Senior Director, Quality Control (QC Head)

Job Description

Senior Director, Quality Control (QC Head) | Gilead Sciences

The Tone:
This is a full-time role at Gilead Sciences, located in La Verne, CA. Gilead develops therapies for diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, and cancer, working to create a healthier world for all people. This role is critical for providing strategic leadership and end-to-end oversight of Quality Control operations at the La Verne site, ensuring GMP compliance, inspection readiness, and robust analytical support for commercial manufacturing and pipeline advancement across small molecule and biologics products.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Location: In-person – La Verne, CA, USA
• Pay: $221000–$286000 yearly
• Team: Reports to the Site Head of Quality and is a key member of the site Quality Leadership Team.
• Mission: Owns providing strategic leadership and end-to-end oversight of Quality Control operations at the La Verne site across small molecule and biologics products.

What You’ll Actually Do
• QC Operations: Lead and oversee all Quality Control functions at the site, including analytical, microbiology, raw materials, in-process, drug substance, drug product, and stability programs across small molecule and biologics platforms.
• Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the site QC strategy, ensuring effective support for commercial manufacturing, PPQ, technical transfers, and new product introductions while maintaining global GMP compliance and inspection readiness.
• Capability Building: Build and strengthen technical capabilities across the QC organization, including analytical expertise, method lifecycle management, and adoption of advanced technologies, while fostering a strong quality culture.
• Global Alignment: Contribute to and lead QC network harmonization and global initiatives, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and practices and partnering with cross-site teams.
• Continuous Improvement: Lead and embed Lean Laboratory principles to improve workflow efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance throughput, driving continuous improvement, digitalization, and automation based on performance metrics.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s degree in a scientific discipline and significant leadership experience in Quality Control within a GMP-regulated environment, specializing across small molecule and biologics.
• Experience: 14+ years in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry, including recognized technical leadership with deep expertise in analytical sciences, and proven experience building strong, technically capable QC organizations.
• Skills: Strong knowledge of global GMP regulations, inspection management, and data integrity (ALCOA+); demonstrated ability to make sound, science-based decisions; excellent cross-functional leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Bonus: Masters or PhD (advanced degree) in a scientific discipline.