Principal Scientist, External Innovation – Infectious Disease & Vaccines.

Elanco•Indianapolis, IN

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Scientist, External Innovation – Infectious Disease & Vaccines is a critical scientific and strategic expert shaping Elanco’s future pipeline. The role focuses on identifying and advocating for next-generation solutions for infectious diseases in pet and farm animals. Working closely with R&D, global strategy teams, and senior leadership, the position scouts, evaluates, and guides assessment of technologies and assets from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and academia. The role also develops scientific de-risking experiments and resourcing plans to help influence Elanco’s innovation direction. This is an individual-contributor and originator role. The scientist coordinates cross-functional technical assessments, builds external relationships, creates proposals for funding and governance, and makes strategic go/no-go recommendations.

Requirements

Advanced degree in life sciences (PhD or DVM).
At least 7 years of experience in external innovation, technology scouting, or alliance management within the animal health, pharmaceutical, or biotechnology industry.
Experience directly in R&D project leadership in Animal Health.
Deep scientific expertise in infectious diseases, vaccines, or related immunology or virology fields.
Proven ability to guide complex, cross-functional project evaluations from identification through strategic recommendation.

Nice To Haves

Experience in competitive intelligence, using biotech, pharmaceutical, and consulting tools to build therapeutic-area landscapes, including visualization tools.
Experience with RNA technology, novel expression platforms for vaccines and biologics, and/or nucleic acid-targeted delivery.
An established network of contacts in academia, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies.
Direct experience in the farm animal health industry.

Responsibilities

Identify and evaluate external assets and technologies, primarily in infectious diseases, novel vaccine platforms, and future solutions for pet and farm animals.
Lead opportunity landscaping and coordinate in-depth technical assessments with R&D, Marketing, Legal, and global strategy teams.
Establish and manage relationships with biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and pharmaceutical partners to build an external innovation pipeline.
Create funding and governance proposals, including scientific de-risking strategies and high-level business plans aligned with target product profiles.
Make strategic go/no-go recommendations to governance as an individual contributor and originator.
Provide timely, accurate updates on external innovation efforts and project progress.