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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 35,000 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.

Organization Overview:

Throughout the IP Department we believe people are fundamental to success and our ability to deliver the best IP for Lilly.  This is underpinned by the performance and capabilities of our employees including those within the IP Operations (Patent and Trademarks Support) group.  We are adding this position to our team to respond to competitive growth and increased complexity and volume across Lilly’s world-class IP assets.  Responsible for leading an organization of approximately 23+ persons responsible for patent and trademark operations support functions, including patent and trademark filings, maintenance and fees, searches, prosecutions, litigation, and other key functions.   Responsible for developing best-in-class processes and workflows, quality and risk management protocols and career development of the team.  Heavy emphasis on IP protection/quality and risk mitigation measures.  Also responsible for supporting Global IP team initiatives, special projects, and workflow management.  This role will interface closely with IP attorneys and other paraprofessionals, Legal Operations, Information & Digital Solutions and senior IP and Legal team leadership, with the goal of ensuring an integrated strategy to support the IP Legal organization.  Strong business partnering, collaboration and organizational skills are required, as is the ability to work with credibility as an advocate for Legal across all levels of the organization.  Excellent management skills and demonstrated experience leading, developing and inspiring a large team of IP paraprofessionals is essential, as is a demonstrated record of identifying and implementing efficient and best-practice workflows and other innovation for managing work, risk, and change.     

Responsibilities:

IP OPERATIONS LEADERSHIP

• Lead the IP Operations organization, comprised of patent and trademark support professionals toward execution of Lilly IP strategy including development and adoption of tools and processes, career development and training programs

• Responsible for driving accountability, training, development, feedback loops and making practices and accountabilities consistent across IP Operations team, and amongst IP Department functions.

• System owner oversight of IP management tool (Anaqua), partnering closely with module data owners and other key stakeholders

• Build upon and leverage existing external relationships to influence IP Operations

           progress (via, for example, benchmarking and surveys)

• Propose and execute strategies for ensuring constructive communication and establishing a culture of teamwork and innovation across the IP Operations team

• Partner strongly with Sr. Director, IP Operations and Policy and other IP Department leaders to remain current on business needs and to develop clear feedback loops for supporting, managing and prioritizing workloads to meet those needs and strategies

• Work with department leadership, key attorneys, key department stakeholders, and business users to ensure value is delivered and clearly communicated to all stakeholders

• Develop strategies for flexible resourcing and staffing/overflow capabilities, including evaluation of possible third-party resources/vendors to help drive modernization and free-up capacity taken by lower alignment/lower risk work across IP Ops

• Manage the successful implementation and adoption of investments in modernization, automation, analytical solutions, and other resources across IP Operations to minimize manual processes.

• Manage resources to ensure financial objectives are met.

• Lead change management and manage any related challenges

• Drive ongoing analytics tool adoption and broader automation efforts within IP Operations and ensure the team is trained and agile in both use of tools and advancing capabilities

• Maintain processes and practices to ensure there is no unintentional loss of IP rights. 

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree

• 7 or more years of demonstrated experience within IP Operations leadership role in a legal department and/or law or consulting firm managing IP paralegals, with a broad range of IP support function management experience and talent development success

• 2+ years of experience with IP management systems/tools, preferably Anaqua.

• Minimum of 2 years supervisory experience  

• Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States. Lilly does not anticipate providing sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B or TN status) for this employment position.

Additional Preferences

• Working understanding of IP management tools, analytical models and insight tools as they apply to the IP field

• 5+ years of experience as a senior IP paralegal or other front-line IP support role with significant responsibilities, including experience with all aspects of patent and trademark support.

• Experience working effectively across a large portfolio in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities is critical.

• Excellent communication, facilitation and project/stakeholder management skills

• Experience in the pharmaceutical or healthcare industry

• Industry knowledge pertaining to incorporation of flexible and alternative resourcing in the IP Operations arena (or equivalent support area)

• Highly motivated and collaborative partner with experience consulting with the business in listening, understanding and partnering on best in class/best fit solutions

• Demonstrated ability to work in global team environment and communicate effectively with and influence business partners of all levels and disciplines 

• Experience successfully leading change management and related challenges

• Demonstrated good judgment and is solution orientated 

• Ability to work independently and within a team environment 

• Strong planning and organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and activities at once

• Strong project management skills with the ability to recognize changing needs and pre-prioritize activities accordingly, complete assigned projects and meet defined objectives and milestones.

• Independent forward thinker on process improvement; continuously looks for ways to improve our service level and how we do things today.

Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly USA, LLC and our wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively “Lilly”) are committed to help individuals with disabilities to participate in the workforce and ensure equal opportunity to compete for jobs. If you require an accommodation to submit a resume for positions at Lilly, please email Lilly Human Resources ( Lilly_Recruiting_Compliance@lists.lilly.com ) for further assistance. Please note This email address is intended for use only to request an accommodation as part of the application process. Any other correspondence will not receive a response.

Lilly is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

As a condition of employment with Eli Lilly and Company and its subsidiaries in the United States and Puerto Rico, you must be fully COVID-19 vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination satisfactory to the company.  If you would like to request an accommodation for medical or religious reasons, you may do so at workplace_adjustment@lilly.com.