Senior
Advisor – In Vivo CAR Discovery
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.
ORNA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company focused on circular RNA (oRNA) therapeutics. ORNA designs and delivers a new class of fully engineered oRNA to unlock the potential of RNA medicine to treat diseases anywhere in the body. Its oRNA transcripts offer meaningful advantages over traditional mRNA, including simplified production, improved formulation into lipid nanoparticles, and superior protein expression.
Role Overview
We are seeking an accomplished scientist to join Lilly’s Drug Discovery organization as an Advisor. This is a senior individual-contributor role centered on the discovery of novel in vivo CAR products. The successful candidate will screen, test, and discover new CAR candidates — designing and driving the in vitro and in vivo studies that characterize their activity, leading the screening and down-selection that prioritizes leads, and translating the resulting data into clear progression decisions. Partnering closely with LNP and RNA delivery experts, they will contribute the immunology expertise that shapes construct and delivery choices, serve as a scientific lead across cross-functional project teams, and mentor scientists across the group. The role is central to Lilly’s in vivo CAR ambitions within genomic medicine.
Key Responsibilities
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Serve as the immunology subject-matter expert for the group’s in vivo CAR programs — the resident authority on CAR biology, immune-cell function, and the determinants of a successful CAR product.
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Collaborate closely with lipid nanoparticle (LNP) and RNA delivery experts to define and refine optimal CAR product designs, contributing the immunology requirements that inform construct and delivery decisions while maintaining sufficient fluency in delivery considerations to interpret design rationale and partner effectively.
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Advance in vivo CAR strategies, including LNP – delivered CAR constructs — designing and running studies that evaluate in situ CAR generation, expression, and efficacy in disease-relevant models.
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Personally design and implement in vitro and in vivo assays to characterize CAR activity (potency, cytotoxicity, antigen specificity, and persistence), and interpret the data to drive construct optimization.
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Lead screening and down-selection across CAR candidate panels, defining the criteria, assays, and data packages used to rank constructs and prioritize leads for advancement
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Translate complex in vitro and in vivo datasets into clear go/no-go recommendations and present them to senior governance and portfolio review forums.
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Serve as the discovery biology lead on cross-functional project teams, aligning LNP/delivery, protein engineering, translational, and DMPK partners around a shared scientific strategy.
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Mentor and develop scientists across the group, elevating technical rigor and immunological judgment; maintain external scientific leadership through publications, conferences, collaborations, and contributions to IP and partnering discussions.
Basic Qualifications
PhD in Immunology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or a closely related field
Additional Preferred Qualifications
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Post-PhD experience in immunology research (industry or comparable academic/translational setting).
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Demonstrated track record of target identification and validation, evidenced by publications, patents, or pipeline contributions.
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Deep, hands-on expertise in immune cell biology and modern target-discovery approaches (e.g., functional genomics, single-cell technologies, primary human cell assays).
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Experience leading the biology workstream on a drug discovery program from target validation through candidate progression.
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Working knowledge of multiple therapeutic modalities (small molecule, antibody/biologics) and how target biology informs modality selection.
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Strong record of cross-functional influence and the ability to drive scientific decisions without direct authority.
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Disease-area depth in autoimmunity and/or inflammation.
Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.
Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.
Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).
Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $138,000 - $224,400
Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.
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