Director​/Sr. Director – Women’s Health, Osteoporosis

Position

Senior Director – Osteoporosis, Women’s Health

Boston, MA or Indianapolis, IN

The Director / Senior Director will serve as the scientific and strategic leader for osteoporosis preclinical discovery, responsible for defining, implementing, and continuously evolving Lilly’s preclinical discovery strategy in osteoporosis. This leader will drive the integration of human biology, translational science, and preclinical models to establish a differentiated and execution-focused discovery framework. The role includes advancing programs from target identification through preclinical development toward early clinical translation, ensuring decisions are guided by robust, decision‑enabling data.

The successful candidate will play a central role in shaping the osteoporosis pipeline, building critical capabilities, and establishing best‑in‑class approaches to target prioritization and validation within the Women’s Health portfolio.

• Build and lead an innovative lab focused on novel approaches to identify and validate targets/pathways for osteoporosis. Bring novel, high potential targets into the pipeline for therapeutic approaches for the treatment of osteoporosis.
• Define and implement the preclinical discovery strategy for osteoporosis, including target discovery, validation and prioritization frameworks, experimental approaches, and decision criteria.
• Drive portfolio prioritization, articulating differentiation, risk, and alignment with clinical and regulatory expectations.
• Build and evolve preclinical and translational capabilities (internal and external) to support execution of the strategy.
• Identify and shape external opportunities, including academic collaborations, CRO partnerships, and business development opportunities.
• Ensure alignment of osteoporosis strategy with broader Women’s Health and musculoskeletal portfolio objectives.

• Lead osteoporosis discovery programs, driving target identification, validation, and progression of therapeutic candidates.
• Design and implement end‑to‑end experimental strategies across in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo systems.
• Generate decision‑enabling data to support program advancement and portfolio decisions.

• Define and implement translational approaches linking mechanisms to clinical outcomes, including biomarker strategies and PK/PD relationships.
• Ensure preclinical programs are designed to enable clear clinical differentiation, incorporating relevant endpoints such as bone density, bone strength, and microarchitecture.

• Serve as biology lead on cross‑functional teams, partnering closely with colleagues across function.
• Influence decision‑making and problem‑solving to accelerate program progression.

• Lead and manage strategic collaborations with CROs and academic partners.
• Maintain scientific leadership through publications, presentations, and external engagement in osteoporosis and skeletal biology.

• Directly recruit and supervise scientists and provide mentoring, performance management and career development.

• Ph.D. in a relevant subject area.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in academia, industry or related field.

• Deep expertise in osteoporosis and skeletal biology, including bone remodeling.
• 10 years’ experience after post‑doc training.
• Demonstrated success in drug discovery, from target identification through preclinical development.
• Proven track record of shaping discovery strategy and influencing portfolio decisions.
• Strong experience with preclinical in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models for osteoporosis.
• Experience building new capabilities, platforms, or external collaborations.
• Strong cross‑functional leadership and scientific communication skills.
• Passion for advancing innovative therapies addressing unmet needs in women’s health.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is

$163,500 - $281,600

Full‑time employees also will be eligible for a…