Associate Vice President - Transactions and M&A - Neuroscience - Corporate Business Development

Purpose Of The Role

The Associate Vice President, Head of Transactions and M&A for Lilly Neuroscience is responsible for all business development transactions within Lilly’s Neuroscience business unit including but not limited to M&A, in-licensing, out-licensing/divestitures, and equity investments. This role involves partnering closely with executives within Lilly’s Neuroscience commercial business unit and development leaders within Lilly Research Labs to identify and pursue new business opportunities, developing and executing transactions, strategic partnerships, and driving growth initiatives to bring external innovation to the company.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee all neuroscience transactions across all stages of development (discovery, preclinical, clinical, commercial, etc.), including negotiations for business deals, licensing agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic collaborations.
• Lead deal teams and collaborate with cross-functional teams (Legal, Corporate Investment & Financial Banking, Accounting & Finance Planning, Alliance Management, etc.) to maximize transaction success and drive continued efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
• Coach and oversee Senior Directors on the Transactions team leading and executing neuroscience transactions.
• Achieve results through individual performance and the performance of their transaction teams.
• Partner with the neuroscience Search & Evaluation team to identify and evaluate external opportunities to grow company portfolio and drive continuous business growth.
• Influence senior leadership, internal stakeholders and external partners on key decisions, including identifying opportunities for accessing new portfolios, technologies, processes, products/molecules, or services.
• Lead large-scale company business development initiatives, projects, and programs with significant risk, financial/resource requirements, and complexity to achieve our external innovation objectives.
• Makes decisions guided by transactional expertise/business acumen and anticipate changes in the external environment.
• Create and foster strategic relationships with key external players to identify and anticipate opportunities for growth.
• Solve unique and complex problems with broad impact on the business.
• Identify long and short-term partner, competitive, and environmental trends.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry in the following types of roles: business development (affiliate, business unit or corporate), research and development, finance, sales or marketing, new product planning, or project management.
• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree, Graduate degree (MBA, PhD, MD) preferred.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Business development transaction experience in licensing, M&A, and equity investments in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
• Life sciences banking and/or consulting experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of clinical development and commercial landscape, including technical understanding of key products, mechanisms, indications, etc.
• Proven and strong collaboration and influence skills with colleagues at all levels, including executives.
• Strong knowledge and experience working across R&D and commercialization.
• Effective problem-solving and analytical skills to evaluate and resolve highly complex or unusual business and organizational problems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High learning agility and adaptability.
• Strong ability to handle high ambiguity and complexity.
• Demonstrated success in roles involving persuasion, influence, and negotiation.
• Excellent self-management and organizational skills.
• Self-starter with bias to action.