Associate Director, ExploR&D Consultation Agreements

Eli Lilly and Company • San Francisco, IN

4d • Onsite

About The Position

The Associate Director, ExploR&D Consultation Agreements is responsible for leading the negotiation and execution of consultation agreements between Lilly ExploR&D and external biotech partners across preclinical and development matters. This is a hands-on, high-throughput contracting role focused on drafting, redlining, and moving a large volume of consultation agreements through negotiation to signature quickly and cleanly.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in any field
• 7+ years of relevant experience in business development, contracting, or R&D consulting
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization and visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in a life sciences, biomedical, or related STEM field (PhD, PharmD, MS)
• Deep R&D fluency across drug discovery and/or development, with the credibility to engage biotech scientific leaders as a peer
• Demonstrated experience negotiating agreements with external partners in biotech, pharma, or life sciences
• Direct experience drafting, redlining, and executing contracts, with strong command of terms and contract structure
• Track record of managing multiple concurrent contracts with high attention to detail and disciplined follow-through
• Experience with early-stage biotech ecosystem or external innovation
• Alliance management experience with biotech companies
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to distill complex scientific and contractual terms for varied audiences
• High comfort operating with ambiguity and building repeatable processes from the ground up
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills across Legal, Finance, and R&D

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end negotiation of consultation agreements with biotech partners across preclinical and development matters, from initial term discussions through executed contract
• Move a high volume of agreements through negotiation to signature efficiently, balancing speed with rigor
• Serve as the primary interface for biotechs engaging ExploR&D through the consultation pathway, translating scientific scope into commercial terms
• Partner with ExploR&D leadership and subject-matter experts to structure consultations that align with Lilly's R&D capabilities
• Draft, redline, and finalize consultation agreements in collaboration with Legal, ensuring commercial terms, scope, and deliverables are clearly captured, and that contractual provisions reflect the risk of the scientific engagement
• Partner with Lilly scientists to translate technical scope into precise, bounded work plans, defining deliverables and responsibilities clearly
• Negotiate change orders and amendments to existing consultation agreements as scope, timelines, or deliverables evolve
• Communicate with biotech counterparts regarding contract structure, timelines, and Lilly's engagement model with clarity and credibility
• Maintain rigorous deal tracking, pipeline visibility, and cycle-time discipline across the active consultation portfolio
• Identify and drive process improvements to reduce friction, standardize terms where appropriate, and shorten time-to-signature
• Partner with Finance, Legal, and Compliance to ensure all consultations meet Lilly's governance, risk, and approval standards
• Potential to extend scope into alliance management responsibilities over time

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• 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
• well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level