Career in Research & Development

You will contribute to delivering meaningful innovation to our customers, solving problems that they face every day.

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Why A Career in R&D?

Elanco’s strategy is simple: Innovation, Portfolio, and Productivity with a deep focus on the customers' needs. In a role in R&D, you touch all parts of our corporate strategy. In fact, you’ll see us use the terms “R&D” and “innovation” interchangeably.

There is a wide range of career opportunities at our seven core R&D facilities worldwide, including very early stages of ideation, discovery and all the way to the product approval process. Our portfolio spans six core species and is balanced across farm animal and pet health products. R&D teams also work on multiple types of delivery mechanisms and cutting-edge technologies.

The organization is focused on delivering consistent, high impact innovation that is streamlined and optimized to deliver a focused pipeline. We have a mix of internal and external innovation, allowing us to be a partner of choice in a dynamic industry. 

People are at the core of what we do in R&D. Individuals are encouraged to have regular career development conversations with their managers who have tools and training in this space. We understand that teams that are diverse, equitable and inclusive have better working environments and outcomes. Our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are supported at a corporate level through not only policies and procedures but also through our employee resource groups (ERGs) which create communities for sharing, learning, and supporting one another. Inclusion is one of our key promises to employees.

Apply to R&D JobsWhat We Offer

Facilities

Seven study and laboratory centers of excellence around the world.

Benefits

Our benefits ensure that you are fully supported inside and outside of work.

Products

Elanco’s portfolio includes 200 products for farm animals and pets.

The Work That We Do In R&D. A Small Sampling!

Hear From Our Research Scientists, Veterinarians, Regulatory Advisors and More

Robert Neugebauer

Sr. Director, Biopharma Tech Dev

"I’m responsible for cell line development, upstream, downstream, formulation, and analytical development groups. I really enjoy the ownership that Elanco entrusts to its employees – teams can shape how to best go about projects and initiatives. Elanco is one of the larger companies in the animal health industry, but we preserved a "start-up mentality": most people will step up from their job description and get stuff done, we are helping each other and there is a purpose in what we do."

Virginia Brandao

Research Scientist, Product Development

"My primary responsibilities involve creating, designing, and implementing clinical studies to assess Target Animal Safety and the Effectiveness of new products for farm animals. These studies generate crucial data to get new products approved by regulatory agencies. The best part of my work is interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise and the continuing learning experiences that come with working on projects across multiple technical teams."

Mark Crawford

Advisor, Product Development

"I help develop the commercial manufacturing processes and control strategies for Elanco’s monoclonal antibody molecules. These processes are designed by networking across several departments from discovery, cell line development, cell culture development, formulation, analytical and manufacturing. I also lead product and process transfers globally ensuring that the processes developed are manufacturable and fit within various facilities."

Look For An Opportunity With Us

Portrait of Ellen De Brabander
A career in R&D means being able to use your technical and scientific expertise to directly contribute to new innovations that will benefit animals and their owners. You will have the opportunity to work on collaborative, diverse and inclusive teams to shape Elanco’s future success.

Ellen De Brabander, EVP Innovation, Regulatory & Business Development

Elanco R&D Scholars Programs


The Elanco Scholars Program, funded by Elanco R&D, is a growing external talent development program that encompasses our R&D interns, graduate fellows, and post docs. We partner with key Universities and professional societies in order to attract top talent to these programs. The purpose of these programs is to give candidates exposure to the exciting opportunities at Elanco and in animal health careers.

R&D Internship Program

Our interns within R&D spend 12 weeks exploring what it is like to have a career at Elanco. Our internship projects make tangible contributions to our R&D portfolio and are as diverse as our intern candidates. From day one, our interns are treated as Elanco employees, going through an onboarding process that prepares them to have a productive summer within their teams. Our R&D interns come from all different backgrounds and are undergraduate or graduate-level students. We continue to get positive feedback from our interns on how much they are able to learn in one summer, the networking opportunities it provides them, as well as long-lasting friendships and professional connections.

Students & Graduates

Animal Health Fellowship

As a new program, we are establishing Elanco R&D’s Animal Health Fellowships with partner universities. These fellowships will fund the graduate training of students, growing the number of graduate students being trained in specific areas of study. The purpose of this program is multi-fold: support areas of external research that are vital to our animal health solutions, increase access of graduate level training to diverse populations of students, and establish and grow Elanco R&D as an employer of choice for early and diverse talent. Our founding University partnership for the Elanco Animal Health Fellowships were Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine Biomedical Sciences Program and Cornell University Dept. of Animal Science, both established in 2023.

Post Doctoral Scientists

Occasionally our R&D teams determine that we need to bring in additional expertise or perspectives to focus on a specifically scoped project in order to advance a particular area of our R&D portfolio. When that is the case, we will post specific post doctoral scientist roles. These scientists will operate under the mentorship of their supervisor, often solving key scientific questions relevant to move our internal projects ahead. Many of our post docs have also gone on to become fulltime Elanco employees at the completion of their projects.

You Might Be Interested In

Seize the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in animal health. Join Elanco and help us in shaping a healthier, more sustainable future.

How to Join

Our people’s desire to make a difference challenges the status quo and drives innovation. Become a part of it!

Benefits

See our benefits and how we encourage you to grow and pursue different opportunities in your career with Elanco.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Join our purpose-driven and diverse workforce. At Elanco, you can make a difference.


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