Senior Director, Quality Assurance

Job Description

Job Description

Fate Therapeutics is looking for an experienced and hands-on Senior Director, Quality Assurance to lead our Quality organization across GxP functions. You will own the Quality Management System (QMS), ensure our clinical programs and supply chain are inspection-ready, and serve as a strategic partner to Clinical, CMC, Regulatory, and Supply Chain leadership. This is a high-visibility role for a leader who can balance pragmatic, phase-appropriate quality oversight with the strategic vision needed to scale as we grow. This is a full-time exempt position located at our corporate headquarters in San Diego, CA.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute Fate’s Quality Assurance (QA) strategy in alignment with corporate objectives, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices, while maintaining inspection readiness.
• Lead, develop, and scale a high-performing QA organization spanning Quality Operations, Quality Systems, Validation, Supplier Quality, and Clinical Quality.
• Own and oversee administration of Fate’s Quality Management System across all GxP activities.
• Make strategic and operational quality decisions that shape Fate’s quality direction and business outcomes.
• Partner across programs, functions, and external vendors to ensure projects are planned and executed in accordance with company processes and industry best practices.
• Maintain accountability for GxP compliance, quality systems, and regulatory inspection outcomes.
• Provide QA and compliance expertise across product and process development, manufacturing, testing, qualification/validation, supply, and clinical trial execution.
• Review and approve protocols, reports, risk assessments, and supporting technical justification documents, as required.
• Revise, review, and approve applicable documents, SOPs, and policies within Fate’s eDMS.
• Serve as an authorized contact for GMP audits and health authority inspections.
• Review documentation, quality events, and reports in a timely manner, when needed, escalating and supporting resolution of risk-based issues.
• Develop and report quality metrics that identify compliance trends, risk areas, and mitigation plans.
• Maintain current knowledge of regulations, corporate policies, industry standards, and best practices to ensure ongoing QA and QMS compliance.
• Advance QA capabilities by building the technical expertise and compliance systems needed to meet current and emerging regulatory requirements.
• Establish continuous learning and improvement programs that support team engagement, development, and performance.
• Promote a company-wide culture of safety, quality, accountability, and responsible decision-making.
• Perform other duties as required.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in life sciences with at least 10 years of relevant and progressive Quality Assurance experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry; advanced degree preferred.
• Deep cGxP expertise, particularly GMP and GCP, with strong understanding of applicable global regulations, standards, and quality expectations.
• Technical and regulatory experience with biologics, gene therapy, or cell therapy across clinical development and commercial stages.
• Demonstrated experience supporting clinical and commercial products, scaling quality operations, streamlining quality systems, and maintaining global compliance.
• Strong knowledge of QA principles, industry practices, GMP operations, and quality systems, including deviations, CAPAs, change control, and validation concepts for drug substance and drug product manufacturing.
• Proven ability to lead high-performing QA teams, manage people effectively, and develop organizational capability.
• Experience managing third-party contractors and vendors in regulated environments.
• Experience supporting regulatory submissions, commercial product approvals, and regulatory inspections.
• Strong collaboration, team building, communication, and organizational skills, with the ability to align stakeholders around plans and strategies.
• Sound judgment, creative problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while driving projects forward and meeting deliverables.

Working Conditions & Physical Requirements

• Travel may be required (up to 20%).
• Subject to extended periods of sitting and standing, vision to monitor, and moderate noise levels.

Compensation

• The salary offer will be based on a variety of factors, including level, experience, qualifications, internal equity, and location.
• Fate offers a competitive employment package that includes an annual bonus, equity, and a generous benefits package.
• The anticipated salary range for this role is $250,000 - $280,000.

The preceding job description indicates the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. Additional and incidental duties related to the primary duties may be required from time to time.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Privacy Notice

To learn about how Fate collects and uses job application information, please visit Fate's online Privacy Notice.

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing a pipeline of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cellular immunotherapies to patients. Using its proprietary iPSC product platform, the Company has established a leadership position in creating multiplexed-engineered master iPSC lines and in the manufacture and clinical development of off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived cell products. The Company’s pipeline includes iPSC-derived T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell product candidates, which are selectively designed, incorporate novel synthetic controls of cell function, and are intended to deliver multiple therapeutic mechanisms to patients. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit

⚠️  Recruitment Fraud Alert

Recently, we have been made aware of unauthorized individuals falsely presenting themselves as Fate Therapeutics employees or recruiters as part of online scams or phishing attempts. Impersonators may use the Fate Therapeutics name and logo, as well as employee names and job titles, to gain a job seeker’s personal or banking information or to request payment as a condition of being considered for a position at the company. Fate Therapeutics and its employees are not involved in these scams.

Here are a few things to be aware of to help identify recruitment fraud:

- Our Talent Acquisition team only corresponds from our @fatetherapeutics.com domain.

- At no stage in our hiring process will we require payment or ask you to make deposits in your bank account.

- We will only ask for personal information when applying for a position via our Careers page or thereafter.

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- We do not use Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, or other third-party messaging platforms to recruit candidates or conduct interviews.

Please exercise caution. If something feels off about your interactions, we encourage you to contact us at View email address on us.fitly.work to confirm the authenticity of the message. Your security is important to us, and we appreciate your vigilance.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.