Associate Director - Patent Research - IP Litigation

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

The Associate Director-Patent Research role supports global patent enforcement, global freedom to operate, due diligence, litigation, and business and strategic planning, among other objectives. This position collaborates with the IP litigation team to enhance the provision of superior legal services across the company and around the world. This is an exciting opportunity for an individual with technical experience in drug discovery, who has strong litigation support experience, exceptional people skills, and an interest in patent law, other legal concepts, and regulatory-related aspects of exclusivity around the world.

Would you like to use your scientific background in a role supporting our intellectual property/patent litigation team? If your background includes conducting patents and IP research, check out this opportunity to join a fantastic team working to make lives better for patients!

Responsibilities include:

• Supporting pre-litigation and IP litigation workstreams, including:
• Reviewing and summarizing prior art literature, patent file wrappers, internal product development reports, and regulatory submissions
• Preparing patent infringement charts, prior art claim charts, patent family trees, and competitor timelines
• Collaborating with external experts, scientists, and technical consultants, and drafting expert reports and declaration in connection with Patent Office proceedings and district court litigation.
• Mastery of computer-based, IP related tools relied upon by the IP litigation team and IP litigation operations, including supporting the development of artificial intelligence-based tools for collection and analysis of competitive intelligence data and technical analysis of the data to support competitor landscape, FTO, and patentability assessments.
• Closely collaborate and communicate with Lilly scientists and attorneys to develop strategies for IP litigation and litigation-focused patent procurement efforts.
• Proactively analyze and organize search findings; report organized findings to attorneys to inform landscape, patentability, exclusivity and FTO strategies.
• Provide the above to support due diligence of external assets.
• Acquire, create, organize, analyze, and maintain information relating to research, development, and commercialization activities, exclusivity, FTO, agreements, product characteristics, and advice.
• Contribute in and influence Scientific Disclosure planning and execution by effectively communicating potential issues to authors and other stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

• B.S. degree or higher in chemistry, biological science or other relevant scientific area (advanced degree preferred)
• At least 5 years of experience supporting patent litigation either at a law firm or in house
• At least 2 years of technical experience relating to drug discovery and / or development of pharmaceutical products
• 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 and/or visas for this role.

Additional Skills/Preferences

• Fluent in nomenclature conventions used to describe organic chemical compounds and biological drug products
• Ability to master new bodies of knowledge, such as significant aspects of global patent law and regulatory law, as well as new IT and operational systems
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with an ability to influence others
• Demonstrated commitment to expand knowledge and adapt to a changing environment
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong project management skills and ability to appropriately prioritize and self-manage, including the ability to manage multiple projects with multiple attorney partners
• Ability to influence, challenge, and work on cross-functional teams and at different levels
• Ability to work productively and successfully as an individual contributor and team member

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 Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

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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