Eli Lilly

Postdoctoral Fellow - Agentic AI Solutions and SciML

Eli Lilly • $58K — $123K *
Indianapolis, IN 46227In-Person
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • PhD in Computational/Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, Engineering, or a related field with up to 5 years experience.
  • Proficiency in programming languages like Python or R; familiarity with data science libraries (NumPy, pandas, etc.).
  • Strategic thinker capable of converting complex scientific/business needs into practical AI solutions.
  • Strong communication skills for relaying technical concepts to diverse audiences.
  • Experience in developing and deploying AI/ML solutions, especially in a regulated environment (preferred).

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with DDCS business functions to identify and prioritize high-value opportunities for AI and machine learning.
  • Translate stakeholder needs into actionable AI tools and technical delivery plans.
  • Develop integrated AI applications and workflows for improved decision-making and automation.
  • Create systems for reliable execution of long-running tasks using AI agents.
  • Build knowledge extraction systems for diverse technical documentation and manage outputs carefully.
  • Contribute to data strategy by assessing reusable patterns and supporting scalable digital transformation solutions.
  • Facilitate cross-functional collaboration, translating analytical findings into impactful narratives.

Benefits

  • Participation in a company-sponsored 401(k) and pension plan.
  • Generous vacation and leave benefits.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
  • Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care.
  • Access to wellness benefits, including employee assistance programs and fitness activities.
Full Job Description
Position Overview:

The Postdoctoral Fellow, Agentic AI Solutions and SciML will partner with DDCS business functions to help translate machine learning, statistics, scientific computing, and AI concepts into practical tools that improve speed, productivity, and impact across the organization. Operating within the Digital Transformation and Data Science team, this role will assist in the design, build, and deployment of AI-enabled workflows, agentic scientific systems, knowledge extraction tools, and scientific ML capabilities into actionable decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

AI Solutions Engineering & Practical Tool Delivery
  • Partner with business functions across DDCS to identify, prioritize, and scope high-value opportunities where AI, machine learning, and automation can improve speed, productivity, insight generation, and decision quality.
  • Translate stakeholder needs into practical AI tools, technical designs, acceptance criteria, and delivery plans that fit real scientific, engineering, and operational workflows.
  • Develop AI-enabled applications, services, and workflows that integrate models, data sources, document collections, and user-facing interfaces for decision support and workflow automation.

Agentic Scientific AI Systems & Knowledge Extraction
  • Create reusable scientific agent skills, task harnesses, validators, run ledgers, and reproducibility controls that allow AI agents to execute diverse, long-running tasks reliably.
  • Build agentic knowledge extraction and question-answering systems for structured and unstructured technical content, including PDFs, Word documents, handwritten notes, design histories, experimental records, and regulatory-relevant evidence.
  • Design evaluation, monitoring, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop escalation patterns so agentic outputs are auditable, traceable, and appropriate for high-consequence technical decisions.
  • Apply knowledge graphs, data ontologies, and structured knowledge representation where they improve retrieval, traceability, and reuse.


Data Strategy, Decision Support & Workflow Transformation
  • Contribute to DDCS data and AI strategy by identifying reusable patterns, data needs, platform capabilities, and solution architectures that support digital transformation at scale.
  • Turn information from experiments, simulations, development documents, and business processes into faster insights, stronger judgment, and improved ways of working across innovation and commercialization efforts.
  • Communicate model predictions, evidence, assumptions, limitations, uncertainty, and recommended actions through clear visualizations, decision-support outputs, and quantitative business cases that influence solution adoption, workflow redesign, platform investments, and portfolio priorities.


Reliability, Validation, MLOps & Responsible AI
  • Champion software engineering best practices including version control, automated testing, CI/CD, containers, documentation, reproducibility, observability, and fit-for-purpose MLOps/agent-ops practices.
  • Develop validation, monitoring, documentation, and model-risk approaches aligned with intended use, responsible AI principles, GxP awareness, and regulatory expectations where applicable.
  • Leverage cloud infrastructure (and HPC/GPU resources where needed) to develop, test, deploy, and scale agentic workflows, document intelligence systems, and analytics applications.


Cross-Functional Collaboration & Scientific Translation
  • Partner across the DDCS matrix with drug delivery scientists, device engineers, formulation scientists, data scientists, AI application engineers, quality, clinical, regulatory, and business stakeholders.
  • Identify and prioritize high-impact opportunities where AI solutions, scientific ML, agentic workflows, or knowledge extraction can reduce development time, improve productivity, or mitigate technical and business risks.
  • Translate complex analytical and AI findings into clear narratives and quantitative business cases that influence solution adoption, workflow redesign, platform investments, and portfolio priorities.


Capability Building, External Leadership & Mentorship
  • Advance the DDCS technology roadmap for practical AI tools, document intelligence, agentic workflows, and reusable knowledge systems.
  • Share methods, reference patterns, and lessons learned that help DDCS embed data and AI into everyday work across scientific and business functions.
  • Mentor team members and partners on reliable agentic systems, responsible AI, and rigorous communication of model assumptions, uncertainty, and decision impact.
  • Stay current with the fast-moving agentic AI and LLM landscape and bring new tools, frameworks, and techniques into DDCS's practice where they add real value.

Basic Qualifications
  • Earned PhD with up to 5 years of experience in Computational/Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent experience)
  • Applied technical work building AI or machine learning solutions in a programming language such as Python/R, with working knowledge of the ecosystem (NumPy, pandas, PyTorch, scikit-learn, or related).
  • Strategic thinking, problem framing, and translating ambiguous business or scientific needs into tractable AI, modeling, or computational workflows.
  • Demonstrated ability to frame ambiguous business or scientific needs as tractable AI, modeling, or computational workflows.
  • Skill in communicating technical recommendations with clearly stated assumptions, uncertainty, and limitations, to scientific, engineering, and business audiences.


Additional Preferences:
  • Experience applying AI/ML to healthcare, pharmaceutical, or life-sciences problems (prior biology or life-sciences background not required).
  • Strong SQL and relational data modeling, with comfort turning large, messy, unstructured, or incomplete data into reliable, decision-ready output.
  • Experience with cloud platforms and solid engineering practice: Git, containers, CI/CD, and experiment or run tracking. Comfort with GPU and HPC environments is a plus.
  • Experience with knowledge graphs, ontologies, or structured knowledge representation for technical content.
  • Evidence of contribution to significant work, ideally through publications at relevant ML/AI/NLP venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP) or comparable open-source or applied contributions.
  • Fluency with agent frameworks and orchestration (LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, or equivalent) and the primitives underneath them: planner/executor splits, hand-offs, escalation logic, and state management across multi-step or multi-session workflows. Knowing why they fail, not just how to call them.
  • End-to-end RAG design over messy technical documents: parsing and layout extraction from PDFs, scans, and tables; chunking strategy; hybrid search; reranking; embedding models; and vector stores (pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate, or similar).
  • LLM engineering judgment: context design, tool/function calling (MCP or comparable standards), structured output design at scale, and knowing when to fine-tune versus retrieve versus prompt.
  • Evals engineering: golden datasets and benchmarks, automated regression suites, and failure-mode tracking. Evidence of a trustworthy agent to deploy.
  • LLMOps in production, treating cost, latency, and reliability as engineering constraints with the monitoring to match.
  • Guardrail and safety design for autonomous systems: approval gates, rollback logic, hallucination and drift detection, and model-risk thinking for high-consequence decisions.


Actual compensation will depend on a candidate's education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is
$58,000 - $123,200

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

About Eli Lilly

ICOS Corporation is a biotechnology company that engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic products. It is engaged in the commercialization of treatments for unmet medical conditions, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, pulmonary arterial hypertension, cancer, and inflammatory diseases. It is the developer of a treatment known as Cialis (tadalafil), a product for the treatment of erectile dysfunction through its joint venture with Eli Lilly and Company in North America and Europe. It is also engaged in contract manufacturing services for third parties. It is in a strategic alliance with Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ICOS Corporation was established in 1989, based in Bothell, Washington. It is currently operated by Eli Lilly and Company.

Eli Lilly Careers

Joining Eli Lilly offers an unparalleled opportunity to become part of a leading global team dedicated to creating a healthier future. As a company revered for its commitment to innovation and leadership in the pharmaceutical industry, Eli Lilly is where your professional journey can flourish. Work You’ll Do At Eli Lilly, we are passionate about transforming patient care and advancing medical innovation. Our team at Eli Lilly is at the forefront of developing groundbreaking solutions in healthcare. By joining us, you will collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, using cutting-edge technology to make real-world impacts. Lead with Innovation and Leadership Eli Lilly stands out in the marketplace by integrating deep industry expertise with robust research and development efforts. We are looking for professionals who are eager to drive change and lead the way in developing therapeutic breakthroughs. Explore Job Opportunities and Growth Eli Lilly offers a variety of career paths, including full-time positions and internships, across multiple functions such as research, marketing, IT, and sales. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a recent graduate, Eli Lilly provides an environment that promotes career growth and learning opportunities. Our commitment to diversity and leadership training ensures that every employee can achieve their potential. Be Part of Our Team Our team at Eli Lilly is committed to excellence and driven by a mission to improve lives. Employees enjoy a supportive culture that values collaboration, creativity, and diversity. We believe that a diverse workforce fosters innovation and helps us better connect with the communities we serve. Benefits and Culture Eli Lilly is dedicated to supporting our employees, offering competitive benefits, wellness programs, and comprehensive health care. Our culture is built on a foundation of respect, integrity, and quality, making Eli Lilly not just a great place to work, but a community to grow with. Networking and Professional Development Eli Lilly encourages continuous professional development and networking. With access to various training programs and mentorship opportunities, employees can enhance their skills and advance their careers. Our leadership is committed to nurturing talent through effective training and development strategies. Join Our Team Discover the exciting job opportunities at Eli Lilly by exploring open positions that match your skills and interests. We are continuously hiring and looking for individuals who are passionate, innovative, and ready to contribute to our mission of making life better for people around the globe. Stay Connected Keep up to date with the latest at Eli Lilly by following our careers blog. Gain insights from industry leaders and get tips on everything from crafting the perfect resume to preparing for your interview. Eli Lilly is not just a company—it's a place where you can make a difference. Explore the positions available and find out how your talents can help change the world. SEARCH ELI LILLY JOBS Stay ahead in your career with Eli Lilly, where innovation, leadership, and a commitment to diversity and growth lead the way to future advancements.
Learn more about Eli Lilly
Size
35,000 employees
Market Cap
$344.2 billion
Industry
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Net Income
$6.1 billion
Founded
1876
5 Year Trend
+5.9%
Revenue
$24.5 billion
NASDAQ
LLY
* Ladders Estimates

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