Scientist/Sr Scientist, Discovery Strategy and Operations

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. 

Position Description

This Sr Scientist role supports the full lifecycle of cell line banking including preparation, cryopreservation, storage, inventory, and distribution. The position also manages domestic and international shipments, maintains cell line cultures, and collaborates across teams to keep operations safe, efficient and compliant to established standards.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Perform all activities related to cell line banking, including preparation, cryopreservation, accurate record‑keeping, storage, and dispensing to ensure long‑term availability and integrity of cell stocks.

• Perform and support the maintenance of cultures for suspension and adherent cell lines, applying best practices and troubleshooting of technical issues.

• Manage the preparation and coordination of domestic and international cell line shipments, ensuring adherence to packaging standards, temperature controls, timelines, and other shipment requirements.

• Maintain excellence in record‑keeping within the Electronic Laboratory Notebook, ensuring entries are complete, accurate, and compliant with documentation standards.

• Take responsibility for accurate cell line inventory management, including data entry, while contributing to continuous improvement of systems for increased efficiency.

• Anticipate potential operational or technical challenges and proactively develop solutions.

• Collaborate with scientists, logistics teams, and other stakeholders to resolve workflow and shipping issues, building strong relationships across functions and geographies.

• Contribute to a clean, safe, and well‑supplied laboratory environment, speaking up to address concerns and following through on corrective actions.

• Document processes and activities clearly and comprehensively to ensure reproducibility, compliance, and effective knowledge sharing.

• Communicate clearly and professionally with colleagues, and cross‑functional teams, ensuring information is accurate and timely to support effective collaboration and decision‑making.

Basic Qualifications:

• BA/BS/MS in biology, cell biology, molecular biology or a related field along with a minimum of 2-5 years of recent experience working with mammalian cell culture.

• 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 Preferences:

• Experience managing the preparation/shipment of cell-lines/cell-cultures. 

• Experience maintaining excellence in record‑keeping within the Electronic Laboratory Notebook

• Basic tissue culture techniques such as cell propagation, cryo- preservation, maintenance.

• Strong organization, communication, and teamwork skills.

Additional Information:

• This is an onsite (5 days), lab-based position based in Indianapolis, IN

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job in a laboratory setting.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the role and responsibilities satisfactorily.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands of this job include the ability to lift up to 20 lbs, include safe handling of liquid nitrogen storage systems and use of required personal protective equipment.

The physical demands here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

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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