Sr Director, ERP Technology & Operations in London

This job is with Gilead Sciences Inc., an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. 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. 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. Join Gilead and help create possible, together.

Role Overview

Gilead is seeking a Senior Director, ERP Technology & Operations to lead the strategy, performance, and operational excellence of the foundational ERP technology ecosystem that powers critical processes across Gilead's value chain. As part of the ERP Leadership Team, this leader will ensure Gilead's AI-enabled SAP platforms are stable, secure, compliant, scalable, and positioned to produce and deliver medicines to patients in markets around the world. The Senior Director will lead a global team across SAP DevOps, Reporting & Analytics, Security, Testing, Validation, Architecture, and platform operations, leveraging strong relationships with key outsourced partners. This role sits at the center of Gilead's enterprise technology landscape, orchestrating across complex business, quality and compliance needs to deliver resilient ERP capabilities that support disciplined execution from planning and supply through manufacturing, distribution, finance, and enterprise reporting. By strengthening the platforms and practices that underpin Gilead's core operations, this leader will help the organization scale with confidence, maintain audit readiness, and deliver on its commitment to patients with quality, speed, and reliability. This position will report to the Vice President, IT Enterprise Solutions & Business Partnering, and is based in Gilead's London office.

Key Responsibilities

• ERP Technology & Platform Strategy
  • Deliver build, test, release and run through the global ERP Technology & Operations team, leveraging strategic partners and vendor relationships as appropriate.
  • Define standards for SAP environments, release management, and operational excellence.
  • Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, and regulatory compliance standards.
• DevOps & Environment Management
  • Lead SAP DevOps capabilities including development enablement, transport and release management.
  • Oversee environment strategy, landscape management, refreshes, and lifecycle planning.
  • Drive automation and discipline to improve delivery velocity and reliability.
• SAP Reporting & Analytics
  • Own SAP Reporting & Analytics across SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), embedded analytics, and SAP-enabled reporting solutions.
  • Ensure reporting aligns with enterprise data and analytics standards.
  • Partner with Finance and business teams to support operational and management reporting needs.
• Security, Testing & Validation
  • Lead SAP security, access controls, and segregation-of-duties compliance.
  • Oversee ERP testing and validation capabilities in regulated environments from strategy through execution.
  • Ensure quality, compliance, and audit readiness are embedded into delivery and operations.
• Architecture & Platform Operations
  • Lead ERP technical architecture, including SAP Basis, infrastructure, and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)-related capabilities.
  • Partner with enterprise and solution architects to ensure extensibility and scalability.
  • Oversee incident and problem resolution for ERP platforms, and manage execution through vendor partners.
• Continuous Improvement & Enterprise Support
  • Identify opportunities to improve platform stability, cost efficiency, and operational maturity.
  • Serve as a trusted technical advisor to ERP Solutions leaders and program teams.
  • Provide operational and technical leadership to ERP programs and releases.
• People Leadership and Vendor Management
  • Inspire, lead and grow a high-performing, globally dispersed team.
  • Proactively partner with managed service providers, vendors and system integrators to maintain a high-quality, compliant technical environment, resolve issues and plan and execute changes seamlessly.
  • Manage costs and optimize cost-of-ownership, making informed trade-off decisions across activity, impact and business need.

Key Skills & Experiences

• Bachelor's degree with relevant experience in SAP, ERP platforms, or enterprise technology leadership.
• Extensive experience leading SAP DevOps, platform operations, and release management.
• Strong understanding of SAP security, testing, validation, and architecture in regulated environments.
• Experience leading SAP reporting and analytics platforms.
• Proven ability to inspire, lead and grow technical teams in a global, matrixed organization, proactively partnering across IT domains.
• Excellent vendor management skills to build strong relationships, hold vendors accountable and create win-win partnerships that amplify value for both parties.
• Highly developed customer service orientation; proven track record of effective prioritization, marshalling response teams and trouble-shooting in the moment while maintaining stakeholder confidence.
• Strong planning and orchestration skills; able to recognize interdependencies and identify critical path under complexity.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

The role is based in UK - UK contract. We are pleased to share that Gilead's Stockley Park and Holborn offices are planning to come together at a new London headquarters at 1 Triton Square, NW1, from approximately Q2 2027. Applicants should consider this planned location change when applying for this role. Gilead operates a flexible working policy, offering a balanced approach with two days of remote working and three days working onsite.

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.