Sr Director, Media Strategy

Job Description

About the Role:
At Gilead, Media Excellence is a strategic driver of digital transformation and customer engagement. As Senior Director, Media Excellence, you will lead the development and execution of Gilead’s U.S. Commercial media strategy—ensuring it is future-ready, data-driven, and aligned with business objectives. Leading the enterprise media strategy will include agency and strategic partner management. This role is pivotal in strengthening the connection between science, storytelling, and patient engagement while advancing health equity and delivering superior experiences across the patient and HCP journey.
You will oversee media strategy, governance, and innovation within the Digital, Media & Experience Strategy team and lead a high-performing team of channel experts across programmatic, social, search, and audience management. Your leadership will foster collaboration with cross-functional teams, agencies, and media/data partners to ensure Gilead’s media investments deliver measurable business impact.

Key Responsibilities

· Define and evolve Gilead’s enterprise media strategy, embedding innovation, digital-first mindset and alignment with business goals.

· Establish best-in-class standards for planning, buying, measurement and optimization across all media channels.

· Build and nurture strategic partnerships with U.S. brand teams and digital strategists to deliver world-class media capabilities through your team and agency partners.

· Oversee the creation and continuous refinement of media plans, measurement frameworks, and optimization strategies to maximize performance and ROI.

· Manage and optimize media agency relationships, ensuring timely, compliant delivery of milestones, proper staffing, and high-quality strategic recommendations and execution.

· Act as the subject matter expert on media best practices, processes, and systems, driving continuous improvement in paid media quality and operational excellence.

· Oversight of strategic media vendor partnerships across the enterprise

· Implement data-driven planning and execution: Via novel data sets inclusive of first-party data to future-proof audience strategies for greater engagement and impact, utilizing platforms such as LiveRamp and Salesforce for advanced targeting and dynamic personalization.

· Champion new ways of working and pilots that advance new media capabilities in the ever changing space of media and AI.

· Collaborate on the enterprise media measurement strategy, establishing unified KPIs and frameworks for cross-channel performance reporting, MMM, and MTA.

· Drive media literacy and upskilling through the Digital Academy curriculum, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.

Leadership Responsibilities

· Guide and develop a high-performing team of channel experts across programmatic, social, search, and measurement disciplines.

· Influence and collaborate effectively with stakeholders across the Commercial Organization to align on objectives and drive impact.

· Foster a team culture that emphasizes collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and high performance.

· Develop and guide improved ways of working amongst cross-functional stakeholders and agency partners

Preferred Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive experience in media strategy, digital marketing, or marketing operations; pharma or regulated industries a plus.

• 3-5+ years of proven people manager and leadership experience
• Proven leadership in managing agencies, cross-functional teams, and complex stakeholder environments.

• Expertise in data-driven marketing, emerging technology platforms, and AI-enabled media planning.

• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to translate insights into business impact.

• Media agency experience a plus, along with experience across industries including Pharma
• Experience with large to small investment levels, inclusive of broad reach channels and precision targeting

What Success Looks Like

· A future-ready media ecosystem leveraging AI, first-party data, and advanced analytics for precision and impact.

· Media investments consistently deliver measurable business growth and improved engagement, tied to business objectives and supporting the needs of the brand teams.

· Gilead is recognized as a leader in media innovation and responsible practices.

· A high-performing team collaborative culture that drives continuous improvement and industry leadership.