Director, Business Strategy and Operations

Job Description

We’re here for one reason and one reason only – to cure cancer. Every moment is dedicated to developing treatments and every action moves us one step closer to our goal. We’ve made incredible scientific breakthroughs and our pioneering personalized CAR T-cell therapies have changed the paradigm. But we're not finished yet.

Join Kite, as we make even bigger advances in cancer therapies, and help shape where our business and medical science goes next.

We believe every employee deserves a great leader. People Leaders are the cornerstone to the employee experience at Gilead and Kite. As a people leader now or in the future, you are the key driver in evolving our culture and creating an environment where every employee feels included, developed and empowered to fulfil their aspirations. Join Kite and help create more tomorrows.

Job Description

The Director, Business Strategy & Operations reports to the Vice President and General Manager, US Commercial, and serves as a strategic and operational partner focused on improving organizational effectiveness and business impact. The role leads business strategy, planning, operating cadence, executive decision support, and organizational effectiveness, partnering across US Commercial to translate priorities into coordinated action and measurable outcomes. This role is based at Kite’s Santa Monica, California, headquarters.

Kite is transitioning from its current Santa Monica headquarters, with employees expected to relocate to our El Segundo, CA or Thousand Oaks, CA office beginning in January 2027. While this role will be based in Santa Monica through 2026, applicants should take this planned relocation into consideration. Kite supports a flexible working policy, offering a balanced approach with two days of remote working and three days working onsite.

This position can be based out of El Segundo, CA, Thousand Oaks, CA or Foster City, CA.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the General Manager (GM), synthesizing complex information into executive-ready insights, recommendations, decision materials, and Board-level communications.
• Translate strategy into priorities, roadmaps, performance measures, operating rhythms, and actionable plans, driving strategic initiatives from development through execution.
• Lead annual strategic, financial, resource, and headcount planning, including coordination of the consolidated Plan of Action.
• Design and manage leadership governance, planning cycles, quarterly business reviews, and accountability mechanisms that enable timely decisions and disciplined execution.
• Coordinate enterprise and functional initiatives across US Commercial, aligning ownership, resources, dependencies, risks, sequencing, and measures of success.
• Represent US Commercial in enterprise and global planning forums, shaping broader decisions and translating enterprise direction into clear commitments for the US business.
• Track business performance and commitments, identify barriers, and drive mitigation, course correction, productivity, and process improvements.
• Lead planning and execution for major GM-sponsored meetings, including National and Midyear Meetings.
• Partner with commercial leadership to coordinate cross-functional readiness for anticipated US product launches.
• Advance organizational and leadership effectiveness by improving how the organization operates, collaborates, communicates, and makes decisions.
• Develop high-impact communications for leadership meetings, business reviews, all-hands presentations, and internal and external audiences.
• Serve on the Kite Commercial BS&O Forum, ensuring alignment between Commercial Strategy & Operations priorities and US Commercial planning and execution.

Basic Qualifications

Advanced scientific degree (i.e., MD, PharmD, PhD) and 8+ years of experience OR

Master’s Degree and 10+ years of experience

OR

Bachelor’s Degree and 12+ years of experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Significant pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical experience leading complex strategic and operational initiatives; experience in commercial, finance, or consulting is preferred.
• Ability to translate enterprise strategy into practical plans and deliver results with rigor, accountability, and attention to detail.
• Strong executive presence, judgment, communication, and stakeholder-influence skills, including the ability to lead without direct authority.
• Demonstrated enterprise mindset and ability to navigate ambiguity, connect cross-functional priorities, and manage competing trade-offs.
• Experience with business planning, financial and resource analysis, project management, and product profit-and-loss considerations.
• Proactive, adaptable, and resourceful, with strong emotional intelligence, curiosity, and a continuous-improvement mindset.
• Demonstrated experience driving organizational transformation and operating model effectiveness, including leading change management and adoption across complex, matrixed environments.

People Leader Accountabilities :

• Create Inclusion - knowing the business value of diverse teams, modeling inclusion, and embedding the value of diversity in the way they manage their teams.

• Develop Talent - understand the skills, experience, aspirations and potential of their employees and coach them on current performance and future potential. They ensure employees are receiving the feedback and insight needed to grow, develop and realize their purpose.

• Empower Teams - connect the team to the organization by aligning goals, purpose, and organizational objectives , and holding them to account. They provide the support needed to remove barriers and connect their team to the broader ecosystem.

The salary range for this position is: $205,615.00 - $266,090.00. Kite considers a variety of factors when determining base compensation, including experience, qualifications, and geographic location. These considerations mean actual compensation will vary. This position may also be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role), paid time off, and a benefits package. Benefits include company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans*.

For additional benefits information, visit:

* Eligible employees may participate in benefit plans, subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

Kite is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies with a goal of providing rapid, long-term durable response and eliminating the burden of chronic care. The company is focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) engineered cell therapies designed to empower the immune system's ability to recognize and kill tumors. Kite is based in Santa Monica, CA. For more information on Kite, please visit . Sign up to follow @KitePharma on Twitter at .

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Kite Pharma is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, and is dedicated to fostering an inclusive work environment comprised of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. Employment decisions regarding recruitment and selection will be made without discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex , age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state and local laws. In order to ensure reasonable accommodation for individuals protected by Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Act of 1974, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, applicants who require accommodation in the job application process may contact View email address on us.fitly.work for assistance.

For more information about equal employment opportunity protections, please view the 'Know Your Rights' poster.

Kite Pharma will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, (c) consistent with the legal duty to furnish information; or (d) otherwise protected by law.

Our environment respects individual differences and recognizes each employee as an integral member of our company. Our workforce reflects these values and celebrates the individuals who make up our growing team.

Kite Pharma provides a work environment free of harassment and prohibited conduct. We promote and support individual differences and diversity of thoughts and opinion.

For Current Kite Pharma Employees and Contractors:

Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.