Gilead Sciences · 11 hours ago
Sr Director, Public Affairs
San Francisco Bay Area
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$243K/yr - $315K/yrGilead Sciences is dedicated to creating a healthier world by tackling significant diseases and improving lives through innovative therapies. The Senior Director, Public Affairs will lead advocacy and communication strategies to enhance Gilead's reputation and expand access to innovation in low- and lower-middle-income countries, while building strategic partnerships and ensuring consistent messaging across various channels.
BiopharmaBiotechnologyHealth CareManufacturingPharmaceutical
Responsibilities
Advance Gilead’s leadership and credibility across regions and therapeutic areas to shape environments and strengthen our access operations
Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with patient organizations, community groups, and key stakeholders to address patient/community needs and advance corporate objectives
Develop and execute an integrated external engagement plan with patient groups, media, trade associations, and influencers shaping public discourse
Maintain insight into advocacy groups’ priorities, capacity, and influence to guide collaboration
Drive global NGO engagement strategies to expand access to medicines in low- and lower-middle-income countries
Lead advisory boards and community forums; co-develop education and capacity-building initiatives with patient communities
Ensure alignment and consistent messaging across policymakers, patient groups, healthcare providers, manufacturers, and suppliers
Support regional teams in planning and executing public affairs activities, conferences, and events
Oversee the GPS region’s external communications strategy (media relations, storytelling, thought leadership, reputation management, issues and crisis readiness, content/channel planning)
Drive execution across priority geographies and regions, tailoring approaches while reinforcing the global narrative
Maintain message discipline and consistency across earned, owned, and shared channels
Unify policy, market and therapeutic area communications to deliver impact
Design and execute integrated digital strategies that build belief and amplify impact
Partner with and contribute to global corporate/internal communications strategy; drive GPS content, stories, and programs to reinforce the corporate narrative and foster workforce engagement
Integrate GPS priorities and milestones across internal channels; enable leaders and managers to activate messaging
Serve as a trusted leader/collaborator across GPS and cross-functional teams
Proactively identify, plan for, and manage potential issues and crises across geographies; establish protocols, roles, and response plans
Embed reputation management in program design; monitor risk signals and sentiment to inform proactive mitigation
Apply data and insights to define and track reputational KPIs and continuously improve strategies
Scale GPS messaging, narratives, and FAQs to global teams; ensure consistent integration across channels and markets
Build enablement toolkits (message maps, Q&As, content packs) to support localized execution
Align with external-facing functions to synchronize stakeholder engagement across audiences
Define objectives, leading indicators, and KPIs; build dashboards to track performance across advocacy, communications, and access programs
Use qualitative and quantitative insights (audience research, media analytics, sentiment, stakeholder feedback) to optimize plans
Lead cross-functional collaboration and governance; represent GPS priorities at leadership forums
Establish and manage GPS PA budget; ensure fiscal discipline and strategic resource allocation
Manage external agencies/partners; set scopes, KPIs, and performance reviews
Qualification
Required
Significant global public affairs leadership experience, preferably in pharmaceutical or biotech, with significant experience in multiple regions and in low- and lower-middle-income markets outside North America and Western Europe
Deep understanding of global NGOs and history engaging with these organizations to advance access
Desire and ability to look ahead, set new industry standards, and align with external market factors and internal dynamics
Highly effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills; demonstrated ability to effectively and comfortably interact at all levels. Ability to create factual, relevant and easily understandable talking points and other messaging, and persuasively deliver it to relevant audiences
Seasoned storyteller and business-oriented communicator with a strong belief in Gilead's mission
Proven leadership and management skills in a matrixed environment, with strengths in development of talent and individuals as well as having influence without line reporting authority
Strong analytical experience, has worked in a data driven organization and understands how to apply and measure analytics
Expert in corporate communications, proven experience managing executive and crisis communications, and in the application of digital and social media tools and channels to communications programming
Strong critical thinking and analytical skills, effectively analyzing and assessing opportunities and threats
Ability to influence, negotiate with, and effectively persuade others
Effective prioritization skills
Flexible, with strong judgment / decision-making skills, and political acumen and awareness
Ability to think critically, process data from multiple sources, forecast potential scenarios, build a course of action, and make recommendations even in ambiguous situations
Maintain highest personal levels of ethical conduct, confidentiality, and integrity, with strongest professional reputation in the industry
Ability to travel 30-40%
Bachelors degree required
Preferred
Masters or MBA preferred, in relevant field
Benefits
Discretionary annual bonus
Discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role)
Paid time off
Company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans
Company
Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes therapies for critical diseases.
Founded in 1987
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Gilead Sciences has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (269)
2024 (241)
2023 (222)
2022 (208)
2021 (235)
2020 (187)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$4.41BKey Investors
Abingworth
2024-11-13Post Ipo Debt· $3.5M
2024-02-29Post Ipo Equity· $210M
2023-09-07Post Ipo Debt· $2B
Leadership Team
Keeley Wettan
Senior Vice President, Legal
Patrick Loerch
Senior Vice President, Clinical Data Science
Recent News
2026-01-16
FierceBiotech
2026-01-16
Company data provided by crunchbase