skills with the ability to adapt to changing priorities and deadlines.

• Working effectively across organizational boundaries to navigate complex business and technical issues.

• Experience with automated expression and/or purification technologies.

• Experience with cell-free expression systems.

• Experience with AAV expression and purification.

• Data analytics experience with Benchling.

Additional Information:

• Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

• Travel: 0-10%

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