Associate Vice President, External Innovation - Immunology

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.

Purpose

External Innovation is a critical growth lever for Lilly's portfolio strategy and long-term company success. The identification, rigorous evaluation, and disciplined advancement of external opportunities represent a substantial and growing investment across the enterprise — one that materially shapes Lilly's ability to deliver breakthrough medicines to patients. The AVP, External Innovation, Immunology owns external innovation strategy across the full Immunology portfolio — covering all indications of interest within Immunology, plus accountability for whitespace and adjacency expansion in immunology-related areas. This role sets external innovation strategy with senior management, supervises and leads partnering projects end-to-end from opportunity identification through deal completion, ensures timely execution of the external innovation agenda for Immunology, as evidenced by high value deals and significant portfolio impact, and may originate new strategic areas for Lilly. This role will be an active driver of the Immunology portfolio, and will be the single point of contact with Corporate Business Development (CBD), Business Unit, and other senior Lilly Research Labs leadership for Immunology External Innovation activities. This role also leads and develops the broader External Innovation team for Immunology. This role requires strong technical/scientific judgment, genuine business acumen, ability to lead people and portfolio, and the ability to set and influence strategy at the most senior levels of the company.

Key Responsibilities

This role's responsibilities center on three core areas — Search, Evaluate, and Advance our portfolios through external innovation and collaboration — together with leadership responsibility for the broader Immunology External Innovation team.

• Cover all indications of interest within Immunology, including accountability for whitespace and adjacency development in immunology-related areas. Infectious Disease is not in scope for this role.
• Own and develop therapeutic area (TA) external portfolio and innovation strategy for Immunology — originating new areas and interacting independently with senior management and a broad range of stakeholders (e.g. TA scientific leaders, New Product Planning/Commercial, PRA, Finance, Corporate Business Development, Catalyze360) to combine deep scientific knowledge with strategic insight.
• Own delivery of external innovation priorities and deals for Immunology. Stay at the forefront of external innovation and bring new approaches into Lilly.
• Help define and frame landscapes; build the investment thesis and necessary concept sheets, competitive frame, and go/no-go criteria from scratch.
• Identify and search external innovation and/or collaboration opportunities including but not limited to portfolios and platforms; identify partners and lead early assessment of opportunities and triage.
• Lead and be responsible for initial technical evaluations, including leveraging TA-specific and cross-functional expertise where appropriate. Own in-depth scientific due diligence for Immunology to assess scientific, technical, and business judgment and identify key opportunities and risks; resolve conflicts and align stakeholders. Consolidate assessment and feedback into clear recommendations, prepare management decks, and collaborate with Corporate Business Development and the Due Diligence team on evolution of deal structure and progression to close.
• Apply strong business acumen across research and development, portfolio strategy, and commercialization to build organizational conviction behind priority opportunities, ensuring stakeholder alignment and conviction to support deal execution.
• Translate the scientific and strategic thesis into an initial deal construct — including structure, scope, and value rationale — and lead early commercial conversations with partners to test and shape it before formalizing the deal team.
• Maintain deep scientific and competitive knowledge across internal portfolio projects, external opportunities, and emerging assets — spanning discovery through clinical development and platforms — and represent Lilly's strategic and external innovation priorities externally, including industry roundtables, invited presentations, and strong networks across biotech, venture, and pharma.
• Represent external innovation for Immunology in relevant lead team meetings; maintain a forum to discuss external innovation priorities and tactics with TA and CBD/EI stakeholders; own selection of topics and presentations for senior management meetings (e.g., NGI).
• Lead the entire External Innovation team for Immunology —supervising, coaching, and developing team members in both professional and personal growth.

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor's and/or higher degree in a relevant area of Science and/or healthcare.
• 8+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, biotech, or ventures, including 5+ years of experience in external innovation across multiple areas.
• 2+ years supervisory experience is required, Proven track record of successfully leading a high-performing team
• Strong scientific background in the area of interest, with a track record of accomplishments in drug discovery or development; understanding of unmet need, target landscape, emerging technologies, competition, and portfolio trends.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Ph.D. or equivalent in a relevant area of science is highly preferred
• MBA degree is a plus
• Strong understanding of the strategic and financial considerations underlying deal priorities and partner considerations; working knowledge of a wide variety of deal structures.
• Proven ability to define and develop new strategic areas, using scientific insight and the external environment as guidance.
• Proven track record of leading and driving high-value deals and the respective transaction teams across a range of deal structures and external partners, with evidence spanning innovation acquisitions, multitarget platforms, co-development, newco/asset creation, and equity investments.
• Strong business acumen across drug development, portfolio strategy and commercialization
• Ability to drive deals in a matrix environment, partnering effectively with colleagues across science, business, finance, legal, and Corporate Business Development to ensure progression and closure of deals.
• High ability in managing stakeholders across levels and functions and high influence on people and organization
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to articulate Lilly's strategy and priorities across a wide variety of settings, and to represent Lilly in a highly professional manner.
• Ability to set strategy and progress a portfolio of deals with minimal guidance,
• Experience in new company creation, venture capital interactions, healthcare consulting, or spinout management.
• Experience and knowledge in Immunology and other relevant areas

Additional Information:

• Travel: 30%-50%, including OUS

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 joinrs.com), 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 $247,500 - $363,000 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. #WeAreLilly