Senior Director, Medical Excellence Strategic Programs

Role Summary

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 scope includes partnering 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. Initial focus includes strengthening the Medical Affairs Engagement Strategy and enabling effective use of all medical channels (Field Medical, Medical Information, and Digital/Omnichannel platforms).

Responsibilities

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.