Lilly Posted August 13, 2026

Medical Director: Neurology, Oncology -IBU Alliance Markets

Johannesburg, South Africa FULL_TIME
Medical Affairs Oncology Director

Lilly is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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.

Overall Job Purpose

As a Clinical Research Physician (CRP), you will be the therapeutically aligned scientist playing a key role within the Medical Affairs organization. The primary focus of the CRP is to use knowledge of neuroscience, with a focus on dementia, and oncology experience considered a plus, available treatments, and investigational compounds to deliver strategic and tactical medical planning. The CRP partners cross-functionally, presenting at meetings with government regulatory agencies, providing medical guidance on pricing, reimbursement and access (PRA), and leading local scientific data dissemination, including presenting at conferences and advisory boards, and overseeing the scientific content of educational programs.

Key Responsibilities

Business/Customer Support

Understand and anticipate the scientific information needs of local/regional customers (payers, patients, healthcare providers)

Contribute to medical strategies supporting brand commercialization, working with global Medical Affairs, brand teams, Global Patient Outcomes/Real World Evidence, PRA, and clinical teams during local business plan development

Provide clinical input to PRA activities, including payer partnership programs and product value defense

Support business-to-business and business-to-government activities as medical expert

Contribute to strategic planning for marketed brands

Contribute scientific and creative input to the development and approval of promotional materials

Support training of sales representatives and medical personnel

Apply knowledge of market archetypes and customer insights to all customer-related activities

Scientific Data Dissemination/Exchange

Establish and maintain relationships with external scientific experts, thought leaders, and the medical community locally, nationally, and internationally

Serve as the scientific expert on Lilly's neuroscience (and oncology, where relevant) compounds, sharing knowledge across internal teams

Support medical information associates in preparing and reviewing medical letters and materials

Ensure compliance with local laws, global policies, and guidelines on data dissemination and HCP interactions

Address unsolicited scientific information needs from external HCPs per compliance guidelines

Support planning of speaker training, advisory boards, and other HCP meetings

Prepare or review scientific information in response to customer or media questions, with timely follow-up per global SOPs

Support data analysis, slide set development, and publications (abstracts, posters, manuscripts)

Maintain relationships with relevant professional societies

Support customer research design as medical expert

Provide congress support (exhibits, presentations, medical booth staffing, thought leader engagement)

Participate in Clinical Trial Registry reporting activities

Clinical Planning & Trial Execution/Support

Represent country/region clinical needs to business unit medical leadership in developing clinical strategies, development plans, and protocol design

Review and approve local informed consent documents and risk profiles

Collaborate with clinical research staff on local trial design, conduct, and reporting (sample size, timelines, grants, governance)

Review IIT proposals and publications as requested

Contribute to global alignment of Phase 3b/4 studies (and Phase I/II where applicable)

Address the scientific information needs of investigators and study personnel

Regulatory Support

Participate in development and review of local labelling, in collaboration with global Development, brand, regulatory, and legal teams

Provide medical expertise to regulatory scientists and advisory committees

Scientific Technical Expertise

Stay current on clinical practice and access trends in neuroscience (and oncology), near-term (1-2 years) and longer-term (3-5 years)

Critically evaluate relevant medical literature and competitive product data

Act as scientific consultant and protocol expert for clinical study teams

Qualifications

Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy / MBChB/MBBS with national-council registration

Board-eligible or certified in a specialty relevant to neuroscience or oncology, or equivalent post-medical school clinical training relevant to the country of hiring

Medical education completed at a school listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (or equivalent)

5+ years' experience in Medical Affairs

Clinical and/or research experience in neuroscience, with a focus on dementia, required; oncology experience a plus

Fluent in English (verbal and written) required; fluent Spanish a strong plus; additional regional languages an advantage

Knowledge of drug development process relevant to country/region preferred

Strong communication, organizational, and negotiation skills

Demonstrated ability to influence others and foster a positive working environment

Key Job Requirements

Previous TA leadership across geographies

Able to lead and provide clear direction to internal and external teams

Strong planning, execution, and people management skills

Comfortable interpreting technical/scientific data and communicating with credibility; good presentation skills

Able to effectively manage medical budget

Strong track record of teamwork in a cross-functional environment

Willingness to travel to customers, meetings, and congresses within the Alliances and internationally (30%+ travel may be required)

Working Arrangement

Open to candidates in EMEA locations aligned with Alliances operating hours. Hybrid working may be possible depending on location and local arrangements.

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 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.

#WeAreLilly

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Oncology
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 172 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 32 biopharma companies.

172Comparable roles tracked
157Currently active
32Companies hiring similar roles
15Countries represented

Salary context

94 of 172 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $174,000 – $392,100 (median $264,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 172 comparable roles

United States127
United Kingdom11
China's Mainland8
Switzerland6
Japan5
Canada2

+ 9 more countries

Seniority mix

172 of 172 peers have a known seniority level

Director147
Senior Director20
Principal5

Therapeutic area mix

86 of 172 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology29
Neuroscience11
Respiratory11
Immunology11
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Vaccines & Infectious Disease6
Dermatology & Aesthetics6
Rare Disease5
Ophthalmology1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

85%similar
Roche Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
85%similar
Roche Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
85%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority

Open in 3 locations

Mettawa, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesSan Francisco, United States
85%similar
AbbVie Florham Park, NJ Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
85%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority

Open in 4 locations

Waltham, United StatesNorth Chicago, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesSouth San Francisco, United States

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

85%
Early Development Lead Medical Director, Non-oncology
Roche · Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
85%
Scientific Director / Senior Medical Director, Multiple Myeloma (International Medical Affairs)
AbbVie · Florham Park, NJ · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
85%
Senior Medical Director, Oncology Early Development
AbbVie · Waltham, MA · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
85%
Senior Medical Director, Oncology Early Development
AbbVie · South San Francisco, CA · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.