National AI Awards 2025Discover AI's trailblazers! Join us to celebrate innovation and nominate industry leaders.

Nominate & Attend

Associate Director/Director, Public Affairs - UK & Ireland

Gilead
London
2 days ago
Create job alert

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

Associate Director/Director, Public Affairs, Gilead Sciences UK & Ireland

The position

We are currently looking for an Associate Director/Director level team member to join our Public Affairs team, based in our Holborn Office (London).

Reporting into the Senior Director, Public Affairs, UK and Ireland, this role is mainly responsible for product and pipeline communications, patient communications and advocacy and related internal and corporate communications within the affiliate. This is a highly visible communications role covering several therapy areas.

Responsibilities include:

  • Develop and implement strategic programmes to communicate the value that our medicines deliver throughout their lifecycle
  • Coordinate with cross-functional colleagues to ensure alignment and collaboration on strategic priorities and messaging across different stakeholders
  • Examine complex issues from a broader organization perspective, determine communications opportunities and help determine priorities for Public Affairs
  • Develop/strengthen relationships with a wide variety of community advocates, organisations and professionals
  • Implement creative, patient-centric disease awareness & communication campaigns to engage with communities we serve
  • Prepare press releases, presentations, internal newsletters and other communications materials
  • Respond to media requests and arrange interviews with Gilead spokespeople and opinion leader spokespeople as appropriate
  • Ensure alignment of local activities with corporate guidance, working closely with regional/global teams
  • Effectively manage all aspects of public relations agency relationships, including providing direction and project management
  • Manage budgets to target
  • Represent Public Affairs within cross-functional brand teams and steering committees,
  • Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, internal policies/procedures and external codes
  • Coordinate with cross-functional colleagues across the organization to ensure consistent messaging
  • Ensure alignment of local activities with corporate guidance, working closely with regional/corporate HQ teams
  • Be the contact person for related crisis and issues mitigation/management

Knowledge, experience and skills

  • Demonstrable experience, in a similar capacity, of public relations in pharmaceutical and healthcare
  • Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills
  • Demonstrated experience in media relations, issues management; knowledge of healthcare and industry media and reporting trends
  • Strong experience in patient advocacy and the co-creation of multi-channel campaigns
  • Strong knowledge of social media and experience in managing social media campaigns (corporate and/or disease area specific)
  • Previous experience in product launches (regulatory and reimbursement)
  • Demonstrated knowledge of regulations and principles specific to communications for a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company
  • Experience managing multiple projects (timelines, budgets, priorities) simultaneously; flexibility and results-oriented focus are essential
  • Ability to interact with senior management and high-profile experts appropriately, with confidence and ease
  • Strong understanding of UK political/health policy and access environment, including processes and key stakeholders
  • Knowledge of Irish media and healthcare environment preferred.
  • Recent or current agency experience is preferred
  • Typically requires a BA degree in communications, liberal arts, business or science-oriented field (or International Equivalent) or proven relevant experience, which includes solid healthcare public relations experience

Behaviours

  • Ability to engage and manage multiple stakeholders to achieve objectives
  • Curious with a strong learning agility (the ability to rapidly study, analyse and understand new situations and business problems)
  • Operationally excellent and resilient in the context of a rapidly changing environment
  • Organised with systematic approach to prioritisation
  • Process orientated to achieve the business objective

GileadCore Values

  • Integrity (always doing the right thing),
  • Teamwork (collaborating in good faith),
  • Excellence (working at a high level of commitment and capability)
  • Accountability (taking personal responsibility).
  • Inclusion (encouraging diversity)

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

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.


#J-18808-Ljbffr

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Associate Director/Director, Public Affairs - UK & Ireland

Senior Associate Director or Director, Health Policy/Communications

NEW Senior Associate Director or Director Health Policy Role

NEW Senior Associate Director or Director Health Policy Role

Associate Director, Healthcare, London

Director - Medical Strategy EU

National AI Awards 2025

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

How to Present Biotech Concepts to Non-Scientists: A Public Speaking Guide for Job Seekers

In today’s biotechnology job market, your ability to explain complex science clearly is just as important as your lab skills. Whether you're applying for a research role, pitching to investors, or collaborating with marketing teams, you'll often need to present technical information to people without a scientific background. This blog explores how biotechnology job seekers can develop and deliver compelling presentations that make sense to non-scientists. From structuring your content to designing effective slides and using storytelling to bring data to life, these techniques will help you stand out in interviews and on the job.

Biotech Jobs Employer Hotlist 2025: 50 UK Companies Actively Hiring Right Now 

Bookmark this guide – we refresh it every quarter so you always know who’s really expanding their life‑science teams. The UK biotechnology scene is on a tear in 2025. Venture & follow‑on funding hit £3.5 billion last year, up 94 % on 2023, and Q1 2025 alone brought in another £924 million of equity for scaling therapeutics, diagnostics & deep‑tech platforms  bioindustry.org. Meanwhile, Westminster’s new industrial strategy pledges a record £86 billion for science & tech, with life sciences top of the eight “high‑growth” priority sectors . The consequence? Hiring is white‑hot. From big‑pharma giants to gene‑editing start‑ups, employers need research scientists, QC analysts, bioprocess engineers, bioinformaticians, regulatory specialists & commercial leads – right now. Below you’ll find 50 organisations that have posted UK vacancies or announced head‑count growth during the past eight weeks. They’re grouped into five bite‑size categories so you can jump straight to the type of employer – & mission – that excites you. For every entry you’ll see: Main UK hub Example recent vacancy Why it’s worth your time (tech, culture, impact) Use the internal search on BiotechnologyJobs.co.uk to pull up live roles, or set a free alert so fresh openings land in your inbox.

Return-to-Work Pathways: Relaunch Your Biotechnology Career with Returnships, Flexible & Hybrid Roles

Returning to work after a career break can feel like stepping into a new frontier—especially in a fast-evolving sector such as biotechnology. Whether you’ve paused your professional journey for parenting, caring responsibilities or another life chapter, the UK’s biotech industry now offers a variety of return-to-work pathways designed to help you transition back smoothly. From formal returnships and part-time contracts to hybrid and fully flexible roles, these programmes acknowledge the value of your transferable skills and life experience. In this guide tailored for parents and carers, you’ll discover how to: Grasp the current demand for biotech talent in the UK Translate your organisational, communication and resilience skills into the laboratory and beyond Tackle common re-entry challenges with practical solutions Refresh your scientific and technical knowledge through targeted learning Access returnship and re-entry programmes specifically in biotech Find roles that fit around family commitments—be they flexible, hybrid or full-time Balance work with caring duties Navigate applications, interviews and networking in the biotech world Learn from inspiring returner success stories Get quick answers in our FAQ section Whether you’re keen to step back into a research lab, quality control, regulatory affairs or bioinformatics team, this article will map out the steps and resources you need to reignite your biotechnology career.