Scientific Director - Virtual Screening Applications Expert

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.

The Lilly Small Molecule Discovery group is an organization purpose-built to create molecules that make life better for people. We focus on using cutting edge science to unlock new approaches that can treat people suffering from diseases with poor treatment options. We continually challenge ourselves to deliver molecules that can provide breakthrough efficacy with the highest possible safety margins. We are dedicated to optimizing our mindset, technology, and processes for faster, more nimble execution. Our success is built on a culture that empowers innovative problem solving through open collaboration and individual accountability.

Position Summary:

The Lily Small Molecule Discovery (LSMD) organization is focused on the creation and discovery of new molecules to engage disease-relevant biological systems in order to test clinical hypotheses and advance innovative medicines. To accelerate the delivery of unique and valuable medicines for patients while making the best use of LSMD research investment, innovative use of computational tools will play an ever more integral role. Lilly's newly created Early Molecule Discovery (EMD) team is responsible for small molecule hit-to-lead prosecution through the judicious application of best in class and novel approaches applied to pre-portfolio targets.

We seek an internationally recognized Virtual Screening (VS) Applications Expert who will be accountable for small molecule VS activities. In particular, the (Senior/Executive) Director will collaborate across the computational, structural biology and medicinal chemistry organizations throughout the EMD organization and beyond to continuously drive the successful application of transformative VS approaches to bolster Lillys ability to prosecute difficult to drug targets.

Responsibilities:

Drive the platform within a matrix organization. You will be highly collaborative and engage with new target and existing therapeutic project teams to ensure VS is judiciously leveraged to rapidly identify highly attractive small molecule starting points to enable Hit-ID and mutigenerational drug discovery efforts across the Lilly enterprise. We seek a visionary scientific leader who will pioneer the introduction of transformative methods into the platform and keep pushing the realms of VS to deliver a capability that will be unrivalled throughout the pharma industry.

Other unique characteristics and attributes we are looking for include:

• strategic and transformational thinking, with a high degree of self-awareness

• focused on the future and not on precedent or historical experiences

• aptitude for building interdisciplinary bridges and developing inclusive teams

• open, transparent and able to communicate effectively with employees, team members and cross-functional and/or senior leadership

• operates through collaboration across teams, functions, departments and sites

• proactive in establishing and driving internal and external collaborations

Here is what you are signing up for:

• Working with key stakeholders, drive the matrix team to extend Lilly's lead in key therapeutic areas by identifying novel and highly desirable chemical starting points to support new and multigenerational drug discovery efforts across a range of MoAs and therapeutic targets

• Work with structural biologists and expert modelers at Lilly to maximally leverage available structural and biophysical data to ensure targets, and conformations thereof, are well prepared to fully realize the aims of the VS campaigns

• Deliver workflows that judiciously leverage physics- and AI-based modelling methods to enrich VS true positive hit rates across hard-to-drug targets

• Champion and implement cutting edge methods, e.g. leveraging ensemble or AI-based VS techniques etc

• Develop and implement cheminformatics tools to ensure hits are selected for purchase that maximally cover chemical and binding pocket feature space to maximize hypotheses exploration

• Work alongside medicinal chemists to further triage emerging VS hits for synthesis/purchase

• Streamline VS workflows in collaboration with to ensure: the timely impact of VS campaigns; and increased adoption by other users to impact the broader portfolio.

• Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry, Computational Medicinal Chemistry or related field

• 5+ years' track record of successfully applying VS technologies to drive drug discovery programs towards candidate identification and beyond

• Demonstrated ability to effectively champion new technologies culminating in successful applications thereof

• Demonstrated ability to inspire and lead scientists to work across teams, functions, departments and sites to achieve aspirational goals that accelerate portfolio deliveries.

• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated advocacy of Diversity & Inclusion principles

• Passionate about coaching & developing others

• Extensive expertise with molecular design software tools

• Familiarity with the fundamental concepts of medicinal chemistry and ADME

• Authorship on peer-reviewed publications and/or inventorship on patents/patent applications

• Expertise in GPCR drug discovery

• Some domestic and international travel is anticipated.

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 ( ) 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

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.