Director/Senior Director, Analytical Methods (Methods4Insight)

Overview

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We put people first and are looking for people who are determined to make life better for others.

Locations

Location: San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Louisville, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Boston, MA

Reports to

Reports to: AVP - Methods4Insight, Data Foundry

Position Summary

The Director/Senior Director, Analytical Methods will serve as a domain expert and technical leader within Methods4Insight, responsible for developing, deploying, and maintaining cutting-edge analytical approaches in their area of expertise — such as cheminformatics, computational structural biology, statistical modeling, or AI/ML. This role combines deep domain knowledge with scientific leadership, translating advanced methods into practical capabilities that accelerate molecule discovery for both human scientists and autonomous AI agents.

You will work with discovery project teams and supporting functions to understand scientific challenges, provide expert consultation, and develop custom solutions when existing methods fall short. You will evaluate emerging methods and make build-versus-buy-versus-adopt recommendations. You will collaborate with Methods4Insight domain experts, Architecture4Insight, Scale4Insight, and Frontier AI.

We are looking for someone who is recognized as an expert in their analytical domain, has a strong publication record, has deployed methods that influenced real discovery decisions, and is passionate about advancing their field and enabling scientific impact.

What You'll Do

• Serve as the subject matter expert in your analytical domain, stay current on innovative methods, and make informed recommendations about adoption, adaptation, or development of novel approaches.
• Develop and deploy cutting-edge analytical methods tailored to Lilly's discovery challenges, building workflows that integrate multiple approaches (e.g., physics-based and data-driven) to harness complementary strengths.
• Collaborate with discovery project teams to translate complex scientific questions into tractable analytical problems, driving analyses that inform compound prioritization, design recommendations, and mechanism of action hypotheses.
• Collaborate with Architecture4Insight to deploy analytical methods as accessible tools and agent-ready capabilities with well-defined APIs for autonomous AI decision-making.
• Identify strategic data gaps in your domain and partner with Scale4Insight to design targeted experiments that generate data in high-value areas.
• Establish best practices for method validation, including prospective testing against experimental outcomes, and demonstrate impact through metrics: decisions influenced, hypotheses generated, and timelines accelerated.
• Collaborate across all Data Foundry pillars and with Frontier AI to ensure analytical capabilities are fully integrated into the broader discovery ecosystem.
• Publish peer-reviewed research, present at scientific conferences, and build analytical literacy across the organization.
• Mentor junior computational scientists and contribute to a culture of scientific rigor, reproducibility, and continuous improvement.

Basic Requirements

• MS/Ph.D. in Cheminformatics, Computational Biology, Biophysics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• 6+ years of experience developing and applying analytical methods in drug discovery or related life sciences fields.

Additional Preferences

• Deep expertise in at least one analytical domain with demonstrated impact on scientific outcomes.
• Strong programming skills in Python, R, or similar scientific computing languages.
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals demonstrating contributions to your analytical domain.
• Ability to explain complex analytical concepts clearly to non-computational scientists.
• Track record of deploying analytical methods that influenced real scientific decisions or discoveries.
• Breadth across multiple analytical approaches, with experience both developing novel methods and adopting external approaches.
• Familiarity with software engineering practices and deploying research code in production environments.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists or managing interns/postdocs.
• Ability to communicate effectively across scientific, technical, and executive audiences.
• Passion for mentoring and empowering others.

Additional Information

Physical Demands/Travel: The physical demands of this job are consistent with an office environment. This position will require travel.

The physical demands here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Work Environment

Work Environment: This position’s work environment is in an office.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

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. 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 Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $193,500 - $338,800. Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus based on company and individual performance. Lilly offers a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), pension, vacation, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, leave, and well-being benefits. Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion.

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