Sr. Director, IT Site Head

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Job Description

We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join us as IT Site Head for Cell Therapy in Santa Monica, CA. This role will be a leadership hands-on resource reporting functionally to the CFO of Cell Therapy and dotted-line to the CIO at Gilead (based in Foster City, CA) and a member of the IT Senior Leadership team. This individual is responsible for consulting with the Cell Therapy business units and the Information Technology colleagues to understand technology needs and challenges to ensure that projects align with the technology roadmap and governance process in support of the overall business strategy for the Cell Therapy leadership committee. More specifically, this individual is to be the trusted IT partner for the Executive Management team and the sites that make up the Cell Therapy business unit.

The role of the IT Site Head is to ensure that Kite’s strategic and business objectives of the site are achieved through specific IT initiatives. He/she will be responsible for overseeing and ensuring all aspects of Kite IT operations run effectively and efficiently. The candidate will be responsible for ensuring organizational effectiveness by providing leadership for the organization’s information technology function at the site in full alignment with Gilead’s IT functions. Interact with Corporate Gilead IT to ensure site priorities and needs are addressed. The Cell Therapy IT Site Head will plan, direct and manage the performance of all internal IT operations, so as to maintain and develop business growth in accordance with the overall strategy. The IT Site Head will have a key role to interact with Gilead’s IT Leadership Team (peers) to coordinate delivery through those groups.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES: include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Manage relationships with IT, business units and vendors. Maintain open lines of communications with all parties.

Understand overall IT global corporate strategy and infrastructure including plans to expand in EU (especially Netherlands).

Align strategically with the Cell Therapy executive teams and function heads and define an IT roadmap to enable business priorities.

Act as a trusted IT partner to various business leadership teams (e.g., Commercial and Technical Operations).

Represent Kite/Cell Therapy business unit needs to Gilead’s IT Leadership Team and be an active member of the CIO leadership team.

Co-lead the IT transition plans between Gilead / Kite and escalate / prioritize where appropriate.

Consult with business unit’s and preview IT usage, services, technology, and department specific projects in order to identify, forecast and develop IT needs.

Lead/Participate in various project steering committees related to Kite/Cell Therapy initiatives.

On a daily basis, be an escalation point for major issues.

Coordinate and lead with IT EU Head the build-up of IT in Netherlands in particular.

Ensure that all projects and change controls meet the standards of a regulated industry (FDA, SOX, GxP etc.).

Resolve or escalate scope, schedule, resource and financial conflicts.

Communicate with all stakeholders, management and project teams.

Strong collaboration, communication, business partnering, executive presence, people management and coaching skills are a must.

Actively contribute to hiring IT resources.

Other duties as assigned.

REQUIRMENTS:

10+ years’ experience in Information Technology including project management and business analysis.

Biotech/healthcare industry experience is mandatory.

Broad IT knowledge across areas like Infrastructure, Operations, Applications, Architecture, SaaS and Security.

Successful track record of IT leadership, matrix management, execution and delivery.

Experience supporting “field” resources such as Commercial, Sales & Medical Affairs

elf-motivated with high degree of initiative and excellent follow-up skills, along with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Well organized, results oriented and eager to tackle difficult problems.

Ability to communicate and work effectively with executive management and non-technical users.

Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills are essential in this collaborative work environment.

Comfortable in a fast-paced company environment with minimal direction and able to adjust workload based upon changing priorities.

Must be capable of working autonomously, is a team player and possess the ability to interact and interface with all levels of management and with global teams.

Relevant Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, MIS, Life Sciences, Business; or equivalent experience is preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Comprehensive knowledge of IT infrastructure, applications, telecommunications or other assigned area of expertise.

Experience with large-scale Oracle EBS / ERP implementations in high-growth companies with manufacturing.

Hands on experience with top-tier ERP systems, preferably Oracle EBS within the Life Sciences Industry.

Extensive knowledge of portfolio management and performance monitoring practices and methodologies.

Extensive knowledge of business finance principles.

Extensive knowledge of IT organizational practices.

Ability to build, maintain and extend relationships across the organization.

Ability to manage and direct activities of others in a multi-project environment.

Ability to perform business and process analysis.

JOB COMPENTENCIES:

ADAPTABILITY / FLEXIBILITY

Adapts to change, is open to new ideas, takes on new responsibilities, handles pressure, and adjusts plans to meet changing needs.

BUSINESS FOCUS

Builds business partner confidence, is committed to increasing business unit satisfaction, sets achievable business expectations, assumes responsibility for solving problems, ensures commitments to business needs are met, solicits opinions and ideas from business partners, responds to internal business needs with appropriate sense of urgency.

DECISION MAKING / JUDGMENT

Recognizes problems and responds, systematically gathers information, sorts through complex issues, seeks input from others, addresses root cause of issues, makes timely decisions, can make difficult decisions, uses consensus when possible, and communicates decisions to others.

ORGANIZATIONAL SAVVY

Operates within the organization’s formal and informal structures, builds allies and relationships across departments, uses allies to build consensus and create results, is appropriately diplomatic, and understands others’ roles and perspectives.

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