Lilly Posted September 13, 2026

Biologist in Immunology Discovery Research

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America FULL_TIME
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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.

Organization Overview:

The Eli Lilly Immunology Discovery Research group focuses on discovering innovative medicines for treating immunological diseases. We are seeking a highly motivated and dedicated scientist with knowledge of cellular and molecular immunology, who also shares our passion to help patients live with higher quality of life.

Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will report to a Ph.D senior scientist in the group located at Lilly in Indianapolis, IN and work in a highly team-oriented and collaborative environment. The successful candidate will need to be able to work independently to design, develop and validate immunology cell-based functional assays with the goal to deliver preclinical data to support novel therapeutics for future clinical testing, and to investigate the mechanism of action of biological and small molecule therapeutics.

Develop immune functional cell-based assays using extensive immunology research-related technologies (e.g. primary lymphocytes from human, monkey, and mouse, cytokine assays, multi-color flow cytometry)

Screen and analyze data for protein or small molecule drugs in cell-based assays

Isolate, purify, and culture human, monkey, and mouse lymphocytes for in vitro assays with attention to detail and sterile technique

Develop cellular activity assays using techniques such as western blot, qPCR, intracellular staining, phospho flow cytometry, confocal/imaging related techniques, ligand-binding assays like ELISA and MSD multiplex

Investigate cellular signal transduction including cytokine/receptor signaling

Perform and evaluate functional effects of siRNA mediated gene knockdown and transfection/transduction mediated gene expression in cell lines and primary human cells

Independently design and execute experiments, troubleshoot, analyze, interpret and present experimental data

Adhere to good research practices and timely, thorough laboratory e-notebook maintenance

Basic Requirements:

B.S or M.S. in biology, molecular and cellular immunology or a related biological area with 2-3 years of work experience in an academic institute or pharmaceutical industry

Research experience in immunology and molecular biology. Previous experience in purification and handling primary human lymphocytes (and other species) is highly desirable.

Basic understanding of and previous experience with high-parameter multi-color flow cytometry is highly desirable.

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, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Additional Information:

This position will be located at Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN

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

$66,000 - $171,600

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.

#WeAreLilly

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Immunology
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 458 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 61 biopharma companies.

458Comparable roles tracked
443Currently active
61Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

175 of 458 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 $66,000/yr – $171,600/yr
Highest disclosed · AVP/ Head, Quantitative Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics - Oncology · Merck $282,200/yr – $444,200/yr
Peer group range $0 – $363,200 (median $180,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 458 comparable roles

United States347
United Kingdom16
India15
Canada12
Germany10
Switzerland10

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

365 of 458 peers have a known seniority level

Senior104
Principal80
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc64
Director39
Associate24
Associate Director23
Senior Director15
Manager8
Executive/VP8

Therapeutic area mix

59 of 458 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology25
Immunology10
Neuroscience7
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Respiratory3
Rare Disease3
Gastroenterology1
Ophthalmology1

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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.

80%similar
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80%similar
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80%similar
Merck San Diego, California, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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80%similar
Merck Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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80%similar
Merck San Diego, California, United States of America Principal
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Merck San Diego, California, United States of America Executive/VP
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

80%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Merck · Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Roche · Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland · Principal
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.