Senior Director of Partnerships

Senior Director Of Partnerships

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.

Lilly is seeking a Senior Director of Partnerships to lead the strategy, partnerships, and activation of Lilly's global presence across sports, entertainment, and culture. This role sits within the Global Media & Partnerships team and will oversee a portfolio spanning athletes, teams, leagues, celebrity talent, entertainment content, and cultural partnerships.

Reporting to the Vice President of Global Media & Partnerships, this leader will define how Lilly authentically shows up in culture—leveraging sports and entertainment platforms to elevate the Lilly brand, support disease education, and build trust with patients, healthcare providers, and broader audiences. This role will supervise a team responsible for managing sports and entertainment partnerships, talent collaborations, and integrated brand activations across Lilly's enterprise. The Senior Director will ensure all partnerships deliver strategic value while maintaining a balance between Lilly's brand intent and the authentic voice of athletes, talent, and creators.

The ideal candidate is a strategic and collaborative leader with deep experience in sports and entertainment marketing, partnership development, talent management, and integrated brand storytelling. They should have a consistent track record of building high-impact partnerships, leading agencies and teams, and navigating complex cross-functional environments within regulated industries.

Key Responsibilities

Sports & Entertainment Strategy

• Define and lead Lilly's global sports and entertainment marketing strategy, identifying how partnerships across athletes, teams, leagues, entertainment talent, and cultural platforms can advance Lilly's brand and business priorities.
• Establish a significant role for the Lilly brand within sports and entertainment, ensuring partnerships align with Lilly's purpose, reputation, and strategic priorities.
• Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities across sports leagues, teams, athletes, entertainment platforms, streaming content, and cultural moments that support Lilly's enterprise objectives.
• Develop long-term partnership frameworks that improve impact across brand building, disease awareness, and business growth.

Talent & Partnership Leadership

• Oversee Lilly's global athlete, celebrity, and talent engagement strategy, ensuring partnerships reflect authentic storytelling and align with Lilly's brand values.
• Lead negotiations and strategic management of partnerships with athletes, sports leagues, teams, entertainment talent, studios, and cultural organizations.
• Ensure talent collaborations balance brand intent with authentic voice and lived experience, building trust and cultural relevance.
• Collaborate with teams to develop talent storytelling strategies that reinforce Lilly's mission to improve health outcomes and advance understanding of disease.

Cultural Activation

• Collaborate with creative, media, and PR teams to bring partnerships to life through content, experiential marketing, media integrations, and storytelling platforms.
• Oversee creative integration of sponsorships and talent into sports programming, entertainment content, and cultural moments.

Team Leadership & Organizational Development

• Lead and develop a team responsible for sports partnerships, talent management, and entertainment marketing initiatives.
• Provide strategic direction and mentorship to ensure high-performing execution across partnership portfolios.
• Develop a culture of collaboration, creativity, and operational excellence across the team.

Agency & Stakeholder Management

• Oversee relationships with sports marketing agencies, entertainment agencies, talent representation firms, and creative partners.
• Serve as a senior leader coordinating with internal collaborators including Media, PR, Legal, Privacy, Ethics & Compliance, Regulatory, and Brand teams.
• Ensure cross-functional alignment and seamless execution of partnership initiatives.

Measurement & Business Impact

• Develop measurement frameworks to evaluate the brand and business impact of sports and entertainment partnerships, including brand lift, engagement, and contribution to business outcomes.
• Partner with analytics teams to track performance and continuously optimize partnership investments.

Financial & Operational Excellence

• Supervise budgets and financial planning across sports and entertainment partnerships, ensuring strong fiscal accountability.
• Partner with procurement and finance teams to ensure compliance with Lilly's contracting and financial processes.
• Maintain operational rigor in contract management, partnership governance, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, business, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in sports marketing, entertainment marketing, partnership development, or talent management.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing teams.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading partnerships across athletes, sports leagues, teams, entertainment talent, and cultural platforms.
• Deep understanding of sports marketing, entertainment partnerships, and talent-led storytelling.
• Experience leading integrated brand partnerships and large-scale sponsorships.
• Experience running agency relationships and external partners.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence across a complex global organization.
• Excellent critical thinking and relationship leadership skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a fast-paced, matrixed, and global environment.

Additional Information

• Role based in Indianapolis
• Relocation assistance provided

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 $154,500 - $226,600. 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.