Senior Director, Medical Excellence Strategic Programs

At Gilead, we’re creating a healthier world for all people. For more than 35 years, we’ve tackled diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19 and cancer – working relentlessly to develop therapies that help improve lives and to ensure access to these therapies across the globe. We continue to fight against the world’s biggest health challenges, and our mission requires collaboration, determination and a relentless drive to make a difference.
 

Every member of Gilead’s team plays a critical role in the discovery and development of life-changing scientific innovations. Our employees are our greatest asset as we work to achieve our bold ambitions, and we’re looking for the next wave of passionate and ambitious people ready to make a direct impact.
 

We believe every employee deserves a great leader. People Leaders are the cornerstone to the employee experience at Gilead and Kite. As a people leader now or in the future, you are the key driver in evolving our culture and creating an environment where every employee feels included, developed and empowered to fulfil their aspirations. Join Gilead and help create possible, together.

Job Description
 

Gilead's mission is to discover, develop, and deliver therapies that will improve the lives of patients with life-threatening illnesses worldwide.

The Senior Director, Medical Excellence Strategic Programs is a senior leader within the Global Medical Excellence Team, part of Gilead’s Global Medical Strategy and Operations organization. This role is responsible for driving capability development, process excellence and strategic alignment across Gilead’s Medical Affairs organization, globally.

The Senior Director will partner across therapeutic areas, regions, and functions to design, implement, and continuously improve frameworks and tools that enable Medical Affairs teams to deliver measurable scientific and operational excellence consistently.

The scope of this role will evolve to continuously advance Medical Affairs capabilities, with an initial focus on strengthening Gilead Medical Affairs Engagement Strategy, helping teams translate strategic objectives into actionable, measurable, and compliant engagement plans. This includes enabling effective use of all available medical channels (Field Medical, Medical Information, and Digital/Omnichannel platforms).

This is a strategic enablement role, focused on improving how Medical Affairs operates, collaborates, and demonstrates value globally.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Medical Excellence Leadership

• Partner with the Medical Excellence Leadership team to define and execute the global Medical Excellence strategy.
• Lead initiatives that elevate consistency, quality, and impact of medical engagement planning, execution, and measurement.
• Drive continuous improvement of Medical Affairs processes, tools, and operating models.
• Collaborate with other GMSO teams including Digital, Insights and Analytics, Scientific Communications and Content Strategy, and Medical Affairs Technology to build programs that leverage the connection across capabilities.
• Partner with Regional Medical Excellence to ensure consistent deployment and execution across the regional teams.

2. Worldwide Engagement Strategy Enablement

• Develop and deploy frameworks, tools, and support that help local and regional medical teams translate global medical strategy into effective engagement plans.
• Define standard methodologies, templates, and tools that optimize planning, execution, and measurement across all engagement channels (Field Medical, Medical Information, Digital, etc.).
• Collaborate with Channel Leads (digital, personal, and print) to establish clear principles for channel selection, integration, and sequencing, ensuring the right interaction at the right time for the right stakeholder.
• Support country and regional teams in operationalizing omnichannel approaches that align with scientific and compliance standards.

3. Process & Capability Development

• Identify and improve cross-functional Medical Affairs processes that enhance agility, effectiveness, and alignment.
• Lead projects to simplify workflows, clarify decision ownership, and reduce duplication across global, regional, and local teams.
• Partner with Learning & Development to design capability-building programs (training, toolkits, playbooks) that embed best practices.
• Drive continuous improvement through feedback loops, metrics, and lessons learned from across the organization.

4. Collaboration & Change Leadership

• Partner closely with cross-functional leaders in Field Medical, Strategy and Operations, Medical Governance and Compliance to ensure process alignment and scalability.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to global and regional medical leadership teams to drive adoption of best practices.
• Lead global working groups and communities of practice that foster peer learning and consistency.
• Act as a change leader, influencing, communicating, and embedding a culture of excellence across the global Medical Affairs network.

5. Measurement & Impact

• Define and monitor key success metrics for Medical Excellence initiatives and engagement effectiveness.
• Partner with analytics teams to design dashboards and scorecards that enable data-driven decision making.
• Ensure that process improvements translate into measurable enhancements in scientific engagement, compliance, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Qualifications:

• 12+ years of relevant experience with an Advanced degree (MS, MBA, PharmD, PhD or equivalent) in a scientific or business discipline or 14+ years with a bachelor's degree.
• 10+ years of experience in Medical Affairs, preferably with global or regional leadership role.
• Demonstrated success in Medical Excellence, process optimization, capability building, or strategic operations.
• Proven track record leading cross-functional initiatives that improve effectiveness and alignment.
• Experience supporting engagement strategy or omnichannel medical planning strongly preferred.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical mindset and familiarity with metrics-driven performance improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed, global organization.

Personal Attributes:

• Strategic systems thinker, able to connect process design to business impact.
• Collaborative and credible partner who influences without authority.
• Change-oriented leader who inspires confidence and adoption.
• Comfortable operating at both conceptual and tactical levels.
• Passionate about advancing scientific engagement and improving patient outcomes.

Impact of the Role:

This position will help ensure that Medical Affairs operates as a strategic, insights-driven, and impact-focused function, fully aligned with Gilead’s vision of transforming care for people with life-threatening diseases worldwide.

By embedding consistent frameworks, capabilities, and engagement excellence, this leader will help global and local teams work smarter, faster, and more cohesively, ultimately amplifying Gilead’s scientific voice and medical impact.

People Leader Accountabilities:

•Create Inclusion - knowing the business value of diverse teams, modeling inclusion, and embedding the value of diversity in the

way they manage their teams.

•Develop Talent - understand the skills, experience, aspirations and potential of their employees and coach them on current

performance and future potential. They ensure employees are receiving the feedback and insight needed to grow, develop and

realize their purpose.

•Empower Teams - connect the team to the organization by aligning goals, purpose, and organizational objectives, and holding

them to account. They provide the support needed to remove barriers and connect their team to the broader ecosystem.

 

The salary range for this position is: $281,010.00 - $363,660.00. Gilead considers a variety of factors when determining base compensation, including experience, qualifications, and geographic location. These considerations mean actual compensation will vary. This position may also be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role), paid time off, and a benefits package. Benefits include company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans*.

For additional benefits information, visit:

https://www.gilead.com/careers/compensation-benefits-and-wellbeing

* Eligible employees may participate in benefit plans, subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.