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.
The Senior Director, CMC Project Management will provide strategic and operational leadership for cross-functional CMC team(s) and will partner with CMC scientific and technical leaders with accountability for technical deliverables. CMC Project Management is the program and project management arm of our critical Product Research and Development group. CMC Project Managers are responsible for leading the creation, development, communication, and implementation of integrated CMC plans for assets from portfolio entry to global submissions/approvals and launch.
- Effectively partner with global program teams and therapeutic areas to translate clinical, asset and portfolio strategy into clear CMC development and delivery goals for cross-functional CMC teams.
- Lead the creation, development, communication, and implementation of integrated CMC plans for assets with the functional CMC areas from portfolio entry through global submissions, approvals, and launch.
- Leverage portfolio knowledge, development, and financial acumen to enable investment strategy and optimization at both project and portfolio level.
- Drive cross-functional CMC teams to maximize the value of data, create bold, competitive plans, anticipate risks, effectively communicate risks, enable high quality decisions at fast speed and implement decisions.
- Understand when and how to appropriately raise issues to teams and to stakeholders. Keep both team members and stakeholders fully apprised of project status and issues at the right level of detail.
- Develop high performing matrix teams with an ability to quickly identify gaps in team efficiency and implement remediation efforts to ensure project success.
- Support Due Diligence efforts by leading CMC development plans while integrating and communicating key findings with stakeholders.
- Mentor new PMs in the management of a development project: team dynamics, understanding stages of development and how functional inputs interact to ensure project progression, processes relating to CMC development, strategic document preparation, and PM best practices.
- Participate in or lead continuous improvement projects, which significantly impact the work and/or effectiveness of CMC development.
Basic Requirements:
- BS/BA degree in a scientific or engineering discipline with 10+ years of industry drug development/commercialization experience OR
- 5+ years of industry drug development experience with an advanced degree
- Experience leading CMC development across the multi-component bioconjugate supply chain — including antibody intermediate, linker-payload, conjugation, and drug product — to align timelines, quality, and deliverables across internal teams and external partners.
- Must be succinct communicator with proficiency in English (written and spoken)
- Strong leadership, communication, risk management, and decision‑making skills
- Willing to relocate to Indianapolis, Indiana
Additional Preferences:
- Advanced degree strongly preferred (MS, MBA, PhD or PharmD)
- Demonstrated deep technical knowledge and experience of bioconjugate modality drug development, commercialization and manufacturing processes, including antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), antibody peptide conjugates (APCs), antibody RNA conjugates (ARCs), and/or peptide RNA conjugates (PRCs)
- Practical experience (formal or informal) in project management of cross-functional projects
- Ability lead cross-functional team(s) and together solve complex problems
- Ability to rapidly become proficient in new tools
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex issues timely, accurately, and succinctly
- This role requires on-site presence at the Indianapolis facilities.
Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.
Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.
Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).
Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is
$156,000 - $228,800
Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for 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; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.
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