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. 

Organization Overview

Lilly Catalyze360 is a comprehensive approach to enabling the early-stage biotech ecosystem by democratizing access to infrastructure, expertise, and resources. Through its interconnected pillars—Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs, Lilly ExploR&D, and Lilly TuneLab—Catalyze360 strategically removes barriers that traditionally block bold science from becoming life-changing medicines, providing biotechs with flexible combinations of capital, physical lab space, R&D capabilities, AI/ML tools, and decades of enterprise learning.

Job Summary

The Associate Director, IT Contracts & Business Operations owns the contracting strategy and business operations framework for IT engagements across the Lilly Catalyze360 organization. This individual operates as a strategic advisor and business partner to Catalyze360 and IT leadership, leading negotiations for complex IT service agreements and serving as the organization's subject matter expert on contract structures for IT solutions, SaaS platforms, IT professional services, and AI agreements, data licenses, and custom development engagements. The role carries greater latitude for independent judgment; exercises influence senior stakeholders and is expected to shape process and precedent rather than simply execute against it.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and structure contract negotiations for the most complex IT service agreements, SaaS contracts, AI/ML platform agreements, custom IT solution development contracts, and data licensing agreements across Catalyze360, setting negotiation strategy and risk tolerance for the function.
• Serve as the business operations advisor and primary point of escalation between Catalyze360 and IT organizations, translating technical requirements into contractual terms and shaping vendor relationship strategy to advance business objectives.
• Partner directly with legal, finance, and IT technical leadership to structure and govern IT agreements that balance business needs, risk mitigation, and cost optimization, and represent Catalyze360's contracting interests in cross-functional meetings.
• Own risk identification and mitigation strategy across the IT contracting portfolio, including protection of sensitive confidential information and privacy.
• Identify and advocate for new opportunities to enhance contracting processes, tools, and the overall business operations model, anticipating organizational change and helping the function adapt ahead of it.
• If needed, provide guidance, coaching, and technical/functional direction to other contracting professionals and contractors supporting the IT contracting workstream, building capability and consistency across the team.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a related field required; advanced degree (JD, MBA, or related) preferred.
• 6+ years of experience in IT contract negotiations in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, or related IT business functions, including demonstrated experience independently negotiating and managing complex IT service agreements, SaaS contracts, or software licensing agreements.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L- 1.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Direct experience working with IT solution building teams, software engineering, DevOps, or technical product management organizations.
• Deep understanding of IT security requirements, compliance frameworks including privacy regulations, and data governance in regulated industries.
• Communication skills with the ability to engage and influence diverse senior stakeholders including technical, legal, and finance leadership; strong analytical and strategic problem-solving capabilities; and an entrepreneurial mindset with a bias toward building scalable process.
• Strong fluency with IT architecture, cloud infrastructure, software development lifecycle, and enterprise technology solutions.
• Demonstrated:
  • Track record of operating with a high degree of independent judgment and autonomy, including making strategic trade-off decisions on risk, cost, and business priority with limited oversight.
  • Ability to influence and build credibility with senior stakeholders and leadership, and to lead through ambiguity and competing priorities across a highly collaborative, matrixed environment.
  • Experience designing, leading, or scaling pilot programs, proof-of-concept initiatives, or technology evaluations.
  • Experience leading or providing direction to others (direct reports, contractors, or cross-functional partners), including coaching and developing contracting capability in a team.

Additional Information

Travel up to 10% US as needed for internal meetings, vendor meetings, pilot implementations, and stakeholder engagement.

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

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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