Country Medical Director (CMD), France

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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
 

Role purpose 

The Country Medical Director (CMD), France is the senior medical and scientific leader for the affiliate. The role owns the country medical strategy across the portfolio, leads the Medical Affairs organisation, and ensures that patient needs, scientific evidence and the French healthcare environment shape affiliate, regional and global decisions. 

• Act as a trusted, credible scientific partner in the external ecosystem and the senior medical representative of the affiliate. 

• Serve as a strategic member of the Country Leadership Team, contributing an independent medical perspective to affiliate strategy and decisions. 

• Connect the country with regional and global teams so that French needs, insights, evidence gaps and opportunities are heard early and translated into action. 

• Create an inclusive, high-performing Medical Affairs organisation that develops talent, empowers teams and delivers measurable value for patients and the healthcare system. 

Four dimensions of the role 

Country medical and scientific leader 

Owns the medical and scientific strategy across therapeutic areas, pipeline and in-market products. 

Affiliate enterprise leader 

Shapes affiliate priorities, decisions, culture and resource choices as a Country Leadership Team member. 

External scientific ambassador 

Represents the company with healthcare professionals, scientific societies, patient organisations, public-health stakeholders, authorities and other relevant external stakeholders. 

Enterprise connector 

Creates a two-way flow of insights, decisions and priorities between France, ACE/International and Global teams. 

Key accountabilities 

1. Medical strategy and portfolio leadership 

• Own and continuously evolve the France Medical Affairs strategy and annual medical plans, aligned with patient needs, country priorities and regional/global strategy while preserving the appropriate independence of Medical Affairs. 

• Translate scientific, clinical, access, policy and healthcare-system developments into clear priorities, choices and resource allocation across therapeutic areas. 

• Lead medical launch readiness and life-cycle planning for pipeline and in-market products, including evidence needs, scientific engagement, education, medical information readiness and cross-functional dependencies. 

• Use meaningful objectives and indicators to monitor impact, identify risks and adjust plans. 

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2. Patient focus, care gaps and healthcare-system impact 

• Put patients first in strategy and execution, including attention to unmet need, equitable evidence generation, access barriers and patient experience. 

• Identify and help close care gaps so that patients can benefit from the latest evidence-based care, including appropriate contribution to guidelines, pathways and public-health initiatives. 

• Set the medical framework for compliant patient and community engagement, clarifying interfaces with Public Affairs and other functions. 

• Ensure the medical organisation understands the French healthcare, regulatory, reimbursement and policy environment and its implications for patients and Medical Affairs. 

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3. Scientific leadership and external engagement 

• Build and sustain trusted, transparent relationships with external experts, healthcare professionals, scientific societies, patient organisations, payers/HTA stakeholders, public-health bodies and other relevant stakeholders, in line with applicable rules. 

• Ensure balanced, evidence-based scientific exchange and high-quality medical education, tailored to stakeholder needs and delivered through appropriate channels. 

• Act as senior scientific spokesperson for the affiliate when appropriate and authorised, including on complex evidence, benefit-risk, disease and healthcare-system topics. 

• Establish a systematic approach to gathering, synthesising, escalating and acting on medical insights. 

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4. Evidence generation and development partnership 

• Define the local evidence strategy and govern local research, real-world evidence, collaborative studies, publications and other data-generation activities for scientific relevance, quality, feasibility and compliance. 

• Partner with Clinical Development and Clinical Operations to inform country and site strategy, investigator engagement, feasibility, recruitment and issue resolution. 

• Provide timely France input into development programmes, evidence plans and global/regional strategies, including local epidemiology, standard of care, access and data gaps. 

• Oversee appropriate support for investigator-sponsored research, early access or compassionate-use programmes, where applicable. 

5. Affiliate, regional and global partnership 

• Contribute actively to the Country Leadership Team and relevant governance forums, bringing scientific judgement, patient perspective, risk awareness and constructive challenge. 

• Partner strategically with Commercial, Value and Access, Regulatory, Patient Safety/Pharmacovigilance, Public Affairs, Government Affairs, Legal, Compliance, Medical Information, Quality and Clinical teams while maintaining clear functional accountabilities. 

• Ensure continuous two-way communication with ACE/International and Global Medical Affairs, sharing country insights and ensuring relevant decisions are understood and implemented locally. 

• Contribute to regional therapeutic-area networks, review committees and cross-country initiatives, and sponsor or lead above-country work where assigned. 

6. Governance, quality and risk management 

• Ensure Medical Affairs activities comply with company policies, standard operating procedures, applicable French and European laws, regulations, industry codes and ethical standards. 

• Provide effective medical governance for scientific interactions, grants, research, advisory activities, materials and other medical deliverables within the scope of the role. 

• Partner with Patient Safety to ensure adverse-event and safety-information responsibilities are understood and met, and with Regulatory and Quality on relevant obligations. 

• Maintain inspection and audit readiness, identify and escalate risks promptly, and ensure robust corrective and preventive follow-through. 

• Ensure appropriate governance of digital and AI-enabled medical activities, including scientific accuracy, privacy, transparency, human oversight and compliant use. 

7. People, organisation and culture 

• Lead the France Medical Affairs organisation, setting clear direction, accountabilities, priorities and standards for performance and conduct. 

• Attract, onboard, coach, develop and retain diverse talent; ensure meaningful objectives, regular feedback, succession planning and actionable development plans. 

• Create an inclusive environment that encourages scientific debate, speaking up, learning, collaboration and accountability. 

• Build future-ready capabilities in strategic thinking, external engagement, evidence generation, insights, launch excellence, digital communication and responsible AI use. 

8. Operational and financial leadership 

• Own Medical Affairs workforce and budget planning, allocate resources to the highest-value priorities and maintain overall fiscal accountability. 

• Ensure high-quality, timely execution of medical plans and effective use of vendors, systems and operational support. 

• Simplify ways of working, apply technology appropriately and promote consistent standards across therapeutic areas without compromising scientific quality or compliance. 

Decision scope and expected impact 

• Sets the medical strategy and priorities for the France affiliate across therapeutic areas. 

• Makes or recommends resource, portfolio and capability choices within delegated authority and governance. 

• Provides the senior medical judgement on significant scientific, patient-safety, evidence, reputation and compliance matters. 

• Influences affiliate, regional and global decisions through evidence, external insights and understanding of the French environment. 

• Is accountable for the quality, culture, talent pipeline and sustainable performance of the France Medical Affairs organisation. 

Qualifications and experience 

Essential 

• MD degree. 

• Substantial leadership experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology Medical Affairs, including responsibility for a country or comparably complex organisation and multiple therapeutic areas or portfolios. 

• Demonstrated success in medical strategy, people leadership, evidence generation, launch readiness, external scientific engagement and cross-functional leadership. 

• Strong knowledge of the French healthcare system, including the roles of health authorities, HTA/reimbursement stakeholders, scientific societies, healthcare professionals and patient organisations. 

• Current working knowledge of pharmaceutical industry governance, patient safety, medical information, research standards and legal/regulatory requirements relevant to Medical Affairs in France. 

• Ability to interpret complex scientific and healthcare-environment information, make sound decisions under ambiguity and translate strategy into disciplined execution. 

• Executive-level communication and influencing skills, with credibility across scientific, operational and business audiences. 

• Fluency in French and English, written and spoken. 

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required. 

Desirable 

• Clinical practice, research or public-health experience relevant to the company portfolio. 

• Experience with HTA or reimbursement submissions, RWE, guideline/pathway engagement, patient/community engagement and external policy or access discussions. 

• Experience leading through significant portfolio change, new therapeutic-area entry, organisational transformation or major launches. 

• Experience operating in a regional/global matrix and leading above-country initiatives. 

• Business, health-economics, public-health or management qualification in addition to the core scientific degree. 

Leadership competencies 

Strategic mindset 

Sees ahead, makes choices across a complex portfolio and converts future possibilities into a clear medical strategy. 

Patient and customer focus 

Builds strategy from patient, healthcare-professional and system needs while maintaining scientific integrity. 

Business insight 

Understands the marketplace and affiliate context and applies that understanding without compromising Medical Affairs independence. 

Manages complexity 

Integrates scientific, regulatory, access, operational and stakeholder information to reach sound decisions. 

Plans and aligns 

Creates focus, aligns resources and establishes clear outcomes, governance and follow-through. 

Drives results 

Delivers high-quality outcomes, learns from evidence and adjusts course when circumstances change. 

Collaborates and connects 

Builds effective partnerships across functions, countries and global teams and resolves tensions constructively. 

Communicates and influences 

Adapts communication to diverse audiences, creates clarity and earns trust through credible judgement. 

Organisational savvy 

Navigates complex systems, governance and stakeholder dynamics effectively and ethically. 

Resilience and learning agility 

Remains effective through change, seeks feedback and rapidly develops capability in new areas. 

Inclusive people leadership 

Creates inclusion, develops talent, empowers teams and reinforces accountability and speaking up. 

Measures of success 

• A clear, prioritised and well-executed country medical strategy that responds to patient needs and the French healthcare environment. 

• High-quality scientific engagement, actionable insights and evidence generation that influence appropriate decisions and improve care. 

• Launch and life-cycle readiness delivered with strong cross-functional alignment and clear Medical Affairs accountability. 

• A trusted external scientific reputation and effective contribution to regional and global strategy. 

• A diverse, engaged and capable Medical Affairs team with strong succession and development plans. 

• Consistent compliance, inspection readiness, responsible resource stewardship and timely risk management. 

Role requirements and conditions 

• The role requires availability for domestic and international travel and occasional activity outside standard working hours, consistent with business needs and local policy. 

• All responsibilities must be carried out in accordance with applicable company policies, delegated authorities, local employment terms and legal/regulatory requirements. 

• The role description is not exhaustive. Accountabilities may evolve with portfolio, organisational and healthcare-environment needs following appropriate role evaluation and consultation. 

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It is the policy of Gilead Sciences, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively "Gilead" or the "Company") to recruit select and employ the most qualified persons available for positions throughout the Company.  Except if otherwise provided by applicable law, all  employment actions relating to issues such as compensation, benefits, transfers, layoffs, returns from layoffs, company-sponsored training, education assistance, social and recreational programs are administered on a non-discriminatory basis (i.e. without regard to protected characteristics or prohibited grounds, which may include an individual’s gender, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, medical condition, veteran status, and age, unless such protection is prohibited by federal, state, municipal, provincial, local or other applicable laws).  Gilead also prohibits discrimination based on any other characteristics protected by applicable laws.

For Current Gilead Employees and Contractors:

Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.