Director, Global AI Capability Lead - Medical Affairs Technology

Gilead Sciences•Foster City, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Global AI Capability- Medical Affairs Technology position is a high-visibility, high-impact role at the center of Gilead’s Medical Affairs AI transformation. As Director of Global AI Enablement, you will own the end-to-end delivery of AI capabilities across the Medical Affairs Technology (MAT) portfolio — from shaping the 3-year AI roadmap to hands-on evaluation of emerging tools and overseeing build execution with system integrators and vendor teams. This role leads without a direct team. Success depends on your ability to influence senior leaders, align global stakeholders, and drive delivery momentum across a complex, matrixed organization. You will be expected to exhibit technical fluency, strategic acumen, and execution excellence when translating cutting-edge capabilities like RAG, agentic AI, and LLM-based tools into production-ready, pragmatic solutions based on the needs of Medical Affairs stakeholders. You will partner closely with the ED of MAT and functional leaders of GMSO, Medical Affairs, IT, Legal, Medical Governance, and Compliance. Your ability to scale solutions across MA is a critical success factor for this role.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in AI or Technology field + 12 years of experience OR Master's degree in AI or Technology field + 10 years of experience working hands on with AI tools, agents and deploying applications at scale OR PhD in AI or Technology field + 8 years of experience working hands on with AI tools, agents and deploying applications at scale
Deep, hands-on experience with modern AI technologies including RAG architectures, LLM-based applications, agentic frameworks, and enterprise AI platforms, with the ability to build, test, and demonstrate these tools directly.
Proven track record of owning and delivering complex AI or technology roadmaps in pharma, biotech, and/or a regulated life sciences environment.
Experience managing system integrators and vendor build teams in large-scale technology programs — holding partners accountable to delivery timelines, quality standards, and strategic alignment.
Demonstrated ability to influence and drive change across senior, global, matrixed stakeholders.
Strong command of AI governance principles in regulated industries, including data privacy, model validation, compliance review, and responsible AI frameworks.
Experience presenting and advising senior management by translating technical depth into clear strategic narrative.

Nice To Haves

MBA, Master’s, or advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field preferred.
Life sciences or pharma experience working in medical affairs, commercial and/or clinical functions and managing a cross functional group of stakeholders.
Familiarity with Medical Affairs workflows, platforms, or the broader pharma commercial/medical technology landscape is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Develop the Strategic MA AI Roadmap: Build, maintain, and socialize a 3-year AI roadmap for Medical Affairs Technology — sequencing initiatives by strategic value, technical feasibility, and organizational readiness.
Translate the roadmap into actionable delivery plans with clear milestones, dependencies, and resource requirements.
Continuously scan the AI landscape for purpose-built AI technology, agentic frameworks, LLMs, multimodal tools and make confident, evidence-based recommendations on what Gilead MA should adopt, pilot, or avoid.
Partner with GMSO and Medical Affairs leadership to ensure the roadmap stays tightly connected to Medical Affairs strategic priorities.
Drive AI Build Delivery: Serve as the delivery accountability point for all AI builds across the MAT portfolio managing system integrators, vendor build teams, and Microsoft/Copilot agent delivery teams.
Lead sprint reviews, manage escalation resolution, enforce quality standards, and ensure builds land on time and at the standard Medical Affairs requires.
Translate strategic intent into execution-ready requirements bridging the gap between what Medical Affairs needs and what engineering teams can build.
Maintain a real-time inventory of AI initiatives across the portfolio, tracking status, risk, and outcomes with discipline.
Lead Strategic Technology Selection: Serve as the central evaluation point for new AI tools and platforms — running structured assessments across capability, security, compliance, and integration fit.
Route technology candidates through Medical Affairs and Enterprise IT governance, security review, and compliance validation with speed and rigor.
Build a vendor selection framework that makes evaluation repeatable and defensible at the MA Leadership team level.
Maintain strong relationships with key AI vendors and stay ahead of roadmap changes that could impact Gilead’s strategy.
Build AI Fluency Across a Global Organization: Demonstrate, prototype, and test AI capabilities directly with Medical Affairs leaders and GMSO teams as applicable.
Design and implement enablement sessions that move leaders from awareness to active AI adoption including working sessions with real tools.
Be the internal expert on what RAG, agents, and LLM-based applications can and cannot do in a regulated pharma environment.
Champion AI literacy as a strategic imperative, helping GMSO and Medical Affairs leaders understand both the potential and the guardrails of AI at Gilead.