Advisor​/Sr. Advisor - Discovery Process Chemistry

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.

Lilly Small Molecule Discovery (LSMD)
• Louisville, CO

At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. We make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, more active lives. Not only do we deliver breakthrough medications, but you also can count on us to develop creative solutions to support communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.

Lilly Small Molecule Discovery is purpose-built to create molecules that make life better for people, using innovative science to unlock novel approaches for diseases with poor treatment options. Within Advanced Molecule Design, the Discovery Process Chemistry team focuses on route scouting, leveraging advanced synthetic technologies, and enabling rapid scale-up to deliver up to hundred-gram quantities of key intermediates and potential drug candidates.

This is a lab-facing scientific role. The scientist will design and execute multi-step synthetic routes to deliver key drug intermediates and candidates on aggressive discovery timelines, applying process chemistry principles to optimize reactions for yield, purity, safety, and scalability. The role takes advantage of our world-class facilities and scientists in Louisville and throughout the Lilly network, leveraging in-house enabling technologies and, where appropriate, CRO partnerships to accelerate molecule progression toward the clinic, and offers the opportunity to work in a collaborative, growth-oriented team that values individual accountability and collaboration.

Top candidates for this position will be expected to:

• Route design:
  Design and execute multi-step synthetic routes to deliver key drug intermediates and candidates on aggressive discovery timelines, applying literature precedent creatively to develop differentiated strategies for assigned targets.
• Process chemistry:
  Optimize reactions for yield, purity, safety, and scalability, anticipating future scale-up requirements from early-stage work.
• Enabling technologies:
  Use flow chemistry, photochemistry, electrochemistry, and automated synthesis platforms to accelerate synthesis and improve process robustness and share learnings to help expand these capabilities.
• Safety:
  Conduct thermal risk assessments (DSC, reaction calorimetry) and hazard evaluations as a standard part of safe scale-up; complete risk assessments before experiments and elevate concerns immediately.
• Develop ability:
  Proactively assess synthetic feasibility, route complexity, reagent availability, and estimated cost of goods at the earliest possible stage, and communicate synthetic risk and develop ability flags to the project team.
• CRO collaboration:
  Complement hands-on in-house work by providing clear scientific direction to CRO partners, critically reviewing deliverables, giving actionable feedback, and escalating scientific or quality issues to the project lead as appropriate.
• Tech transfer and documentation:
  Prepare high-quality experimental…