ExploR&D Program Lead (EPL)

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.
Organization Overview
Lilly Catalyze360 is Lilly’s 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 ExploR&D Program Lead (EPL) serves as the single point of accountability for external collaboration projects spanning discovery, preclinical development, and clinical proof-of-concept within Lilly’s ExploR&D organization. The EPL defines program strategy, forecasts resource needs, and develops aggressive, attainable timelines and budgets — leading large-scale, cross-functional programs with significant risk and complexity to deliver high-quality results on time and on budget, and making complex technical and business decisions within functional, company, and industry guidelines.
Reporting within the centralized Catalyze360 Project Management structure, the EPL is recognized as the technical and alliance leader on complex, multifaceted programs, collaborating with and influencing peers, Lilly leadership, senior management, regulators, and external partners on key program decisions. The EPL demonstrates learning agility and the ability to lead through ambiguity, pioneering novel science, technologies, and R&D collaboration models to advance future medicines across multiple indications, modalities, and therapeutic areas.
Key Responsibilities
Team and Program Leadership
Lead multiple collaboration teams comprised of ExploR&D personnel, LRL subject matter experts, and external biotech collaborators.
Create a high-performing team with a culture of trust, autonomy, agency, collaboration, and inclusion.
Define and shape program scope based on partner needs, available data, and program goals, translating strategic objectives into clear, executable work plans.
Develop work plans and assist with contract negotiation prior to execution.
Execute work plans post-signature, including delivering projects ‘on time, on budget,’ and within scope from discovery/preclinical development through clinical proof-of-concept using contemporary project management tools and approaches.
Forecast resource needs and manage allocated budgets for large-scale programs with significant risk, financial/resource requirements, and complexity to achieve critical business objectives.
Scientific and Technical Leadership
Identify and synthesize relevant, technical information from a variety of sources — including scientific literature, internal and external subject matter experts, and experimental or trial data — to address key questions, lead internal subject matter experts in essential program elements, and guide study design and program strategy.
Serve as the ExploR&D program lead responsible for rationale, integration of cross-functional data, synthesis of the risk/benefit profile, strategic conclusions, and designs to drive data-driven decision making across the discovery-to-clinic continuum.
Demonstrate the learning agility to rapidly build scientific and strategic fluency in areas that extend beyond existing Lilly expertise, positioning ExploR&D to lead confidently into new therapeutic area (TA) ‘white space,’ emerging modalities, and novel indications.
Collaboration and Relationship Management
Serve as primary liaison between Lilly and external biotech collaborators, fostering strong relationships, transparent communication, and ensuring alignment on project goals.
Anticipate and resolve barriers to success by identifying potential roadblocks early, offering innovative solutions, and ensuring that collaboration programs are executed with excellence.
Cultivate a true alliance mindset, aligning strategic plans to the goals and priorities of both Lilly and the external partner to drive program success and create outcomes where both parties win.
Bring an entrepreneurial, solutions-oriented approach that pushes beyond conventional boundaries to find a way forward on the field’s most difficult scientific and operational challenges.
Serve as the integrating point across regulators, vendors, customers, and other external stakeholders — synthesizing diverse input and perspectives to guide program strategy and inform key decisions, rather than simply tracking developments.
Operational Excellence and Process Improvement
Contribute to diligence and workplan development that optimize outcomes for Lilly and external collaborators.
Proactively identify gaps and inefficiencies in existing processes, tools, and ways of working, bringing forward practical, well-reasoned solutions with means to deliver.
Drive operational excellence in process and program management by designing and implementing improvements that enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability of portfolio delivery.
Champion the adoption of new tools, templates, and ways of working that elevate ExploR&D’s project management capabilities to a world-class standard of professionalism and rigor.
Apply program insights across multiple functions and, where relevant, large geographic areas to strengthen consistency and impact across the ExploR&D portfolio.
Basic Qualifications/Requirements
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in biology or a STEM-related field
Experience:
5+ years of work experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including preclinical-translational sciences and/or clinical-stage drug development, across therapeutic modalities such as cell and gene therapies, antibodies, peptides, oligonucleotides, vaccines, and small molecules.
Additional Skills/Preferences
Preferred education and experience:
Advanced graduate degree (PhD, PharmD, MS, or MBA in combination with a scientific/technical background) in a health-related, scientific, or engineering field.
10+ years of work experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including preclinical-translational sciences and/or clinical-stage drug development, across therapeutic modalities such as cell and gene therapies, antibodies, peptides, oligonucleotides, vaccines, and small molecules.
The following preferred qualifications are organized around the three attributes most critical to success in this role.
(i) Scientific Aptitude, Depth & Experience
Recognized as an internal subject matter expert within a therapeutic or technical discipline, with the credibility to influence program strategy and decisions across ExploR&D and Lilly leadership.
Deep scientific fluency across the drug discovery and development continuum (preclinical-translational through clinical proof-of-concept), with a demonstrated ability to critically evaluate complex technical and clinical data.
Intellectual agility to rapidly build scientific and strategic fluency across multiple modalities, indications, and emerging therapeutic areas, applying learnings from past programs to new situations.
Experience with science-driven business decisions, with a deep understanding of asset strategy, portfolio management, and the broader pharmaceutical landscape.
(ii) Organizational & Stakeholder Influence
Demonstrated ability to lead and influence teams and senior stakeholders in a matrixed environment, driving alignment across diverse functions, geographies, and organizational levels.
Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate project goals, strategy, and results to internal leadership, external partners, and other key stakeholders.
Prior experience managing external collaborations and alliances, with a proven track record of overseeing complex, cross-functional partnering projects that consistently meet partners’ needs and expectations.
Demonstrated ability to understand biotech partners’ needs and