Associate Director, People Technology

Job Description

Gilead's mission is to discover, develop, and deliver therapies that will improve the lives of patients with life-threatening illnesses worldwide. The Associate Director of HR Technology Operations is a strategic leader who champions business engagement, driving innovation and operational excellence by deeply partnering with HR stakeholders and IT. This role is pivotal in translating business needs into impactful HR technology solutions, fostering collaboration, and ensuring that technology initiatives directly support organizational goals and talent strategies.

They excel in process optimization, change enablement, and stakeholder engagement, making them a critical driver of organizational success.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary liaison between HR, business leaders, and IT, ensuring business requirements are clearly understood and translated into technology solutions that deliver measurable value.

• Proactively engage with HR Centers of Excellence (COEs) and business to identify opportunities for technology-driven improvements and innovation.

• Facilitate cross-functional workshops and feedback sessions to capture business needs, align expectations, and drive consensus on priorities.

• Drive continuous improvement by embedding scalable, sustainable solutions into business processes and championing automation for long-term impact.

• Oversee vendor relationships with a focus on aligning external capabilities to business needs and maximizing value.

• Maintain clear, transparent communication with all stakeholders, providing regular updates on progress, outcomes, and next steps.

• Drive agile project management as enablers of business engagement, ensuring frameworks are in place to prioritize initiatives based on strategic business value.

• Design governance structures to ensure compliance, accountability, and streamlined decision-making.

• Champion change management strategies to drive adoption of new technologies and ways of working.

• Anticipate risks and proactively mitigate issues to safeguard delivery outcomes.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of relevant experience; OR

• Masters' degree and 8+ years of relevant experience; OR

• PhD and 5+ years of relevant experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience in HR, IT, or related fields.

• Expertise in HR technology platforms (e.g., Workday, ServiceNow), digital transformation, and familiarity with AI-driven HR solutions.

• Proven experience in portfolio management, operational excellence, and process optimization.

• Strong leadership and team-building skills to effectively lead cross-functional project teams.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills; ability to partner with IT and non-technical customers to translate business needs into technical requirements.

• Thorough understanding of the system development life cycle (SDLC).

• Demonstrated ability to manage vendors and drive collaboration across diverse teams.

• Skilled in governance, capacity planning, and standardized frameworks.

• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills with attention to detail and accuracy.

• Highly organized, able to balance multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.

• Capable of working independently and collaboratively using sound judgment.

People Leader Accountabilities:

• Create Inclusion - knowing the business value of diverse teams, modeling inclusion, and embedding the value of diversity in the way they manage their teams.

• Develop Talent - understand the skills, experience, aspirations and potential of their employees and coach them on current performance and future potential. They ensure employees are receiving the feedback and insight needed to grow, develop and realize their purpose.

• Empower Teams - connect the team to the organization by aligning goals, purpose, and organizational objectives, and holding them to account. They provide the support needed to remove barriers and connect their team to the broader ecosystem.