Senior Director, Clinical Pharmacology/Translational

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. Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a wholly subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company is advancing a portfolio of high conviction programs with strong biological validation. Our asset-centric model offers a unique R&D logic that has been applied by single asset companies to improve productivity. This operating model has minimal centralized infrastructure, reduced hierarchy, and exclusive focus on data driven capital allocation. Our teams are uniquely incentivized to expeditiously interrogate key scientific hypotheses. We believe the asset-centric model can lead to improved success rates for programs with greater speed and modest costs. Description of Role Centessa is seeking an experienced Senior Director, Clinical Pharmacology to provide scientific and strategic leadership for translational clinical pharmacology across a diverse pipeline spanning early development through late ‑ stage and registrational programs. Reporting to the Executive Director, Clinical Pharmacology, this position is accountable for developing and executing clinical pharmacology strategies that address the unique challenges of neuroscience drug development, including CNS exposure, dose optimization, and translational relevance. The Senior Director partners closely with cross ‑ functional teams, and cross-program teams to achieve broader translational understanding of our assets, and application of that knowledge to development programs. Additionally, they will represent clinical pharmacology in regulatory interactions to enable efficient, data ‑ driven advancement of therapies across our neuroscience portfolio. Key Responsibilities Lead strategy for collection and interpretation of information across in vitro, in vivo, literature of competitive sources, and clinical data to develop a translational knowledge base to Centessa assets Drive dose selection and optimization by integrating PK, PD, safety, efficacy, and CNS ‑ specific biomarkers Lead model ‑ informed drug development, including population PK, PK/PD, and exposure–response analyses relevant to CNS targets and clinical safety Assess and guide strategies for CNS exposure, brain penetration, target engagement, and translational biomarkers Lead clinical pharmacology strategy for CNS and neuroscience programs from first ‑ in ‑ human through registrational and post ‑ marketing stages Design, execute, and interpret clinical pharmacology studies, including FIH, multiple ‑ ascending dose, DDI, biopharmaceutics, and patient studies Serve as the clinical pharmacology lead on program teams, clinical sub ‑ teams , and trial working groups Author and oversee clinical pharmacology sections of regulatory documents (e.g., INDs, CTAs, IBs, NDAs) Represent clinical pharmacology in interactions with FDA and other global health authorities, supporting dose justification and labeling discussions Partner closely with DMPK, Translational Sciences, Clinical Development, Biomarkers, Biostatistics, CMC, and Regulatory Affairs Oversee CROs and external vendors conducting clinical pharmacology and modeling activities Ensure timely communication and clear interpretation of clinical pharmacology results to internal stakeholders Contribute to portfolio strategy, program prioritization, risk mitigation, and long ‑ range clinical development planning for CNS assets Serve as a subject ‑ matter expert on clinical pharmacology Mentor and develop clinical pharmacology talent as the pipeline and organization grow Ensure high ‑ quality , submission ‑ ready documentation aligned with global regulatory standards Qualifications PhD, PharmD, or MD in Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related discipline 10+ years of experience in clinical pharmacology within biopharma, with demonstrated impact in translational science in drug development Strong expertise in PK, PD, PK/PD integration, exposure–response analyses, and drug–drug interaction assessment Extensive experience developing and executing clinical pharmacology strategies for early ‑ through late ‑ stage programs, including registrational support Demonstrated experience applying quantitative clinical pharmacology and translational approaches (e.g.