Sr Director, Corporate Strategy & Projects
Gilead Sciences
Summary
Reporting to the VP, Corporate Strategy & Projects, the Senior Director serves as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership, helping shape enterprise strategy, influencing critical decisions, and leading initiatives that drive long-term value creation. This leader identifies, frames, and advances the company's most important strategic decisions, translating long-term ambition into actionable priorities and measurable outcomes. The Senior Director builds alignment across senior leaders, influences enterprise decision-making, and drives complex initiatives requiring executive sponsorship and broad organizational engagement. Success in this role requires building trusted partnerships across the enterprise. Team members are expected to have exceptional strategic judgment, executive presence, influence, and the ability to connect perspectives across functions to drive enterprise outcomes.
Job description
Responsibilities
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the VP and senior leaders on high-priority enterprise issues.
- Lead development of strategic frameworks, recommendations, and perspectives on the company's most critical business challenges.
- Lead major components of corporate strategy development, enterprise planning, and scenario planning.
- Assess external trends, strategic risks, and long-term growth opportunities to help shape enterprise priorities and strategic direction.
- Own and independently lead complex enterprise initiatives sponsored by executive leadership.
- Establish governance structures and operating mechanisms that enable effective execution and decision-making.
- Drive enterprise outcomes by aligning stakeholders, resolving competing priorities, and ensuring delivery against strategic objectives.
- Align leaders across functions around enterprise priorities and strategic decisions.
- Lead cross-functional problem solving and influence decisions in highly matrixed environments.
- Foster enterprise-first thinking, collaboration, and high-quality decision-making.
- Lead development of strategic recommendations and executive communications for senior leadership and the Board.
- Shape Board and GLT discussions through strategic insights, recommendations, and facilitation of workshops, strategy sessions, and other key forums.
- Serve as a trusted advisor on enterprise strategic matters.
- Contribute to a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Mentor and coach junior team members and rotational talent.
- Foster an enterprise mindset and strategic leadership capabilities across the organization.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree and 14+ years of relevant experience; or Master's degree, MBA, PhD, or MD and 12+ years of relevant experience.
- Significant experience in corporate strategy, management consulting, corporate development, business operations, finance, or related fields.
- Strong understanding of Gilead's portfolio, business model, and strategic context.
- Deep biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, or life sciences expertise.
- Demonstrated success influencing enterprise-level strategic decisions.
- Proven experience leading large-scale cross-functional strategic initiatives.
- Experience developing corporate or enterprise strategy.
- Experience partnering directly with executive leadership and supporting Board-level discussions.
- Strong systems-thinking orientation and enterprise mindset.
- Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with executional pragmatism.
- Executive presence and confidence challenging assumptions constructively.
- Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and influence skills.
- Expertise in executive storytelling and strategic communications.
- Proven ability to develop and mentor high-potential talent.
- Ability to thrive in highly ambiguous and rapidly evolving environments.
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.