Associate Director, Strategic Account and Project Management — Indianapolis, IN

Eli Lilly — Indianapolis, IN

Eli Lilly lists this role in Indianapolis, IN.

Stated in the posting

• Pay: $132K – $194K (base salary)
• Experience: 5+ years
• Travel: up to 15%
• Relocation assistance

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.

Organization Overview

At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. Every day, we make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, and more active lives.

The Lilly Creative Capabilities team fuses data, creativity, and technology to turn bold ideas into work that moves people worldwide. As a true creative engine, we partner across the enterprise, uniting deep brand expertise with integrated insights and modern production to deliver breakthrough ideas with confidence and speed. We design human-centric experiences that build trust, deepen understanding, and drive measurable outcomes. Together, we push past “good enough,” raising the bar for creative excellence and operational agility. If you are driven to lead, to learn fast, and to raise the bar every day, come help us redefine what a best-in-any-class in-house agency can do.

Who We Are

We are transforming Thread Collective, Lilly’s in-house creative agency, to set a new standard for operational and strategic excellence. As Associate Director, Strategic Account & Project Management, you play a pivotal role in turning brand strategies into actionable plans and delivering seamless execution across a diverse portfolio of brands and indications. You ensure strategic alignment and flawless delivery of integrated marketing programs, ranging from campaign refreshes to large-scale launches, within a specific brand portfolio or across multiple therapeutic areas. Working closely with cross-functional partners, you drive every campaign and initiative with precision, creativity, and measurable impact, engaging healthcare professionals, direct-to-consumer audiences, and other key stakeholders.

We are looking for someone who can seamlessly connect client goals to creative solutions and who is comfortable guiding creative teams with thoughtful feedback to elevate every campaign. Our team thrives on collaboration, accountability, and a relentless drive for operational excellence. If you are passionate about building strong partnerships, optimizing processes, and ensuring every project delivers results, you will help us set a new standard for creative and operational impact within Thread Collective.

What We Are Looking For

• Partner closely with the Creative Account Manager on day-to-day execution, keeping in-progress work on brand, on goal, and aligned with brand strategies and business objectives.
• Own the brand relationship and serve as the senior point of contact for brand stakeholders, building strong relationships and working to anticipate needs to proactively communicate opportunities and solutions.
• Own budget and scope for the brand portfolio, keeping priorities, timelines, and deliverables within plan.
• Schedule and lead strategic check-ins, bringing together the creative, operations, and review partners who are important to the execution of stakeholder initiatives.
• Lead monthly and quarterly forecasting with brand partners and operations, working with Operations to understand known work, capacity, and the path each campaign needs to take through MLRO and into market.
• Support the Senior Director in strategic planning, resource allocation, and continuous improvement initiatives, including documenting process and pain points across every stage of the work.
• Champion the use of modern tools (e.g., Workfront and AI-enabled planning and forecasting) and best practices to drive efficiency and scalability.
• Translate brand strategy into campaign plans by leading campaign mapping, setting campaign priority, and finalizing the tactics and claims each campaign needs across multiple brands and audience types.
• Champion client objectives while fiercely advocating for the agency’s vision and creative excellence, ensuring alignment and mutual success.
• Analyze brand performance and campaign KPIs, delivering sharp insights and strategic recommendations that shape the next planning cycle and drive measurable business results.
• Oversee work moving through MLRO, partnering with review leads to anticipate risk, resolve escalations, and balance compliance with creativity in regulated environments.
• Review work against the campaign plan through a creative strategy lens, giving creative teams thoughtful feedback that elevates the work.
• Build and maintain each brand’s intelligence base, gathering customer insights, brand health data, and brand strategy so campaign planning starts from a shared view of the brand.
• Partner with subject matter experts in personalization, modular content, web, search, and social media to optimize messaging across paid and owned channels.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, advertising, journalism, business administration, or a related field; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in account management and project leadership within a creative agency, in-house team, or multi-brand portfolio organization.
• 5+ years of experience managing account and/or project management teams delivering integrated marketing initiatives across multiple channels and audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise in Medical, Regulatory, and Legal workflows, with a track record of advising and guiding teams to align strategies and execution with compliance standards.
• Experience leading brand or campaign planning and forecasting with senior stakeholders.
• Proficiency in Workfront or another similar project management system.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, able to drive alignment and inspire action at all levels.
• Experience working within highly regulated or compliance-heavy environments such as healthcare, finance, government, or media, with a strong understanding of process rigor, documentation, and cross-functional review.
• Demonstrated success managing or supporting teams that deliver marketing initiatives for multiple brands, projects, or stakeholders across diverse channels.
• Collaborative leadership style with a focus on driving results and fostering a positive, team-oriented environment.
• Proven ability to manage key accounts or complex, multi-channel creative projects.
• Effective capacity management skills at both individual and small team levels.
• Ability to identify and address process or technology challenges, implementing solutions through project planning and milestone management.
• Solid understanding of creative development, digital marketing, brand strategy, and omnichannel execution.
• Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), or equivalent certification preferred.
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
• Comfortable receiving and implementing feedback from peers, partners, and stakeholders to align with shared goals and elevate outcomes.

Other:

• Position based in Indianapolis: remote work options may be considered.
• Relocation package provided.
• Travel up to 15% is expected.
• Lilly may provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role for internal applicants only

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

$132,000 - $193,600

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.

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