Director, Medical Strategy and Communications
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
1. Strategic Leadership & Medical Affairs Oversight
Provides overall vision and strategic direction for the Medical Strategy & Communications function in Japan
Leads the development and execution of Therapeutic Area (TA) medical strategy and Plans of Action (POAs) aligned with global and regional priorities
Drives strategic alignment among Scientific Communications, Medical Information, and Field Medical (MSL) activities
Ensures strong alignment between medical strategy and business objectives while maintaining compliance and scientific integrity
2. People Leadership & Organizational Development
Leads and manages a team of Medical Strategy, Data Generation and Scientific Communications.
Builds a high-performing organization through: Clear goal setting aligned with company and Medical Affairs strategy
Performance management, coaching, and talent development
3. Cross-functional Strategy & Execution
Plays a key leadership role in cross-functional TA strategy and business planning (BPOA)
Partners with; Market Access, Regulatory Affairs, Marketing, Clinical Development, and Pharmacovigilance.
Provides medical input into: Product strategy, Market access plans, Launch readiness and lifecycle management
Ensures all cross-functional activities are executed in a compliant and patient-centric manner
4. Scientific Communication & Evidence Generation
Oversees development and execution of Scientific communication strategy（publication, congress, medical education and medical contents development）
Ensures high-quality, consistent, and compliant scientific messaging in scientific contents
Drives evidence generation activities in alignment with Medical Strategy (e.g., management of investigator-sponsored study, leading company-sponsored study, and/or database research etc)
5. Global & Regional Collaboration
Provides Japan-specific medical insights into global product development and medical strategy
Collaborates effectively within an international matrix environment
6. Governance, Compliance & Operations
Ensures adherence to: local regulations, company policies and highest ethical and compliance standards
Oversees departmental budget planning and resource allocation
Leads or contributes to organizational and strategic projects at country level and Regional/global level
Education & Experience
Advanced scientific degree (MD, PharmD, PhD) preferred
Typically 10–12+ years of relevant experience in pharmaceutical/biotech industry
Strong experience in Medical Affairs
Significant people management experience
Skills & Capabilities
Strong strategic thinking with ability to translate into execution
Deep understanding of: Clinical science
Evidence generation
Healthcare system and access environment in Japan
Excellent leadership and team development capabilities
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills
High level of integrity and commitment to compliance
Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Japanese and English
Application Requirement:
Please submit a one-page PowerPoint slide outlining your proposed medical strategic plan for Yescarta. You will be required to present it during the interview. (English)
For Current Gilead Employees and Contractors:
Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.
Job details
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 31 biopharma companies.
Salary context
94 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 172 comparable roles
+ 10 more countries
Seniority mix
172 of 172 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
87 of 172 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
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.
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.
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.