Senior Director, Medical Affairs Technology Lead - Content Strategy (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.

At Gilead our pursuit of a healthier world for all people has yielded a cure for hepatitis C, revolutionary improvements in HIV treatment and prevention as well as advancements in therapies for viral and inflammatory diseases and certain cancers. 

We set and achieve bold ambitions in our fight against the world's most devastating diseases, united in our commitment to confronting the largest public health challenges of our day and improving the lives of patients for generations to come.

This is a significant leadership opportunity focused on building a team and establishing a new Medical Affairs capability. This leader will define and advance the strategic vision across content management, evidence generation, publications, and medical information technology. In close partnership with Scientific Communications and Medical Affairs Research leadership and key stakeholders across these domains, you will connect platforms and business processes into a cohesive global capability that supports Medical Affairs.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Medical Affairs Technology, you will lead a team of four direct reports, each serving as a Technology Product Lead. In this role, you will shape the team's culture, define its operating model, and establish it as a trusted technology partner to Scientific Communications, Medical Information, Publications, Medical Affairs Research and Medical Content Strategy.

Success in this role requires a distinctive combination of strategic thinking, operational discipline, executive presence, and people leadership. You should be equally adept at presenting a platform investment case to senior Medical Affairs leadership and partnering closely with your team to address complex vendor delivery challenges.

What You'll Do

Build and Lead a New Technology Team

• Establish the Content Strategy Technology team as a unified function, defining its identity, operating model, and culture from the outset

• Recruit and onboard open roles, building a high-performing team of Technology Product Leads responsible for the full Content Strategy Technology portfolio

• Develop, mentor, and lead the team with clear expectations and accountability, creating well-defined role boundaries and career development pathways that support retention and growth

• Foster a team culture grounded in collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring each team member has the context and support needed to operate with confidence and independence

Lead the Content Strategy Technology Strategy

• Define and maintain the multi-year technology roadmap spanning content management, evidence generation, publications, and medical information platforms, sequencing initiatives based on strategic value, technical feasibility, and organizational readiness

• Integrate platforms, workflows, and stakeholder needs into a unified capability ecosystem, ensuring the technology landscape operates as a coordinated whole rather than a collection of disconnected tools

• Translate Medical Affairs strategic priorities into technology investment decisions, providing clear recommendations on where to build, buy, partner, or retire capabilities

• Continuously assess emerging technologies, particularly AI-enabled content creation, automated review workflows, and intelligent scientific communications tools, and provide evidence-based recommendations on adoption

Partner with Medical Affairs Stakeholders

• Serve as the primary technology advisor to Scientific Communications, Medical Information, Publications, Medical Affairs Research and Medical Content Strategy, developing a deep understanding of their workflows, challenges, and strategic priorities

• Represent the Content Strategy Technology domain to Medical Affairs leadership and cross-functional partners, including IT, Legal, Medical Governance, and Compliance

• Translate complex business requirements into scalable, compliant technology solutions that balance platform performance, data integrity, regulatory requirements, and user experience

• Lead user adoption, training, and change management across a global user base, ensuring technology investments deliver measurable workflow improvements and stakeholder value

Lead Vendor Strategy and Partnership Management

• Lead strategic vendor relationships across the Content Strategy Technology platform portfolio, serving as the senior point of accountability for vendor performance, roadmap alignment, and contract governance

• Hold vendors accountable to service levels, delivery timelines, and quality standards while fostering partnerships that support innovation and mutual value

• Proactively identify and evaluate new technology partnerships as the AI and content automation landscape evolves, ensuring Medical Affairs Technology remains ahead of industry trends

• Establish repeatable, transparent, and defensible frameworks for vendor selection and evaluation at the Medical Affairs leadership level

What You Bring

Basic Qualifications

• Master's degree + 12 years of experience OR Bachelor's degree + 14 years of experience in pharmaceutical or life sciences technology, product management, or related fields

• 5+ years of people management experience leading technology, platform, or product teams

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced degree preferred

• Deep understanding of Medical Affairs functions including Investigator Sponsored Research (ISR), publications management, medical information, and scientific communications workflows

• Experience with enterprise content management platforms in pharma, including document management, review and approval workflows, and publication planning systems

• Track record of building new teams or capabilities from scratch in a matrixed, global organization - comfortable with ambiguity and energized by creating structure where none exists

• Executive presence with the ability to influence and align senior Medical Affairs leadership and cross functional stakeholders without relying on positional authority

• Strategic thinking that connects business needs to technology decisions and investment priorities, with a bias toward action and measurable outcomes

• Operational rigor and a disciplined approach to governance, accountability, process standards, and delivery management

• Empathy and genuine team care - builds inclusive, high performing cultures where people feel supported, challenged, and empowered to grow

• Strong change management skills with a proven ability to drive technology adoption across diverse, global user populations in regulated environments

• Experience managing complex, multi vendor technology portfolios with demonstrated ability to hold partners accountable while fostering strategic innovation

• Ability to evaluate and integrate emerging AI capabilities into existing platform ecosystems, with a practical understanding of what AI can and cannot do in a regulated pharma context

Location

This is an onsite based role in Foster City, CA at our global headquarters, or Parsippany, NJ, with an expectation of being in office at least 3 days per week.

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, ]]>