Scientific Lead - Translational Sciences

About the role

The Translational Sciences group is a central node in the Lilly Oncology drug discovery organization, with the mission to inform clinical biomarker strategy, clinical development strategy, regulatory filings, life cycle management and to reverse-translate clinical insights to next-generation drug development.

Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize, and validate molecular and mammalian cellular assays to address mechanistic and functional questions in preclinical studies.
• Design and execute experiments to evaluate compound effects, identify rational combination partners, and investigate drug resistance mechanisms.
• Translate preclinical findings into actionable biomarker hypotheses and combination strategies including suitable patient segments to advance programs into and through clinical development.
• Represent Translational Sciences in project team meetings; present data, interpret results in a therapeutic context, and drive scientific discussion.
• Prepare high-quality internal reports and contribute to external-facing documents including regulatory submissions and scientific publications.
• Proactively evaluate emerging technologies and service providers to ensure work is conducted with scientific rigor and operational efficiency.
• Continuously advance expertise in the relevant molecular pathways and therapeutic area, maintaining awareness of developments from target identification through clinical trials.
• Mentor junior scientists and contribute to the scientific culture of the Translational Sciences team.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Cancer Biology, Biochemistry, or a closely related discipline with 2+ years of postdoctoral, research, or industry experience.
• Proven track record in developing, executing, and troubleshooting molecular and cellular assays; experience engineering cell models to modulate gene expression and interrogate cellular signal transduction pathways; experience with primary cell or immune co-culture systems is a plus.
• Proficiency with core molecular biology techniques: vector engineering, cloning and mutagenesis, qRT-PCR, ELISA, MSD, Western blotting, next-generation sequencing platforms, and flow cytometry (FACS).
• Strong quantitative and statistical analysis skills; experience with curve-fitting and data analysis software (e.g., GraphPad Prism).
• Experience in oncogenic signaling, tumor cell metabolism and immuno-oncology is preferred; epigenetic platform analyses, inflammatory diseases are a plus.

Qualifications

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; effective across all organizational levels including colleagues, scientific advisors, clinical teams, and external partners.
• Demonstrated commitment to staying current with scientific advances in targeted oncology — from target identification through human clinical trials.
• Collaborative, thoughtful listener who values diverse scientific perspectives and contributes to a positive team culture.
• Self-motivated, enthusiastic, and proactive in identifying process improvements and resolving scientific or operational challenges.