Senior Director, Applied AI, Design & Innovation

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 Senior Director, Applied AI, Design & InnovationGlobal Development | Clinical Operations This position is located in Foster City, California (Hybrid), or Remote and may require domestic or international travel as required (valid travel documents must be obtainable). Position Overview Design & Innovation is responsible for advancing the clinical trial experience through evidence-based decision-making, human-centered design, advanced analytics, digital capability development, and AI-enabled innovation. These approaches transform how programs and studies are designed, planned, and operationalized. The function supports patient-centric clinical trial design that provide enable more efficient execution through lean designs and less burden for patients and sites. The team has developed an industry leading set of capabilities that enable the organization to reliably predict the enrollment of the portfolio with a high degree of accuracy through modern statistical approaches, and we are developing the next generation platform to further enable even greater efficiency in the design and planning process capabilities. The Sr. Director, Applied AI will be responsible for leading the cross-functional design delivery team and is ultimately accountable for the overall operational strategy and study/site feasibility processes, systems, and people that support the entire portfolio across our three therapeutic areas of Virology, Oncology, and Inflammation. This role is also responsible for project leadership of Development level AI initiatives that aim to continue the development of our AI capabilities within the Design & Innovation scope and beyond to also include priority deliverables for Clinical Operations. This leader will report to and partner closely with the Executive Director to shape strategy, operating frameworks, and delivery models across a portfolio of initiatives within defined budgets and timelines. The role will lead the identification, development, integration, scaling, and value realization of innovative processes, technologies, data assets, and AI-enabled capabilities within Gilead’s clinical development model. This leader will serve as a strategic integrator across Clinical Operations, Clinical Development, Clinical Data Science, Regulatory, Medical Affairs, Commercial, and IT translating complex operational and clinical needs into coherent, realistic, and trackable innovation and AI strategies. The Sr. Director will help shape how innovation and AI capabilities are prioritized, governed, adopted, and scaled across Clinical Operations, with a focus on measurable business, operational, quality, and patient impact. Core Responsibilities Enterprise AI Strategy & Capability LeadershipDefine and own the multi-year Applied AI roadmap for Clinical Development & Operations, aligned to Gilead's enterprise AI strategy and portfolio priorities. Build, scale, and lead a center-of-excellence team spanning data science, ML engineering, GenAI product development, and AI delivery management. Establish governance, prioritization frameworks, KPIs, and ROI/value-realization models that quantify AI's impact at the trial, program, and portfolio level. Serve as the executive voice of Applied AI to Senior Leadership, R&D governance forums, and external partners. Clinical Trial Forecasting & Enrollment ModelingLead development of predictive enrollment models that improve forecasting accuracy at the country, site, and study level. Build real-time enrollment performance monitoring capabilities to enable earlier, more proactive interventions. Partner with Clinical Operations and Program Management to integrate forecasting outputs into operational planning, resource demand, and budget cycles. Trial Design Optimization & Study FeasibilityDrive AI/ML-enabled approaches to protocol design optimization, including eligibility criteria simulation, endpoint selection, and protocol complexity scoring. Develop site selection and feasibility models leveraging internal data, external RWD/RWE, and historical performance signals. Partner with Biostatistics and Clinical Development teams to embed AI insights into protocol authoring, design tollgates, and study start-up decisions. Establish, refine, and drive a multi-year AI Innovation strategy aligned to Development and Clinical Operations priorities, operating model evolution, and enterprise AI direction. Lead functional deliverables across Design & Innovation, design delivery, early and late-stage innovation capability development by providing overall operational excellence. Lead the Clinical Intelligence team to support a variety of strategic queries and operational benchmarking for the executive Clinical Operations and Development leadership teams. Shape and manage a portfolio of innovation and AI initiatives aligned to Clinical Operations strategy, business priorities, and value realization goals. Identify, prioritize, and advance high-value innovation and AI use cases that improve clinical program and study design, operational planning, decision support, workflow efficiency, and stakeholder insight generation. Real-World Data & Evidence IntegrationChampion integration of RWD/RWE into trial design, feasibility, and patient identification workflows. Build partnerships with external data platforms and evaluate AI start-ups/vendors to access cutting-edge methodologies. Recommend strategic partnerships, in-licensing, or build-vs-buy decisions to accelerate capability development. Cross-Functional Delivery & Change ManagementPartner with Clinical Operations, Clinical Data Sciences, Biostatistics, Safety, Regulatory, and Digital to ensure AI solutions are designed for adoption, not just deployment. Lead change management, training, and enablement to drive scaled adoption across study teams. Represent Gilead externally with industry consortia, regulators (e.g., FDA), and strategic partners on Applied AI in clinical research. Additional ResponsibilitiesTranslate clinical and operational needs into actionable innovation and AI strategies, delivery plans, business cases, and measurable outcomes. Partner with Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Clinical Data Science (AI Research Center, Clinical & Development Systems, Biostatistics), Regulatory, Portfolio Strategy & Analytics, Medical Affairs, IT, Digital, and other stakeholders to translate innovation priorities into scalable capabilities and operating improvements. Support governance and decision-making processes by preparing strategic recommendations, facilitating prioritization discussions, and communicating proposals, trade-offs, and decision options to senior stakeholder audiences. Lead the development and governance of frameworks for identifying, testing, validating, integrating, scaling, and monitoring new capabilities ac