Executive Director, Global Procurement – Commercial Category Strategy
Gilead Sciences
Summary
As an Executive Director, Global Procurement – Commercial Category Strategy, at Gilead you will lead the vision, strategy, and execution of Gilead’s global Commercial Procurement organization. This highly visible enterprise leadership role is responsible for shaping procurement strategies across critical commercial categories, enabling business growth, driving innovation, managing risk, and maximizing value from strategic supplier partnerships worldwide. Based at our global headquarters in Foster City, California, you will serve as a trusted executive advisor to senior leaders across Commercial, Finance, Legal, and Operations while leading a global team responsible for procurement excellence, category management, supplier performance, and business transformation initiatives.
Job description
Strategic Procurement Leadership
- Define and execute a long-term global Commercial Procurement strategy aligned with Gilead's enterprise objectives, growth priorities, and evolving market needs.
- Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership, providing market intelligence, competitive insights, and strategic recommendations that influence business decisions.
- Drive alignment between Procurement and Commercial functions to ensure consistent governance, prioritization, and value delivery globally.
Enterprise Value Creation & Business Transformation
- Lead initiatives that deliver measurable enterprise value through innovation, supply continuity, process optimization, risk mitigation, and commercial effectiveness.
- Champion procurement transformation programs, technology adoption, and operating model enhancements that improve organizational scalability and performance.
- Establish strategic priorities and investment roadmaps that position Procurement as a critical business partner across the enterprise.
Global Supplier & External Partnership Strategy
- Develop executive-level relationships with strategic suppliers, industry partners, and external stakeholders to advance innovation and business outcomes.
- Oversee complex negotiations, high-value agreements, and strategic partnerships across critical commercial categories.
- Drive supplier performance, continuous improvement, and responsible sourcing practices while promoting sustainability, quality, and long-term value creation.
Organizational Leadership & Talent Development
- Build and lead a high-performing global procurement organization through effective talent development, succession planning, coaching, and leadership excellence.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
- Influence and align cross-functional teams across regions to ensure successful execution of enterprise priorities.
Governance, Risk Management & Operational Excellence
- Establish executive governance frameworks, performance metrics, and reporting mechanisms to monitor strategic outcomes and organizational effectiveness.
- Provide executive-level visibility into business performance, financial impact, supplier risks, and transformational initiatives.
- Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk Management, Inclusion, and Sustainability stakeholders to ensure responsible and compliant procurement practices globally.
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.
Requirements
- Bachelor's Degree and 16+ years of relevant experience OR Master's Degree and 14+ years of relevant experience
- MBA, Master's degree, or equivalent advanced business education
- Extensive experience leading global procurement organizations within biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, or similarly complex industries
- Deep expertise in Commercial Procurement, strategic sourcing, category management, marketing services, media, agency management, and supplier relationship management
- Proven success leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives and operating model evolution
- Exceptional executive presence with demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive strategic decision-making
- Strong commercial acumen with ability to translate market intelligence, supplier insights, and analytics into business outcomes
- Demonstrated success delivering innovation, risk mitigation, supplier performance improvement, and business value beyond cost savings
- Experience leveraging procurement technologies and analytics platforms including SAP, Ariba, Tableau, and related enterprise systems
- Strong negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills in complex global environments
- Experience integrating sustainability, supplier diversity, governance, and responsible sourcing principles into procurement strategies
Benefits
- Medical, Dental & Vision
- Life Insurance
- Paid Time Off
- Annual Bonus
- Stock-based Long-term Incentives
Company overview
Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a leading American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that specializes in researching, developing, and commercializing innovative medicines for life-threatening diseases. Founded in 1987, Gilead has grown into a global healthcare leader with approximately 17,600 employees worldwide. The company's primary therapeutic focus areas include HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C), oncology, inflammation, and respiratory diseases. Gilead is renowned for its groundbreaking antiviral therapies, including Sovaldi and Harvoni for hepatitis C, and its comprehensive portfolio of HIV treatments such as Truvada, Atripla, and Biktarvy. The company also developed Veklury (remdesivir) for COVID-19 treatment. Gilead operates as a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ (GILD) and is a component of both the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 100 indices. Through strategic acquisitions like Kite Pharma and Immunomedics, Gilead has expanded into cell therapy and oncology, demonstrating its commitment to advancing medical science and improving patient outcomes globally.