Pros
For those new to management, Gilead has careful curricula centered around all of the soft skills one would need to create a decent foundation in managing people. While it isn't necessarily required that you take them, I do feel that taking advantage of what they offer helps give some support to those new to (or challenged by) line managing others. At least, they do better than assume that once you're a technical expert that you also know how to manage people. Gilead does hire generally well, and this perhaps speaks to the success of bringing drugs to market. It just ultimately doesn't respect those hires in the long haul.
Cons
Senior management (Directors on up) should be required to take extended versions of Gilead's management training. No matter what you are told when you come on board, Gilead does not care about you. While this might be true of most companies in a corporate system, most of them aren't this blatantly hypocritical. This company will chew you up and spit you out without blinking. The core values are a joke; brainwashing in place to keep the junior staff in line and rarely evidenced by senior management. In fact, quite the opposite. Middle management (me) has to tow the line no matter what. It's not about doing your job well, it's about kowtowing to your manager and making them feel powerful and in control, and making sure you are falling in line. Saving face. Looking good. Putting other people down. Scapegoating. Those are the real Gilead core values. This is the first place I have worked where there merit doesn't really factor into the equation - it's about who likes you. In fact, if you try to do something to help your department or company, those are the very they will find a way to admonish you for. (At other companies, these types of efforts are usually lauded.) If your goal is to be king of the nerds with your grown up version of mean girls, (and you think this is more important than relationships with OLs or helping patients, or even growing and developing your people) then Gilead is the place you for you. But be careful and watch your back. Everyone there - everyone - all the way on up the chain, has to watch their backs. You fall out of favor one day and you are O-U-T out. In clinical operations, your senior management will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat - I have seen it happen time again to colleague. It's as if Gilead takes it's people - it's most valuable resource - and just crushes the soul of of them. At Gilead, there is no real acknowledgement of success; rather a focus on just "areas for growth" and "development opportunities". Who cares about what you actually did? It's all about how much sunshine you blew your manager's (and his/her manager's) way.