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
About the Role
At Gilead, we are committed to helping transform the lives of people affected by HIV through innovative therapies, partnerships, and meaningful improvements in access to care.
We are seeking an experienced and highly collaborative Therapy Area Market Access Lead, HIV, Middle East, based in Riyadh. This person will lead the development and execution of the market access strategy for Gilead’s HIV treatment and prevention portfolio across the Middle East, with a strong initial focus on Saudi Arabia and other priority regional markets.
The role will bring together regional strategy and local execution, helping to secure sustainable access, reimbursement, and funding for current and future HIV innovations. The successful candidate will work closely with Market Access, Medical Affairs, Commercial, Government Affairs, Public Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Finance, Legal, and global and international Value & Access colleagues.
This is an opportunity to contribute across the HIV care continuum, including awareness, prevention, earlier diagnosis, linkage to care, treatment access, and retention in care. Gilead’s regional HIV strategy identifies continued gaps in awareness, prevention, diagnosis, and linkage to care, alongside opportunities to advance HIV elimination plans through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the Regional HIV Market Access Strategy
- Develop and execute an integrated Middle East market access strategy for the HIV treatment and prevention portfolio.
- Translate global and international Value & Access strategies into relevant regional and country-level priorities.
- Define differentiated access approaches reflecting the healthcare systems, reimbursement pathways, procurement models, and public health priorities of Middle East markets.
- Identify access barriers, policy opportunities, and evidence needs across the HIV patient journey.
- Ensure that market access priorities are embedded in brand planning, regional planning, lifecycle management, and launch readiness processes.
- Maintain a clear view of the external access environment, including payer priorities, competitive developments, funding pressures, and changes in health policy.
Drive Access, Reimbursement, and Funding
- Lead strategies to secure and maintain appropriate reimbursement, formulary inclusion, funding, and availability for Gilead’s HIV portfolio.
- Prepare for and support negotiations with healthcare authorities, payers, procurement organizations, tender bodies, and institutional stakeholders.
- Partner with country teams to develop payer engagement and key account access plans.
- Develop and implement local value stories and pricing and reimbursement strategies in alignment with global direction and local access requirements.
- Oversee the preparation and submission of pricing and reimbursement dossiers, incorporating relevant health economic and outcomes evidence.
- Support tender planning and product availability discussions with relevant cross-functional partners.
Shape the Value and Evidence Strategy
- Define regional value evidence priorities for HIV treatment and prevention in partnership with Medical Affairs, HEOR, global Value & Access, and country teams.
- Lead or support the adaptation of global value materials for Middle East payer and policymaker audiences.
- Assess the need for budget impact models, cost-effectiveness analyses, epidemiological evidence, real-world evidence, and other locally relevant value tools.
- Ensure that economic models and value propositions appropriately reflect local treatment pathways, costs, patient populations, and decision criteria.
- Support the development and communication of evidence demonstrating the clinical, economic, healthcare system, and public health value of Gilead’s HIV portfolio.
- Translate evidence into clear and credible payer value narratives.
- Ensure all activities comply with applicable internal policies, governance requirements, and local regulations.
Prepare the HIV Portfolio and Pipeline for Access
- Lead early access planning for new HIV medicines, indications, formulations, and lifecycle opportunities.
- Identify likely payer, reimbursement, pricing, procurement, and evidence requirements ahead of launch.
- Develop access scenarios and mitigation plans for emerging competitive, policy, and affordability challenges.
- Ensure the needs of Middle East markets are represented in international and global Value & Access discussions.
- Contribute to launch sequencing, value proposition development, pricing strategy, evidence planning, and access readiness.
- Support strategies that protect the value and sustainability of the existing portfolio while preparing for future innovations.
Provide Cross-Functional Leadership
- Serve as the regional Market Access subject matter expert within the HIV cross-functional team.
- Build strong partnerships across Market Access, Commercial, Medical Affairs, Government Affairs, Public Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Legal, Finance, Supply Chain, and Commercial Operations.
- Lead market access workstreams and ensure clear ownership, milestones, risks, and decisions.
- Facilitate alignment between global strategy, regional priorities, and country execution.
- Provide strategic guidance and capability building to colleagues involved in HIV access activities.
- Communicate complex access issues clearly to senior stakeholders and recommend practical courses of action.
- Represent Market Access in appropriate internal planning, governance, and investment discussions.
Essential Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, medicine, life sciences, health economics, public health, business, or another relevant discipline.
- Substantial experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, with significant responsibility in Market Access, Pricing and Reimbursement, HEOR, Government Affairs, or a related function.
- Strong understanding of the Gulf healthcare landscape, including reimbursement, procurement, tender, formulary, and institutional access pathways.
- Demonstrated experience working across Gulf or wider Middle East markets.
- Experience supporting specialized or innovative medicines.
- Demonstrated ability to develop and execute payer, reimbursement, value, or access strategies.
- Experience engaging healthcare authorities, payers, procurement bodies, key accounts, and other senior stakeholders.
- Experience using health economic models, budget impact analyses, value dossiers, or real-world evidence in support of access decisions.
- Strong analytical, strategic planning, negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.
- Ability to lead complex workstreams and influence outcomes in a matrix organization.
- Fluency in English.
Preferred Qualifications and Experience
- Advanced degree in health economics, public health, pharmacy, business administration, healthcare policy, or a related field.
- HIV, antivirals, infectious diseases, or public health experience.
- Experience in both affiliate and regional roles.
- Experience preparing for launches or indication expansions.
- Familiarity with HIV treatment and prevention pathways.
- Experience developing local evidence in partnership with external experts or institutions.
- Arabic language capability.
- Experience working with national healthcare transformation, disease elimination, or population health initiatives.
Leadership Behaviours
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Strategic leadership: Connects external access developments with portfolio priorities and converts insight into action.
- Enterprise thinking: Balances country, regional, international, and global considerations.
- Growth mindset: Demonstrates curiosity, learning agility, and willingness to consider new approaches.
- Collaboration: Builds trust and alignment across functions, markets, and levels of the organization.
- Accountability: Takes ownership for delivery and follows through on commitments.
- Influence: Communicates with clarity and credibility and can influence without direct authority.
- Patient focus: Keeps sustainable patient access and public health impact central to decision-making.
- Sound judgment: Operates effectively in complex, sensitive, and highly regulated environments.
Why This Opportunity Is Different
- Shape access across the full HIV continuum
The role extends beyond reimbursement of individual medicines. It provides an opportunity to contribute to treatment, prevention, diagnosis, linkage to care, and broader HIV elimination priorities. - Combine regional strategy with meaningful local execution
Based in Riyadh, the successful candidate will be close to one of the region’s most strategically important healthcare markets while influencing access strategy across the wider Middle East. - Help prepare the region for the next generation of HIV innovation
The role will connect current portfolio access, prevention strategy, lifecycle management, and pipeline planning, with the opportunity to influence how future HIV innovations reach patients.
For Current Gilead Employees and Contractors:
Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.