Principal Scientist, External Innovation – Infectious Disease & Vaccines

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals!


As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets.
At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our purpose – all to Go Beyond for Animals, Customers, Society and Our People.


At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success. Here, you’ll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights.


Making animals’ lives better makes life better – join our team today!


Your Role:
Senior Advisor, External Innovation

As the Sr. Advisor for External Innovation, you will be a critical expert at the forefront of shaping Elanco's future pipeline. You will be instrumental in our mission to improve the health of animals by identifying and advocating for the next generation of solutions for infectious diseases. Partnering closely with R&D, global strategy teams, and senior leadership, you will scout, evaluate, and guide the assessment of cutting-edge technologies and assets from biotechnology, pharmaceutical companies, and academia.

This is a key strategic role where you will leverage your deep scientific expertise to build de-risking experiments and resourcing plans to influence the direction of our innovation efforts for both pet and farm animals.

Your Responsibilities:

• Identify and evaluate external assets and technologies, with a primary focus on infectious diseases, novel vaccine platforms, and future solutions from biotech, pharma, and academia for both pet and farm animals.
• Lead the landscaping of opportunities and coordinate deep technical assessments with internal teams, including R&D, Marketing, Legal, and global strategy teams, to ensure timely and thorough evaluation of new opportunities.
• Establish and manage key relationships with biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and pharmaceutical partners to build a robust external innovation pipeline.
• Create compelling proposals for funding and governance, including the development of scientific de-risking strategies and high-level business plans aligned with target product profiles.
• As an individual contributor and originator, make strategic go/no-go recommendations to governance and provide timely, accurate updates on external innovation efforts and project progress.

• Education:
  
  An advanced degree in life sciences (PhD, or DVM).
• Experience:
  
  A minimum of 7 years of experience in external innovation, technology scouting, or alliance management within the animal health, pharmaceutical, or biotechnology industry experience directly in R&D project leadership in Animal Health.
• Expertise:
  Deep scientific expertise in infectious diseases, vaccines, or related immunology/virology fields. Proven ability to guide complex, cross-functional project evaluations from identification through to strategic recommendation.

• Demonstrated experience in competitive intelligence, using tools from biotech, pharma, and consulting to build therapeutic area landscapes, including the use of visualization tools.
• Experience with RNA technology, novel expression platforms for vaccines and biologics, and/or nucleic acid targeted delivery.
• A robust and existing network of contacts in academia, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies.
• Direct experience in the Farm Animal health industry

• Travel: 20-30%
• Location:
  
  Global Elanco Headquarters
  - Indianapolis, IN
  - On-Site Work Environment