Lilly Posted July 2, 2026

Regulatory Affairs Associate Director

Shanghai, Shanghai, China FULL_TIME
Regulatory Affairs Associate 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, 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 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.

Primary Responsibilities:

[Regulatory Expertise]

Provide regulatory leadership, expertise & value by developing regulatory strategies in close collaboration with the Global Regulatory Lead (GRL) and China core team. This role aims to accelerate the submission, approval & launch of the responsible projects or sub-TA portfolio, to improve patient outcomes in China.

Implement regulatory strategies to accelerate submissions & approvals of new products & meet regulatory milestones through partnership with RDE & project core teams. Ensure product registration and other regulatory affairs activities under Lilly’s policies and standard operating procedures, and other applicable laws and regulations.

Interact with regulatory authorities and timely communicate with Lilly internal functions of product registration issues.

Lead the development of labelling strategy (product information and packaging) to enable timely completion of registration milestones (i.e. submission, approval, and launch). Apply labelling expertise, competitor knowledge, and regulatory precedent to propose labelling content to influence commercially viable labelling in China. Lead team during negotiation with regulators by providing responses to labeling questions.

Monitor and evaluate the new regulations and guidance, regulatory changes and trends, and work with internal regulatory intelligence & policy group to provide business insights.

Support China regulatory environmental shaping efforts.

Cross-functional collaboration:

Collaborate closely with China project teams on developing development scenarios and making team recommendations

Work closely with GRLs to ensure that China needs are fully integrated into the global development plan

Provide input and advice on new product launch plans in terms of regulatory requirements.

Collaborate with related functions to ensure market supply sufficiency, artwork and labeling comply with agency requirement and marketing promotion needs.

[Lead, influence and partner]

Partner with GRLs to help solve development and regulatory issues impacting local registrations and engaging with business unit and development team on assigned projects.

Partner with GRLs to ensure a robust regulatory and submission sequencing strategy is developed, endorsed, and executed for China.

Anticipate China specific issues, impact of labelling on promotion, pricing, and reimbursement.

Participate in forums that share regulatory information across GRA components and other Lilly teams and business partners.

Propose continuous improvement projects to simplify processes and increase productivity of work

Lead or represent the regulatory function on cross-functional non-product related projects

Serve as a mentor for China RA personnel.

Exemplify Team Lilly behaviors: Include, Innovate, Accelerate, and Deliver in internal and external interactions.

Model the innovation, leadership behaviors and regulatory excellence attributes as described in Global Regulatory Affairs white papers.

Create and lead in an environment of equity and inclusion that encourages open discussions on issues to achieve a robust outcome on business decisions.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

At least bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical or chemical/biopharmaceutical sciences

At least 8-years experiences in drug regulatory affairs

Demonstrated knowledge and ability in leading the new technology or platform, if the position is for a novel technology

Demonstrated knowledge of the drug development process, Lilly’s (or external peer company) regulatory/business strategies

Demonstrated ability to assess and manage risks in a highly regulated environment

Demonstrated strong written, spoken and presentation communication both in Chinese and English

Demonstrated negotiation and influence skills

Demonstrated attention to details

Self-motivated and Innovative

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
Associate Director
Function
Regulatory Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 164 comparable Associate Director Regulatory Affairs roles across 48 biopharma companies.

164Comparable roles tracked
155Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
27Countries represented

Salary context

40 of 164 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 $98,050 – $206,900 (median $180,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 164 comparable roles

United States61
India20
Ireland12
Poland11
Japan11
China6

+ 21 more countries

Seniority mix

164 of 164 peers have a known seniority level

Manager112
Senior27
Associate Director25

Therapeutic area mix

22 of 164 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology7
Dermatology & Aesthetics6
Neuroscience5
Immunology4

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.

50%similar
Lilly Shanghai, Shanghai, China Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Lilly Shanghai, Shanghai, China Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing Branch Beijing, China Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Sanofi-Aventis (China) Investment Co.,Ltd Beijing, China Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Amgen Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co Ltd. Beijing, China Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
Lilly Ontario, Ontario, Canada Associate Director
Same function Same seniority

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.

50%
Sr Regulatory Affairs Manager- DIA
Lilly · Shanghai, Shanghai, China · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
R&D - GRA - Regulatory Affairs Manager - BJ
Sanofi-Aventis (China) Investment Co.,Ltd · Beijing, China · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Associate Director/Director, GRA, Regulatory Affairs Head – Canada
Lilly · Ontario, Ontario, Canada · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs Advertising & Promotion - Digital & Corporate Communications
AbbVie · Mettawa, IL · Associate 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.