Director - Neuroscience

Role Summary

Director - Neuroscience role overseeing a laboratory neuroscience team within the Neuroscience Discovery Group at Lilly’s Indianapolis site, leading cross-functional preclinical drug development efforts focused on psychiatric and neurological disorders. Requires strong leadership, strategic vision, and ability to translate preclinical findings into clinical development pathways.

Responsibilities

• Supervise a group of dedicated laboratory neuroscientists.
• Lead cross-functional teams in preclinical drug development phase.
• Present data and conclusions to leadership and decision makers in a clear, balanced, and compelling manner.
• Identify, develop, and implement innovative approaches to add functional capabilities and gain new insights into psychiatric and neurological disease biology, target engagement and pharmacodynamics.

Qualifications

• PhD in Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Neurophysiology, or related scientific discipline with 10+ years industry or academic experience beyond any postdoctoral positions.
• Alternatively, a Masters degree in Neuroscience, Neurophysiology, or related scientific discipline with 20+ years industry or academic work experience leading a laboratory and leading discovery projects through preclinical development.

Skills

• Clear understanding of pharmacology principles and measures of target engagement ex vivo or in vivo to drive human dose projections.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a cross-functional team and translate preclinical biomarkers to clinical development.
• Experience preparing documents for regulatory filings.
• Excellent communication and presentation of scientific skills.
• Ability to work both independently and in cross-functional teams, as well as influencing beyond direct reports.
• Demonstrated expertise in Neuroscience research as evidenced by peer reviewed publication record.

Education

• PhD or Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline as listed above (per qualifications).

Additional Requirements

• 20-30% travel.
• On-site position at Lilly Corporate Center in Indianapolis, Indiana and/or Lilly Seaport Innovation Center in Boston, Massachusetts.