Kite Pharma, Inc. Posted September 22, 2026

Associate Director, Lymphoma, U.S. Medical Affairs

El Segundo, United States Full time
Medical Affairs Associate Director
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Kite Pharma, Inc. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the U.S. Medical Affairs Team with a focus on Lymphoma & Leukemia. In this role, you will contribute to one of the recent, most impactful medical advancements in patient care and will work towards better outcomes for patients with hematological malignancies.

We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join our U.S. Medical Affairs team as an Associate Director, to support our lymphoma franchise. This role will work cross-functionally with multiple stakeholders including:  Field Medical, Commercial, Market Access, HEOR/RWE and Global Medical Affairs, along with other cross-functional subject matter experts and key business partners to implement on tactics consistent with overall in-line and pipeline strategy. This position will report to the U.S. Lymphoma Medical Strategy Lead.

Position will be filled and report into Foster City, CA, El Segundo, CA, Thousand Oaks, CA, or Parsippany, NJ.

Job Responsibilities

Independently lead on priority workstreams, while contributing to the broader medical planning and execution of the U.S. Lymphoma Medical Affairs strategy.

Serve as a strategic medical partner to US Field Medical, Commercial, Market Access, HEOR/RWE, Global Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Safety, and other cross-functional teams.

Translate clinical data, disease-area insights, and external stakeholder perspectives into actionable medical strategy, field priorities, and evidence-generation opportunities.

Assist with the refinement of scientific communication platforms, core medical content, FAQs, slide decks, and field resources that enable compliant, high-quality scientific exchange.

Co-lead on advisory boards, expert engagement plans, congress activities, symposia, medical education initiatives, and stakeholder events aligned with medical objectives.

Represent U.S. Medical Affairs in cross-functional forums, disease-area teams, and governance meetings, providing scientific leadership and clear recommendations.

Partner with Field Medical to translate medical strategy into execution, including training, scientific narratives, insight generation, and responsive medical resources.

Provide medical review and approval of promotional, educational, and scientific materials through appropriate review committees, ensuring accuracy, balance, and compliance.

Contribute to publication planning, evidence-generation strategy, investigator-sponsored research review, and real-world evidence initiatives in collaboration with Medical Affairs Operations, HEOR/RWE, Clinical Development, and Global Publications.

Manage cross-functional project teams, timelines, deliverables, budgets, and agency partners to ensure high-quality execution of Medical Affairs priorities.

Identify business and field medical needs, anticipate risks, remove barriers, and drive practical solutions that improve efficiency, consistency, and strategic impact.

Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external experts to support scientific exchange, insight generation, and medical education objectives.

Maintain the highest standards of scientific integrity, ethics, regulatory compliance, and collaboration across all Medical Affairs activities.

 

Preferred Qualifications

BA/BS and 10 years relevant experience, MA/MS and 8 years relevant experience, or PhD/PharmD and 2 years relevant experience required.

Advanced scientific or medical degree required; MD, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent advanced degree in life sciences, immunology, oncology, or a related discipline preferred.

5+ years of relevant pharmaceutical or biotechnology experience, with demonstrated Medical Affairs experience in oncology; lymphoma, leukemia, or cell therapy experience strongly preferred.

Strong understanding of Medical Affairs strategy, evidence generation, scientific exchange, publication planning, and compliant medical review processes.

Proven ability to translate complex clinical data, disease-area insights, and external stakeholder perspectives into actionable medical strategy and field resources.

Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment, partnering effectively with Field Medical, Commercial, Market Access, HEOR/RWE, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Safety, and Global Medical Affairs teams.

Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to influence, align, and engage diverse internal and external stakeholders.

Strong project management, organizational, and prioritization skills, including the ability to manage multiple complex initiatives, timelines, budgets, and agency partners with limited direction.

Collaborative, solutions-oriented self-starter with sound judgment, high accountability, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Demonstrated ability to build effective relationships with external experts and internal partners to support scientific exchange, insight generation, and medical education objectives.

Strong attention to detail, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify risks, remove barriers, and drive practical solutions.

Proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and project management tools.

Ability to travel domestically and internationally for congresses, advisory boards, and stakeholder engagements, approximately 35%.

The salary range for this position is:

Other US Locations: $177,905.00 - $230,230.00.

Bay Area: $195,670.00 - $253,220.00.

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:

https://www.gilead.com/careers/compensation-benefits-and-wellbeing

* 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 www.kitepharma.com . Sign up to follow @KitePharma on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kitepharma .

For jobs in the United States:

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  ApplicantAccommodations@gilead.com for assistance.

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

NOTICE: EMPLOYEE POLYGRAPH PROTECTION ACT

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

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.

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
El Segundo, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 536 comparable Associate Director Medical Affairs roles across 89 biopharma companies.

536Comparable roles tracked
501Currently active
89Companies hiring similar roles
40Countries represented

Salary context

157 of 536 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Associate Director Medical Science Liaison - East · IQVIA $230/yr – $280/yr
Peer group range $255 – $258,000 (median $182,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 536 comparable roles

United States243
China89
Japan40
Germany30
India24
South Korea12

+ 34 more countries

Seniority mix

536 of 536 peers have a known seniority level

Senior240
Manager211
Associate Director85

Therapeutic area mix

173 of 536 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology79
Immunology25
Neuroscience23
Dermatology & Aesthetics18
Rare Disease9
Cardiovascular / CVRM7
Vaccines & Infectious Disease6
Gastroenterology2
Respiratory2
Ophthalmology2

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Remote, United States Associate Director
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60%similar
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Associate Director
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Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Remote, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Medical Affairs job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
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Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. · Remote, United States · Associate Director
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.