Senior Data Architect

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.

Overview

Lilly Small Molecule Discovery

Lilly Small Molecule Discovery is purpose-built to create molecules that make life better for people. Discovery Technology and Platforms (DTP) accelerates molecule discovery by building foundational platforms, streamlining lab operations through advanced technologies and data connectivity, and investing in novel capabilities.

Data Foundry

Data Foundry is a multidisciplinary team within DTP that enables AI-native drug discovery through four integrated pillars: Architecture4Insight, Methods4Insight, Automation & Scale4Insight, and Preparedness4Insight. Together, these pillars provide the scientific foundation, data assets, analytical capabilities, and automation frameworks that empower both researchers and AI systems to accelerate molecular discovery.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Senior Director, Data Architecture to define and drive the scientific information architecture that powers AI-native drug discovery across Molecular Discovery.

As a senior leader within Architecture4Insight, you will establish the architectural vision, standards, and roadmap that transform scientific data into a strategic asset for discovery scientists, computational researchers, and autonomous AI agents.

You will provide technical leadership across the Data Architecture capability, shaping scientific data platforms, ontologies, metadata frameworks, knowledge graphs, and AI-ready data ecosystems. As a player-coach, you will lead a small team of architects while remaining deeply engaged in the most critical data architecture decisions across Molecular Discovery.

This role requires deep expertise in scientific data architecture, strong technical leadership, and the ability to influence strategy across organizational boundaries. Success will be measured by the quality, adoption, scalability, and scientific impact of the data architectures that enable Molecular Discovery.

Responsibilities

Scientific Information Architecture

• Define and drive the scientific information architecture strategy and implementation.
• Establish standards and architectural principles for data modeling, metadata management, semantic interoperability, ontology governance, and FAIR data implementation.
• Develop roadmaps for scientific data platforms, metadata capabilities, knowledge systems, and AI-ready data assets.

Technical Leadership & Influence

• Serve as a senior technical leader and architecture authority across Data Foundry initiatives.
• Mentor architects, engineers, and scientific informatics professionals.
• Personally contribute to architecture design, technology evaluation, and solution development for high-priority initiatives.

People Leadership & Technical Coaching

• Lead a team of Data Architects supporting scientific information architecture across Molecular Discovery.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and scientific partnership.
• Promote architectural consistency, knowledge sharing, and adoption of best practices across Architecture4Insight.

Architecture Stewardship

• Develop and maintain reference architectures, design patterns, and architectural standards.
• Measure and improve platform interoperability, metadata quality, discoverability, and architecture adoption across Molecular Discovery.
• Help shape the long‑term evolution of Data Foundry's scientific data ecosystem.

Data Modeling, Ontologies & Semantic Architecture

• Enable unified discovery and exploration of scientific knowledge across previously disconnected systems and data sources including molecules, targets, pathways, assays, experiments, structural biology data, and AI-generated insights.
• Drive adoption of semantic technologies including RDF, OWL, SPARQL, and modern knowledge representation frameworks.
• Drive consistency in metadata harmonization, ontology integration, and semantic interoperability across scientific platforms.

Basic Requirements

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Information Science, or related STEM field.
• Ph.D. with 8+ years or M.S. with 12+ years of experience in scientific informatics, data architecture, platform architecture, data engineering, or related technical disciplines.
• Deep expertise spanning data modeling, metadata management, ontology engineering, semantic technologies, knowledge graphs, scientific data platforms, and AI-ready data ecosystems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience defining architecture strategy for large-scale scientific data platforms and research informatics ecosystems.
• Experience leading small teams of highly skilled architects, engineers, or scientific informatics professionals while remaining an active technical contributor.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate technical architecture decisions into scientific and business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of discovery science workflows, including chemistry, biology, screening, automation, imaging, structural biology, genomics, proteomics, and computational sciences.
• Expertise with Databricks, Snowflake, Spark, Delta Lake, Neo4j, Amazon Neptune, vector databases, and cloud-native data platforms.
• Experience with semantic web technologies, ontology engineering, FAIR implementation, and scientific knowledge graphs.
• Experience enabling machine learning, generative AI, retrieval architectures, and agentic systems through modern data architectures.
• Familiarity with laboratory informatics platforms including LIMS, ELN, Benchling, laboratory automation systems, and scientific workflow platforms.

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 (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (View email address on click.appcast.io), 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 $193,500 - $338,800.

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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