Executive Director, Program Strategy Leader - Oncology
Gilead Sciences, Inc., Foster City, CA, United States
Job Description
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
Position Summary:
The Program Strategy Leader (PSL) is the primary steward responsible for shaping the Oncology program vision, strategic context, and lifecycle plan (LCP) across indications and combinations. The PSL is responsible for communicating with senior leaders across all relevant functions. The PSL oversees integration across Gilead involving multiple stakeholders to ensure optimal Oncology program execution in line with program strategy and LCP, requiring navigation of complex program challenges.
Specific Responsibilities:
Strategic Vision and Lifecycle Planning: The PSL is the steward responsible for shaping the program's vision, strategic context, and lifecycle plan (LCP) throughout Gilead's enterprise.
Program Accountability: As the single point of accountability, the PSL ensures the timely delivery of PST deliverables and manages the associated execution plan and milestones, closely aligning them with the approved LCP.
Enterprise Leader: Oversees integration across Gilead involving multiple stakeholders to ensure optimal program execution in line with program strategy and LCP.
Collaborative Leadership: Collaborating with functional team leaders, the PSL fosters alignment across the different sub-teams to ensure alignment (Global Commercial Team, Global Development Team, Global Regulatory Team etc...)
Triage and Risk Management: Serving as a point of triage, the PSL facilitates clear decision-making by incorporating cross-functional input to address high-impact issues. This involves co-creating solutions to complex challenges in real time.
Decision Leader: The PSL leads the PST in framing program needs and develops a range of options and recommendations for presentation to the PC. PSL ensures transparent communication with senior leadership, highlighting relevant scenarios, assumptions, and risks to inform decision-making and trade-offs.
Inclusion of Expertise: The PSL ensures the inclusion of subject matter experts (SMEs) and situational members in PST discussions, guided by a predefined agenda set with guidance from the Global Program Manager (GPM).
Accountability to Portfolio Committee (PC): The PSL is accountable to the PC for program recommendations and frames them within the context of the broader portfolio. The PSL maintains a strong connection with G.Ecosystem governance processes to facilitate seamless decision-making and execution.
PSL is accountable for day-to-day management of the program to ensure all established deliverables with high program impact remain on track and in line with program strategy.
PSL is responsible for ensuring the health of the PST, creating a highly functional environment with collaborative ways of working where debate and honest feedback are encouraged.
Additional Responsibilities:
May work with Development and Commercial Therapeutic Area Leaders to define the disease area strategy for discovery and early development in that area and to execute a business plan with clear deliverables and resource needs. This includes defining priorities and an approach to leveraging external opportunities in close collaboration with External Innovation, Business Development and academic experts.
Ensure close collaboration with manufacturing (PDM) on formulation delivery mechanism and packaging.
Advocates on behalf of Gilead and effectively communicates scientific/medical/clinical concepts in both written and oral communication to both internal and external stakeholders.
Capabilities and Requirements:
Strong leadership skills from leading cross-functional teams in a matrix organization, with highly collaborative instincts and a track record of resolving conflicts within the team.
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with clinical scientists, biologists, manufacturing experts, as well as with regulatory and commercial colleagues at all levels of the organization.
High degree of organizational awareness and understanding of change management and leading innovation.
Possess significant depth and breadth of experience including that enable you to immediately bring considerable strategic value to a project.
Possess understanding of drug development experience and understand what it takes to shepherd a molecule through its lifecycle.
Minimum Education and Experience:
Bachelor's degree in a scientific discipline; advanced or professional degree highly desirable (e.g., PhD, MD, or MBA).
14+ years of bio-pharmaceutical industry experience with at least 5 years of relevant work experiences across the drug development lifecycle.
Experience working with or on program strategy teams required.
Must demonstrate knowledge of the overall drug development process relevant to biotech/ pharmaceutical companies; commercial launch experience and familiarity with drug development experience is highly desirable.
Oncology drug development experience highly preferred.