Manager - Oncology Discovery Contracting

About the role

The Manager - Oncology Discovery Contracting in the Business Operations team supports the discovery and development of new drugs for oncology patients. This role involves managing an assigned portfolio of scientific contracting engagements, collaborating with various teams, and ensuring compliance with established policies and risk mitigation strategies.

Responsibilities

• Manage an assigned portfolio of scientific contracting engagements across early phase biology, chemistry, and scientific technology business areas.
• Collaborate with Project Management, Scientific, Legal, and Business Operations teams to understand scope, and draft, negotiate, and manage contracts that enable the work in compliance with established internal policies and risk mitigation strategies.
• Provide contracting guidance to internal business partners on assigned agreements, including compliance with applicable policies and escalating complex compliance or contractual issues to team leadership with clearly framed options for resolution.
• Engage with third-party suppliers professionally and constructively to advance contracting discussions, applying established frameworks to identify and mitigate routine risks and partnering with the third-party risk management team and leadership when issues fall outside standard parameters.
• Draft and negotiate assigned contracts with accuracy and consistency, coordinating Legal and SME input as needed, making sound decisions within established frameworks and playbooks, and escalating non-routine issues to team leadership with well-formed options.
• Support business partners in the procure-to-pay process, including purchase requisition submission, invoice reconciliation, and ensuring internal compliance and escalating discrepancies as appropriate.
• Adhere to established team contracting policies, systems, templates, and business practices, including timely and accurate use of Lilly’s contract lifecycle management (CLM) system as the primary tool for contract intake, drafting, tracking, and reporting.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; degree in biology or a related scientific discipline preferred, along with scientific literacy and/or background in a relevant biological discipline and the ability to engage credibly with research scientists in areas such as exploratory research, translational science, and large molecule biology.
• 3+ years of contract management experience, including procurement-facing contracting to support discovery and development efforts in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical setting, with a demonstrated ability to manage an assigned portfolio of agreements accurately and on time.

Qualifications

• Experience with project management, finance, procurement, and contract lifecycle management software.
• Familiarity with software licensing agreements, including SaaS and data platform agreements in a life sciences or research context.
• Fluency with AI tools and a demonstrated willingness to embrace and apply emerging AI and technology solutions to improve the efficiency and quality of contracting work.
• Strong contract drafting, review and analysis skills across a variety of contract types.
• Working knowledge of key legal and commercial provisions common to procurement-focused life sciences contracts, including intellectual property, indemnification, limitation of liability, confidentiality, and payment terms.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage a high volume of concurrent assignments with rigor and a sense of urgency; approaches work with an owner’s mindset, takes initiative to anticipate issues, meets strict deadlines, and drives tasks to completion while maintaining quality.
• Commitment to becoming proficient in Lilly’s contract lifecycle management (CLM) system and other designated business tools, using them consistently and accurately as the system of record for all assigned contracting activity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to proactively communicate status, flag risks, and keep relevant parties informed to drive assigned work forward and resolve issues in a timely manner.
• Strong attention to detail and critical thinking skills.
• MS Office skills (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).