Associate Director, Public Affairs

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.

The Associate Director, Public Affairs role will lead Lilly Australia and New Zealand's efforts to shape the future healthcare policy environment, accelerate patient access to innovation, and build coalitions that support sustainable reform of medicines access and reimbursement. In doing so, the role will establish Lilly as a trusted, constructive, and impact-oriented healthcare policy partner for federal and state stakeholders. As leader of the Public Affairs function for Australia & New Zealand, you will provide coalition leadership and create system change with strategies (and associated performance indicators) to evolve the HTA and payer policy environment, healthcare system readiness for priority therapeutic areas, and continually enhance Lilly’s corporate reputation. You will lead a team who operate across public affairs competencies including government relations, policy, patient advocacy, media and communications, and crisis management.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement innovative environment shaping strategies that build public, policy and stakeholder momentum for reform, including through coalitions, evidence-led advocacy and third-party engagement, and utilizing public voice that remove barriers to timely and equitable medicine access.
• In partnership with Value and Access teams, design and implement strategies to shape alternative funding opportunities for Lilly portfolio and pipeline along with strategies to support PBAC and MSAC recommendations.
• Identify and analyse local market risks and opportunities, providing policy intelligence, insights and solutions to the Australian commercial leadership teams.
• Offer recommendations including policy and advocacy to overcome obstacles and achieve desired business outcomes.
• Build and lead credible multi-stakeholder coalitions, while representing Lilly in a balanced and politically impartial manner with influential stakeholders including state and federal parliamentarians, the Department of Health, government agencies, patient advocacy groups, academics, healthcare professionals and other policy-shaping voices.
• Be accountable for delivery of external communications plan developed by team members, including readiness for data, regulatory and reimbursement milestones.
• Partner with International Government Affairs, Communications and Global Public Policy teams to ensure close alignment and effective reuse/adaptation of environment shaping resources.
• Drive a team culture of high performance, disciplined execution and pioneering mindset.
• Manage budget, support annual business planning and operational excellence.
• Ensure all initiatives are conducted within the highly regulated pharmaceutical environment, including but not limited to the Medicines Australia code of conduct, international regulations and Lilly policies.

Essential Skills and Attributes

• Passion for public affairs and the positive impact that the innovative medicines industry can have on population health.
• Strategic and creative thinking: ability to facilitate integrated campaigns and influence planning, and execution of therapeutic access policy programs.
• Apply entrepreneurial mindset.
• Proven ability to build coalitions, align diverse external stakeholders and create momentum for system-level policy change; established relationships in government or the broader policy ecosystem are as valuable as impact, judgement and coalition leadership.
• Business acumen and self-leadership: ability to build a business case to attract internal funding for projects.
• Comfortable in ambiguity and looks to find solutions.
• Influence and interpersonal skills: ability to build effective relationships, influence and negotiate.
• Ability to work with individuals from different countries and cultures.
• Proven skills in delivering results through and with others, including external stakeholders.
• Communications excellence: ability to successfully execute high-stakes, high impact communications strategies.
• Project management skills: proactive execution with speed, prioritization and trade-offs.
• Budget management and business planning.
• Collaborative mindset: experience successfully working with cross-functional teams, including collaboration and consensus building.
• The ability to place “we” greater than “me” in the way work is performed and results achieved.
• High personal integrity: ability to operate in ambiguous settings, establish credibility and trust, maintain values and achieve business outcomes.

Qualifications and experience

• University undergraduate or post-graduate degree (degrees in public policy, public health, communications, political science or law are desired).
• Master’s in Business Administration is preferred.
• Deep insights and expertise with Australia governments and the Australian healthcare systems is preferred.
• 10+ years experience developing integrated public affairs campaigns in complex and highly scrutinised settings; healthcare experience is valuable but not essential.
• Demonstrated leadership and management experience.
• Previous career experience working with government, regulated sectors, reform coalitions, trade bodies or global organisations is desirable; candidates from outside healthcare will be considered where they bring strong political judgement, system-change experience and coalition leadership.

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 does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

#WeAreLilly At Lilly we strive to ensure our employees are part of a team that cares about them and our shared purpose of making life better for those around the world. How do we do this? We continue to look for ways to include, innovate, accelerate and deliver while maintaining integrity, excellence and respect for people. We hope that you seek to join us on our journey as we create medicine and deliver improved outcomes for patients across the globe! #WeAreLilly