Postdoctoral Scientist – Synthetic & Medicinal Chemistry Full-time

Postdoctoral Scientist – Synthetic & Medicinal Chemistry

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.

This postdoctoral scientist position offers the opportunity to work at the interface of medicinal and process chemistry within a multidisciplinary team of chemists, analytical scientists, and engineers. The scientist will design and synthesize novel chemical targets, develop and apply new synthetic methodologies, and build deep insights into structure-function relationships that rapidly advance discovery and development efforts.

We are especially interested in candidates who can pair a strong foundation in modern synthetic chemistry with emerging enabling technologies — in particular single-electron chemistry (photochemistry and/or electrochemistry) and a strong engineering mindset for reaction scale-up, continuous processing, and laboratory automation. This role enables the researcher to conduct innovative chemistry relevant to our pipeline while generating data that can be published externally, creating value for both Eli Lilly and the scientist.

Responsibilities:

• Working within a scientific team, conceptualize and execute new synthetic methodologies to rapidly screen and optimize relevant reactions.
• Purify starting materials, intermediates, and final compounds using modern separation techniques (e.g., flash chromatography, crystallization, preparative HPLC).
• Characterize reaction components, starting materials, and products by modern analytical techniques including NMR, HPLC, LC–MS, and related methods.
• Apply and develop single-electron chemistry approaches — photochemistry and/or electrochemistry — to enable new bond disconnections and methodology.
• Conduct chemical development using modern technologies such as continuous (flow) processing, automated/high-throughput reaction screening, and computational chemistry.
• Build, maintain, and troubleshoot laboratory instrumentation and equipment, contributing engineering insight to experimental design and scale-up.
• Review assay and analytical data, communicate results, and discuss the project impact of new findings.
• Author peer-reviewed external publications as a primary work output and present work in team and scientific meetings.
• Uphold laboratory safety standards and safe chemical-handling practices, and generate accurate, descriptive lab records to industry standards in a timely manner.

Basic Qualifications:

• PhD in synthetic chemistry, organic chemistry, chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, or a closely related field.
• 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 or visas for this role.

Additional Skills & Preferences:

• Core chemistry skills (required): Strong background in modern synthetic and/or medicinal chemistry with hands-on bench expertise. Proficiency with standard analytical and purification techniques, including NMR, HPLC, and LC–MS.
• Strongly preferred: Demonstrated experience in photochemistry and/or electrochemistry, including reaction setup, optimization, and mechanistic understanding. Strong engineering aptitude applied to chemistry — e.g., continuous/flow chemistry, reaction engineering and scale-up, process development, or design and integration of automated/instrumented systems.
• Additional preferences: Experience or familiarity with parallel reaction design, design of experiments (DoE), or high-throughput synthesis and screening. Experience or familiarity with data science, and with Python, R, or other coding languages. Strong interest in creating and advancing new technologies in predictive and data-driven chemistry. Demonstrated self-initiative, appropriate risk-taking, and a continual-learner mindset. Demonstrated proficiency in scientific writing and publication in peer-reviewed journals, along with strong scientific presentation skills. Excellent interpersonal, organizational, analytical, documentation, and multitasking skills, with the ability to prioritize and manage ambiguity in a fast-paced environment. Demonstrated track record of creative, mechanism-based problem solving and effective teamwork.

Additional Information:

• Work environment is a laboratory setting; the physical demands of this job are consistent with a lab environment.
• Potential exposure to chemicals, allergens, and loud noises.
• Occasional travel between Boulder and Louisville sites may be required.
• Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.
• Lilly is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate based on race, gender, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.