A month ago, we took a look at Gilead Sciences ($GILD), the drugmaker that was already in Phase 3 of clinical trials with remdesivir as a possible treatment for COVID-19 patients. And now this week, a Chicago hospital is reporting that its patients are seeing rapid recoveries after being treated with remdesivir. The market quickly responded, and Gilead stock is already trading up in pre-market movement.
At the time of our initial profile last month — and when early trials in Wuhan were already showing early promise — we saw early signs of accelerated hiring activity at Gilead. But now hiring continues to not just accelerate, but the company has posted several VP-level job listings as it prepares for what could be a successful run with remdesivir.
In early 2020, hiring at Gilead in terms of job openings was at its lowest observed level since at least early 2018. At the time, the company's careers site listed 440 openings. As of this week, openings are nearing 700.
Of those nearly 700 openings, at least 13 are Vice-President level positions or above.
|
Title |
As of date |
|---|---|
|
SVP of Global Commercial Product Strategy |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP of Portfolio Strategy |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP, Chemical, Development & Manufacturing Operations |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP, Data Science & Biometrics |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP, Quality Assurance |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP, Regulatory, Safety, & Quality |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
SVP, Therapeutic Area Head- Oncology |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
Vice President, Commercial Legal & Compliance |
2020-04-15 11:23:44 |
|
Vice President, Commercial Legal & Compliance |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Kite |
2020-04-15 11:23:44 |
|
VP & Global Medical Affairs Therapeutic Area Head |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
VP, Global Commercial Product Strategy |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
VP, Project Team Leadership |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
|
VP, Sales & Marketing |
2020-04-15 11:23:43 |
Many of the positions are, indeed, recent, including an opening for "SVP of Global Commercial Product Strategy" which first showed up on Gilead's careers site on March 9, 2020. This position will be responsible for "managing the success of the commercialization process between R&D and the commercial regions."
On March 28, 2020, and opening for an "SVP, Data Science & Biometrics" appeared. This new position is intended to "deepen [Gilead's] insights into complex diseases, enable data-driven decision making and accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of new medicines."
One of the most recent listings is perhaps most interesting here. On April 15, 2020, an opening at Gilead for an "SVP, Regulatory, Safety, & Quality", which seeks someone who will serve "as the key Gilead interface with external regulatory bodies".
Put all of these things together, and it looks like Gilead it shoring up its stable of talented executives ahead of what could be a busy year for the company.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further reading:
- All the data about Gilead Sciences, the company that's already testing a coronavirus treatment
- Gilead Sciences doubles down on salespeople as it heads into earnings season
- Teva goes on hiring spree after FDA approval for its generic EpiPen
