Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, TuneLab Platform

Role Summary

Help transform drug discovery by building the strategic partnerships that power TuneLab's AI/ML platform. This role is essential in supporting the growth and evolution of the Lilly TuneLab platform’s business model, and resulting partnership strategy, to ensure its success in transforming drug discovery and development. The ideal individual will thrive at the creation of novel strategic partnerships at the intersection of AI/ML and drug discovery and be able to operate effectively across the end-to-end strategic partnership ideation, development and execution process across a wide range of partner companies by both size and sector (e.g. tech, biotech, pharma, AI/ML startups, and service providers) collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to drive these transactions to completion.

Responsibilities

• Partnership Strategy & Development
  • Evaluate and advance partnership opportunities across multiple domains as we develop the TuneLab ecosystem. Examples include:
    • AI/ML leaders: Engage with market leading AI/ML companies of all sizes to access and build next-generation AI/ML models for drug discovery.
    • Biotech: Identify data contributions that fit specific use cases, facilitating collaborations that align with platform needs.
    • Service Providers (e.g. CROs): Develop standardized and streamlined services for platform participants to ensure seamless integration into their workflows.
    • Data Acquisition and Generation: Identify and evaluate opportunities to acquire or generate data that supports the platform's AI/ML models and use cases. Establish partnerships to ensure access to high-quality data necessary for driving drug discovery outcomes.
  • Continuously evolve the platform‚Äôs strategy by understanding how AI/ML capabilities are being developed, both in commercial and open-source environments, to ensure differentiation of our offering.
• Deal Execution and Operational Excellence
  • Own the process of continually driving deal progress, including efficiently coordinating complex multi-stakeholder internal and external review processes, while maintaining momentum, ensuring strategic partnerships progress smoothly from initial discussion through close.
  • Develop and run operational systems and processes to manage timelines, workflows, and cross-functional threads required to keep multiple transactions moving forward simultaneously.
• Market Intelligence and Analysis
  • Monitor the competitive landscape, keeping track of technological advances and trends in AI/ML applications in drug development and assessing their impact on Lilly‚Äôs strategy.
• Financial Analysis
  • Propose deal financials, backed by analysis to demonstrate the rationale and return on investment across a range of novel deal types.
  • Ensure resources are allocated to support the high-impact initiatives aligned with our platform‚Äôs business goals.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration and Communication
  • Coordinate effectively with internal teams, including R&D, engineering, product, legal, finance, and technology to meet your objectives.
  • Communicate partnership strategy, progress, and impact to leadership and other stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Minimum Requirements
  • Education: Bachelor‚Äôs or Master‚Äôs degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Biology, Chemistry or related fields.
  • 5+ years of strategic partnership experience in AI/ML, technology, biotech, life sciences, pharma, or adjacent supporting sectors.
• Additional Skills/Preferences
  • Advanced degree (MBA, PhD, JD, or similar) with at least 8 years of strategic partnership experience in AI/ML, technology, biotech, life sciences, pharma, or adjacent supporting sectors.
  • Experience operating at the intersection of AI/ML and its application to improve all aspects of the drug discovery process, or background in biotech/pharma or technology/ tech startup environment involving complex enterprise deal structures.
  • Strong legal grounding - comfortable partnering with internal and external counsel drafting, reviewing and solving complex contracting challenges.
  • Demonstrated ability to run multi-step deals end-to-end, managing many simultaneous conversations, legal processes, and cross-functional threads.
  • Detail-oriented, highly reliable with strong judgment and the ability to spot risks, implications, and structural issues early.
  • Ownership mentality, from operating in small teams, high-impact environments whether in a startup or within new initiatives or a new business unit within a corporate setting.

Education

• Bachelor‚Äôs or Master‚Äôs degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Biology, Chemistry or related fields.