Associate Director, Category Management - Commercial Procurement (United States - California - Foster City)

This job is with Gilead Sciences Inc., an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.

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.

The Associate Director, Category Management - Commercial Procurement will develop and execute strategies for global category areas encompassing Commercial & External Affairs Services to lower total cost of ownership, increase overall value, identify business demand requirements, and delivering the Procurement value proposition across a broad portfolio of Procurement categories and programs.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:  

• Develop and continuously refresh category strategies for Commercial Services & External Affairs (including but not limited to creative & medical communication agencies, global value & access, digital marketing tech, data analytics and market research) to deliver value by speed, quality, risk, savings and innovation by identifying opportunity areas such as standardization and supplier consolidation. 

• Establish and execute stakeholder engagement and governance plans for Commercial & External Affairs functions you support across Commercial, Public Affairs, and Medical Affairs organizations; define annual business partnering objectives, intake/prioritization, initiatives, and success metrics tied to business outcomes. 

• Proactively identify initiatives and proposals that create outsized value (e.g. demand shaping, operating model improvements, supplier strategy shifts, preferred partner governance, rate/ROD optimization, content production efficiency, etc.) and drive implementation with stakeholders with clear business cases and decision asks. 

• Oversee the category intake and triage model, spend activity, purchase requests for assigned Commercial Services category areas, and determine the proper engagement path and action plan for all purchases that meet the procurement involvement threshold. 

• Lead category innovation and new ways of working by identifying external trends (agency models, media/data privacy changes, AI-enabled content workflows, measurement evolution) and translating them into pilots, playbooks, and scalable process improvements. 

• Collaborate and engage across functions/regions to identify requirements and projected demand in alignment with business priorities and engage in strategic planning, target setting and action planning to deliver meaningful business impact. 

• Consult with cross functional teams to execute strategic sourcing projects for assigned categories. 

• Partner with internal senior leadership to define clear supplier objectives which meet Gilead's business needs; including quality, reliability, innovation and cost. 

• Develop & drive procurement impact and value delivery through strategic initiatives while monitoring key performance metrics, status on deliverables and Dashboards. 

• Collaborate with Procurement functions and business groups to ensure that all spend above established thresholds are managed strategically 

• Collaborate with Supplier Risk, Inclusion, and Sustainability functions to create a standard and repeatable process to integrate business diversity and responsible procurement into an overall value proposition. 

• Drive use of sourcing and procurement best practices and standardization of processes while minimizing supply risk 

• Own market intelligence and trend sensing for Commercial & External Affairs and translate it into prioritized improvement initiatives (e.g. demand shaping, supplier strategy shifts, process changes, innovation/tech use cases) with clear recommendations to stakeholders. 

• Combine all spend information into yearly plans and long term forecasts for costs, savings targets, and planned projects 

• Execute initiatives to classify suppliers and manage supplier relationships according to defined supplier relationship management standards. 

Minimum Required Education and Years of Experience

• Bachelor's Degree and Ten Years' Experience OR

• Masters' Degree and Eight Years' Experience OR

• PhD and Two Years' Experience

Knowledge, Experience and Preferred Requirements:

• 10+ years professional work experience plus a BS/BA or 8+ years professional work experience plus a MA/MS or MBA in a corporate environment, preferably in the areas of business partnering, procurement, commercial and external affairs, strategy & operations, business development, supplier management, or corporate strategy. 

• Demonstrated experience partnering with Commercial, Public Affairs/External Affairs, and/or Medical Affairs communications/marketing organizations, including familiarity with agency ecosystems (e.g. creative, media, market research, production) and how those functions measure success. 

• Experience supporting Global Procurement transformation projects working directly with business partners to execute on defined scope, budget and transformation results. 

• Proven track record of applying procurement principles, concepts, best practices, and standards along with an in-depth knowledge of industry practices required. 

• Ability to develop category, sourcing, and business partner or stakeholder strategies by identifying opportunity areas, with a proven record of effectively directing and leveraging procurement spend in assigned category areas by leading global cross functional teams. 

• Experience managing and maintaining strong supplier relationships. 

• Strong leadership presence and negotiation/contract management experience 

• Extensive knowledge and experience with procurement/spend systems data and analysis to drive decision making. 

• Experience working with and leading multiple projects and teams simultaneously across a matrixed organization. 

• Meets Gilead's leadership commitments with demonstrated experience in applying these principles 

Gilead Core Values:  

• Integrity (Doing What's Right) 

• Inclusion (Encouraging Diversity) 

• Teamwork (Working Together)

• Excellence (Being Your Best)

• Accountability (Taking Personal Responsibility) 

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.

As an equal opportunity employer, Gilead Sciences Inc. is committed to a diverse workforce. In order to en]]> <