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 around the world 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 give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.
Lilly is looking for a Senior Director of Corporate Development to play a pivotal role in identifying and capturing external innovation that will shape the company's future. This individual will focus specifically on white space opportunities — areas outside of Lilly's core therapeutic footprint — and on complex, multi-dimensional transactions that require both strategic and creative execution.
The ideal candidate combines deep corporate development and transactional experience with the intellectual agility to assess new markets quickly and reliably.
ABOUT THE POSITION
Identify & Evaluate White Space Opportunities
- Proactively identify ground-breaking opportunities outside Lilly's existing therapeutic areas, including those that could create entirely new areas of focus for the company.
- Build rapid, credible assessments of unfamiliar markets by synthesizing scientific, commercial, and financial signals into clear investment theses that can inform go/no-go decisions.
- Partner with Corporate Finance to develop high-quality inputs for valuation models, with particular emphasis on commercial projections, market sizing assumptions, and other key value drivers.
Structure & Implement Complex Transactions
- Support all stages of transaction execution — from initial outreach through term sheet, due diligence, negotiation, and close
- Design creative deal structures that address the commercial, financial, and risk-sharing needs of both Lilly and its counterparties, including multi-therapeutic area and cross-functional transactions.
- Manage deal teams and coordinate seamlessly with Legal, Finance, Corporate Investment & Financial Banking, Accounting, and Alliance Management to drive transactions to completion efficiently.
- Own individual deal performance while developing and mentoring transaction team members.
Influence & Align Partners
- Work closely with Search & Evaluation colleagues on the Corporate Development & BD Strategy team, as well as scientific and commercial partners across the broader organization and externally, to identify and access the right therapeutic area expertise for deals in areas of interest — ensuring every transaction is grounded in rigorous scientific and strategic evaluation.
- Develop compelling investment cases for presentation to senior leadership audiences, including the C-suite and Board-level team members.
**Strategic Target Monitoring **
- Collaborate with manager to define and maintain prioritized universe of companies that could become for Lilly, with a primary focus on clinical and commercial stage companies in areas of current and future strategic interest
- Build and maintain a systematic, rolling 18-month catalyst calendar for prioritized list of companies, tracking key upcoming inflection points — including clinical data readouts, regulatory submissions and PDUFA dates, financing rounds, and competitive deal flow — that may shift a company's attractiveness or openness to engagement.
- Monitor company-level signals continuously: changes in leadership or board composition, investor day commentary, SEC and regulatory filings, scientific conference presentations, and peer partnering activity that may indicate strategic direction shifts or valuation inflections.
- Synthesize surveillance intelligence into concise, audience-appropriate outputs: bi-weekly BD leadership briefings summarizing upcoming catalysts and recommended actions; targeted company one-pagers as assets approach actionability; and a live shared dashboard (e.g., Smartsheet) that provides BD and Search & Evaluation colleagues with real-time situational awareness.
- Partner with business unit collaborators to ensure scientific and commercial perspectives exist for prioritized universe and that relevant functions are engaged ahead of actionable opportunities.
STRENGTHS NEEDED
Transaction Expertise
- End-to-end experience across multiple transaction types and a history of successful closings.
- Confident cross functional influencer who can also help to manage counterparty dynamics while protecting Lilly's long-term interests.
Market Agility
- Ability to ramp quickly on new science, new markets, and new competitive landscapes — forming reliable, well-founded views without deep prior domain expertise.
- Intellectually curious and comfortable operating at the frontier of Lilly's strategy.
Leadership & Influence
- Able to build credibility quickly with scientific, commercial, and finance team members.
- Clear, compelling communicator who can make the complex simple — in writing, in presentations, and in real-time dialogue.
- Self-starter with strong bias to action and exceptional organizational skills in a fast-paced environment.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's or advanced degree in a relevant field.
- Minimum 5 years of experience in biopharmaceutical or biotech industries in roles spanning business development, investment banking, venture capital, private equity, management consulting, R&D, finance, or commercial strategy.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience evaluating opportunities in therapeutic areas or technology platforms outside your primary expertise — and doing so with rigor and speed.
- Fluency in commercial forecasting and quantitative market assessment methodologies.
- History of creative deal structuring, including milestone-based, co-development, or platform licensing arrangements.
- Demonstrated track record in complex transaction execution, including public company M&A.
- Hands-on corporate development experience: sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and closing deals.
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 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
$169,500 - $275,000
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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