Lilly Posted July 20, 2026

Pre-Clinical Statistician

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America FULL_TIME
Biostatistics & Data Science

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.

Job Description

At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. We make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, more active lives. Not only do we deliver breakthrough medications, but you also can count on us to develop creative solutions to support communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.

We are seeking a candidate with experience in pre-clinical research, particularly in the oncology space.

Responsibilities:

The Project Statistician provides statistical leadership in multiple dimensions including:

Provides technical leadership and expertise in initiating and carrying out multi-disciplinary or cross functional projects that impact the Lilly Research Laboratory and the Statistical Sciences organization

Leads the assessment and introduction of new statistical technology and methodology, including both frequentist and Bayesian techniques, to apply to broader practice

Leads the design and analysis of in-vitro and in-vivo experiments to advance the discovery portfolio, innovative study designs, and statistical analysis plans in collaboration with biologists and other researchers

Provides consultation for specialized biomarker analyses including genomic analysis of RNA expression data and analysis of other biomarker data (single cell RNA, NGS, protein, imaging) in conjunction with pre-clinical and clinical data

Establish novel visualizations to explain complex results and interactions

Provides consulting and statistical direction on priority discovery projects

Statistical Design and Analysis:

Work with Drug Discovery teams to understand statistical needs to improve the quality of candidates and shorten drug development timelines. This will involve understanding the experimental objectives, appropriately specifying the primary and secondary endpoints, setting the sample size using statistical power analysis, determining appropriate statistical methods, and analyzing the data to determine the results. Engage in the write up of the results and presentations to Project and Scientific Management

Understand biological assay development needs and advise biologists on experiments required to validate biological assays for Drug Discovery programs. Experience with design of experiments and applications to high throughput screens will be valuable in this role.

Find opportunities for Meta-Analysis and other Data Mining techniques, and then conduct them, to identify key results from a series of experiments to identify key conclusions from the gestalt of all experiments in the program and determine appropriate next steps the Project Team should prioritize to optimize progress. This will require knowledge of in-house data repositories, knowledge about publicly available data sources and repositories, and the ability to use appropriate data management tools to build the necessary datasets and then to conduct the analysis

Develop and provide training courses on statistical methods for biologists, chemists, and other research staff

Potential leadership and direction of contracted statistical analyst support

Maintain currency with respect to statistical methodology, maintain proficiency in applying new and varied methods, and to be competent in justifying methods selected

Influence team members regarding appropriate research methods

Perform peer-review of work products from other statistical colleagues

Communication of Results and Inferences:

Collaborate with team members to write reports and communicate results

Assist with, or be responsible for, communicating study results via internal governance, manuscripts, or oral presentations in group settings, as well as for communicating one-on-one with key customers and presenting at scientific meetings

Respond to regulatory queries and interact with regulators

Therapeutic Area Knowledge:

Understand disease states, competitive landscapes, and the foundational science in order to enhance the level of patient focus and collaboration and be seen as a strong scientific contributor

Regulatory Compliance:

Perform work in full compliance with assigned curriculum(s) and will be responsible for following applicable Corporate, Medical, local, and departmental policies, procedures, processes, and training as well as ensuring legal, regulatory and data protection requirements are met in all activities

Statistical leadership and Teamwork:

Introduce and apply innovative methodology and tools to solve critical problems

Merge scientific thinking and business knowledge to identify issues, evaluate options and implement solutions

Lead projects independently and work effectively across functions. Apply technical expertise to influence business decisions

Basic Qualifications:

Ph.D. in Statistics or Biostatistics

Additional Preferences

Experience in oncology research is preferred

Expertise and experience in study design, mixed models, multivariate analysis, design of experiments, multiplicity control, and analysis of variance

Proficient in statistical programming languages/software such as R, Python, SAS®, JMP®, etc.

Demonstrated problem solving ability and critical thinking

Interpersonal communication skills for effective customer consultation and collaboration

An established track record of developing and maintaining an area of statistical or collaborative research

Additional Preferences (a plus, but not required):

Experience with pre-clinical, biomarker, genomics/genetics, or discovery research data and analyses

Experience manipulating and analyzing large data sets

Knowledge or education in Biology

Skills in biological pathway/network analysis

Skills in predictive modeling and machine learning

Experience working in High-Performance Computing environment

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

$151,500 - $244,200

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.

#WeAreLilly

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Biostatistics & Data Science
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Biostatistics & Data Science role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 137 comparable Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 22 biopharma companies.

137Comparable roles tracked
118Currently active
22Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

45 of 137 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $151,500/yr – $244,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Computational Statistician (R2 – R3) · Lilly $46,842/yr – $117,289/yr
Peer group range $82,066 – $329,250 (median $166,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 137 comparable roles

United States77
United Kingdom11
India10
Japan7
Germany7
Poland5

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

105 of 137 peers have a known seniority level

Senior27
Principal25
Manager24
Director11
Associate Director11
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc3
Associate2
Executive/VP1
Senior Director1

Therapeutic area mix

14 of 137 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology14

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.

40%similar
Lilly Director
Same function Same country

Open in 2 locations

Indianapolis, United StatesBoston, United States
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same country
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Same function Same country
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
Same function Same country
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same country

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.

40%
Director - Statistics
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Computational Statistician (R2-R4)
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Principal Computational Statistician
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Sr. Computational Statistician (R2 – R3)
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Senior
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.