Advisor - Molecular Biology, Cell Culture Upstream Process Development

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life‑changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve.

This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.

The Advisor is responsible for upstream process development activities related to the production of bioproduct active pharmaceutical ingredients including cell line development, cell culture process definition and optimization, process robustness studies, process transfers to pilot plant and manufacturing sites and authorship of upstream process development sections of Regulatory submissions. The position will interact closely with other scientists in  &D as well as Discovery, Technical services for Manufacturing and Manufacturing scientists.

They are expected to be an integral participant on multidisciplinary CMC project teams that support bioproduct process and product development activities.

• Design, execute and interpret appropriate upstream development experiments for generation of bioproduct active pharmaceutical ingredients including protein intermediates for bioconjugation.
• Provide support including hands‑on experiments for troubleshooting technical issues and driving innovation projects with novel ideas and technologies.
• Participate in cross‑functional process development teams and effectively collaborate with other groups in  &D, Discovery, Technical services for Manufacturing and Manufacturing.
• Support transfer of cell culture processes to pilot plant and manufacturing sites.
• Author technical reports and regulatory documents.
• Work effectively with external parties on development projects, research collaborations and outsourcing efforts.
• Support organizational initiatives as needed to achieve short‑term and long‑term departmental goals.
• Engage externally through conference attendance, presentations and publications.
• Identify, partner, and develop process innovations from the outside to complement existing capabilities and areas of focus and incorporate these across the portfolio.
• Ensure work is aligned with all relevant Development Quality, Regulatory, HSE, GLP and GMP requirements.

• PhD in Microbiology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemical Engineering, or closely related STEM discipline plus 0‑3 years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industries.
• Knowledge of cell biology, cell culture, molecular biology with an emphasis on recombinant protein expression.
• Extensive experience with designing experiments, generating data, interpreting results, and documenting the work independently.
• Ability to work well in a team environment incorporating a variety of functional relationships and desire to be a point of accountability.
• Effective oral and written communication skills, self‑management, task planning and organization.

• Postdoctoral experience is a plus.
• General knowledge and understanding of the scaling of upstream processes, and potential issues and mitigation strategies.
• Hands‑on experience with cell line generation, fed‑batch and/or perfusion cell culture processes, bioreactor control strategies, and process parameter optimization.
• Demonstrated knowledge of engineering principles and skills.
• Experience with automation and AI tools.
• Demonstrated strong problem‑solving and…