Associate General Counsel, IP Litigation

Gilead Sciences • Foster City, CA

23h • Onsite

About The Position

Gilead is seeking a strategic and experienced IP litigator to join its IP Litigation team. This role involves leading and managing complex, high-stakes patent litigation, licensing disputes, and other IP-related matters. The successful candidate will act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on litigation strategy, risk management, and critical intellectual property issues. The role requires deep experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences patent litigation, strong business judgment, exceptional collaboration and communication skills, and the ability to mentor junior attorneys and partner effectively across multiple functions to advance Gilead's strategic objectives.

Requirements

• Minimum 12 years of relevant patent litigation experience, either in private practice or in-house, with a primary focus on pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, or other life sciences industries.
• J.D. from an accredited law school and admission to at least one U.S. state bar required.
• Demonstrated commitment to Gilead's core values: Teamwork, Accountability, Inclusion, Excellence, and Integrity.
• Establish appropriate priorities with clients and deliver results within established timelines in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
• Exercise good judgment in identifying, evaluating, prioritizing and elevating issues as appropriate.
• Demonstrate the ability to independently identify issues, goals, needs and solutions, with input and oversight from more senior members of the Legal team.
• Exhibit excellent written and verbal communications skills, including the ability to clearly and concisely communicate key points and to present to a variety of internal clients.
• Apply legal analysis in a business context with the goal of identifying solutions to clients’ needs.
• Strong collaboration, communication, and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to work effectively across functions and build relationships with diverse stakeholders throughout the organization.

Nice To Haves

• An undergraduate or advanced degree in biology, chemistry, pharmacy, immunology, or a related life sciences discipline is strongly preferred.
• Admission to practice before the USPTO is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage complex, high-stakes patent litigation, licensing disputes, and other IP-related matters in the United States and globally.
• Develop and drive litigation strategy in partnership with internal and external counsel, ensuring alignment with business objectives and risk tolerance.
• Oversee all phases of litigation and adversarial proceedings, including case assessment, discovery, witness preparation, expert strategy, dispositive motions, trial preparation, trial, and appeal.
• Advise Gilead’s senior leaders on litigation strategy and risk management.
• Provide strategic freedom-to-operate, validity, exclusivity, and due diligence assessments to support business, licensing, development, and commercialization decisions.
• Conduct IP portfolio assessments, including preparation for potential generic and biosimilar challenges.
• Provide input on how to improve client services in an ever-changing and challenging legal and political environment, including responses to changing government landscape that implicate IP.
• Serve as a thought leader on a substantive area of intellectual property law.
• Supervise and train more junior members of the IP litigation group.

Benefits

• Company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans.
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role)
• Paid time off

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior