Senior Research Scientist - Product Development

Elanco•Indianapolis, IN

About The Position

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals! As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our purpose – all to Go Beyond for Animals, Customers, Society and Our People. At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success. Here, you’ll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights. Making animals’ lives better makes life better – join our team today! Your Role: As a Senior Scientist in the Transitional and Early Development team , you will be a strategic and technical leader focused on the critical transition from early research to development. In this role, you will lead early-formulation work to identify optimal formulations for physical stability of lead molecules in support of pre-clinical study material generation. In this laboratory-based leadership role, you will drive the biophysical characterization and formulation selection process for diverse biopharmaceutical modalities, including monoclonal antibodies and other complex biologics. You will be responsible for leading a small characterization team that performs the biophysical and functional assays used to evaluate and de-risk lead candidates before they enter full development as well as designing and conducting the formulation selection studies.

Requirements

PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related scientific discipline.
3+ years of biopharmaceutical industry experience with a specific focus on protein formulation and characterization.
Proven experience leading formulation projects from concept through execution.
Deep expertise in protein chemistry, physical biochemistry, and colloidal science.
Hands-on mastery of protein characterization techniques (e.g., DLS/ Zetasizer , DSC, DSF, SEC, and spectroscopy).
Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-paced environments with evolving priorities.
Excellent scientific communication skills and a strong foundation in data integrity practices.

Nice To Haves

Experience developing advanced or high-concentration formulation platforms for monoclonal antibodies.
Understanding of how early formulation choices impact future unit operations like lyophilization or technology transfer.
Experience using Design of Experiments (DoE) and statistical analysis (e.g., JMP) to optimize formulation behavior.
Experience mentoring junior scientists and building analytical capabilities within a research or development setting.

Responsibilities

Lead formulation programs for lead molecules, applying deep expertise in protein chemistry and thermodynamics to identify formulations for each lead with superior solubility, stability, and freeze-thaw potential.
Direct and mentor a small characterization team; establish robust analytical workflows and acceptance criteria for biophysical and functional assays.
Identify and mitigate formulation-related risks such as aggregation, precipitation, and viscosity at high concentrations using first-principles understanding of solution behavior.
Evaluate and implement novel formulation technologies and high-throughput screening platforms to accelerate the lead selection process.
Serve as the technical formulation lead on concurrent project teams, interfacing with Discovery Research, Process Development, Analytical Development, and Formulation Development.
Maintain exemplary ELN documentation, author technical reports, and provide data-driven recommendations to enable the successful transition of molecules into the development pipeline.