Sr. Director-Purification and Viral Safety

About the role

The Senior Director will lead the purification and viral safety CMC function for biologics products at Eli Lilly and Company. This position is responsible for enabling development, scale-up, and technology transfer for a broad portfolio of bioproduct programs, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, recombinant proteins, AAV, and bioconjugates. The role collaborates with Discovery, Manufacturing, and Regulatory to advance programs from preclinical development through successful registration.

Responsibilities

• Leads the purification development and viral safety department to enable development, scale-up, and technology transfer for both early- and late-stage bioproduct portfolios.

• Establishes and drives the strategic direction of the department, ensuring strong execution to support portfolio growth and meet organizational objectives.

• Provides oversight to ensure the department stays current with emerging technologies, capabilities, and evolving regulatory initiatives, and leads their effective implementation.

• Defines and drives innovation strategy and roadmap to ensure competitiveness and alignment with Discovery and manufacturing needs.

• Proactively reallocates resources to respond to changing portfolio demands, including program acceleration, while driving productivity through operational excellence.

• Leads the adoption and integration of AI/ML tools, process modeling, and high-throughput screening to advance purification and viral safety workflows.

• Develops talent at all levels and ensures effective coaching and performance management.

• Oversees development laboratory operations, including the scale-up facility, with a strong focus on workplace safety.

• Collaborates closely with leaders across departments to ensure overall business effectiveness.

Basic Requirements

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related fields, with a minimum of 10 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, or BS/MS with 18+ years of applicable experience

• Deep knowledge of bioproduct development from candidate selection through regulatory submission

• Strong track record of technology innovation in downstream bioprocessing or viral safety

• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and strong leadership skills are essential

• Demonstrated experience leading high-performance scientific teams

Additional Preferences

• Demonstrated experience across end-to-end biologics CMC workflows, with broad knowledge of upstream, analytical, and formulation functions and hands-on regulatory filing experience for early- and late-stage programs

• Experience collaborating with Manufacturing on GMP implementation, including technology transfer and facility fit

• Proven ability to collaborate with partners to ensure effective oversight across the entire bioproduct portfolio

• Experience leveraging AI tools to improve efficiency in CMC workflows