Gilead Sciences, Inc. Posted July 17, 2026

Director, Medical Affairs

Foster City, United States Full time
Medical Affairs Director

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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.

Job Description

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.

Provides strategic medical leadership for inflammation pipeline assets, bringing scientific insight, evidence generation, and external perspectives to the decisions that shape development and long-term value.  Leads through influence in a matrixed environment and represents Global Medical Affairs in early and mid-stage governance forums.

Medical strategy & asset leadership

Owns the global medical strategy for assigned inflammation pipeline assets across early and mid‑stage development.

Serves as Medical Affairs asset lead, delivering objective scientific input to disease strategy, target product profile, trial/endpoint design, go/no‑go criteria, and lifecycle sequencing.

Anchors development plans in unmet medical need and future evidence requirements.

Evidence generation & scientific communication

Leads the medical evidence and scientific communication strategy, including integrated evidence plans, early medical narratives, publication planning, and core scientific platforms.

Aligns clinical data generation with external engagement and value/access evidence needs.

External stakeholder engagement

Identifies and maps external experts across priority disease areas.

Builds and maintains credible, ethical scientific partnerships to inform development strategy, disease/treatment landscape insights, and patient/payer evidence expectations.

Represents Gilead as a scientific ambassador in early pipeline settings.

Cross‑functional leadership

Represents Global Medical Affairs on Development Project Teams, governance forums, and key decision bodies.

Partners with Clinical Development/Early Research, Global Strategic Marketing, Global Value & Access, Regulatory, and other cross‑functional teams to advance pipeline assets.

Ensures medical insight is integrated early, consistently, and with clear decision impact.

Portfolio & business development support

Provides medical due diligence to support business development and partnering evaluations.

Shapes portfolio discussions by articulating scientific differentiation, evidence risk, and opportunity.

Surfaces external opportunities aligned with Gilead’s inflammation strategy.

Knowledge, Experience & Skills:

12+ years of relevant experience with Bachelors degree or 8+ years of relevant experience with Advanced scientific degree (e.g. MD, PharmD, PhD)

Advanced clinical and/or scientific knowledge in rheumatology, inflammatory bowel disease, immunology, or other inflammatory disease areas preferred

Relevant pharmaceutical company experience within Medical Affairs or clinical development-adjacent roles, with strong understanding of global development and access considerations preferred

Proven ability to lead cross‑functional strategy in a complex matrix.

Ability to synthesize findings and clearly articulate implications from multiple sources of information, and to formulate strong, actionable recommendations

Works independently with minimal supervision

Ability to embrace Gilead’s patient-centric values, including highest ethical and compliance standards

Experience influencing early asset strategy and portfolio decisions preferred

Global scope experience preferred

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.

The salary range for this position is: $243,100.00 - $314,600.00. Gilead considers a variety of factors when determining base compensation, including experience, qualifications, and geographic location. These considerations mean actual compensation will vary. This position may also be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role), paid time off, and a benefits package. Benefits include company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans*.

For additional benefits information, visit:

https://www.gilead.com/careers/compensation-benefits-and-wellbeing

* Eligible employees may participate in benefit plans, subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

For jobs in the United States:

Gilead Sciences Inc. is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, and is dedicated to fostering an inclusive work environment comprised of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. Employment decisions regarding recruitment and selection will be made without discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex , age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state and local laws. In order to ensure reasonable accommodation for individuals protected by Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Act of 1974, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, applicants who require accommodation in the job application process may contact [email protected]  for assistance.

For more information about equal employment opportunity protections, please view the  'Know Your Rights' poster.

NOTICE: EMPLOYEE POLYGRAPH PROTECTION ACT

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

Gilead Sciences will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, (c) consistent with the  legal duty to furnish information; or (d) otherwise protected by law.

Our environment respects individual differences and recognizes each employee as an integral member of our company. Our workforce reflects these values and celebrates the individuals who make up our growing team.

Gilead provides a work environment free of harassment and prohibited conduct. We promote and support individual differences and diversity of thoughts and opinion.

For Current Gilead Employees and Contractors:

Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Foster City, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 172 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 32 biopharma companies.

172Comparable roles tracked
157Currently active
32Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

93 of 172 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $243,100/yr – $314,600/yr
Peer group range $174,000 – $392,100 (median $264,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 172 comparable roles

United States126
United Kingdom11
China's Mainland8
Switzerland6
Japan5
Canada2

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

172 of 172 peers have a known seniority level

Director147
Senior Director20
Principal5

Therapeutic area mix

87 of 172 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology30
Neuroscience11
Respiratory11
Immunology11
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Vaccines & Infectious Disease6
Dermatology & Aesthetics6
Rare Disease5
Ophthalmology1

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The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

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How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.