Kite Pharma, Inc. Posted October 9, 2026

Sr Director, Clinical Development (MD)

Foster City, United States Full time
Clinical Development Senior Director
Notify me about similar jobs

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

The Senior Medical Director provides clinical oversight to one or more clinical trials. Additionally, the Senior Director guides the project teams to design and implement clinical studies at high quality and in a time and cost-effective manner in line with the department and corporate goals and within regulatory and resource guidelines.

Job Responsibilities

Provide clinical oversight and medical monitoring to one or more clinical trials

Lead project teams to design and implement clinical studies

Write protocols, investigator brochures, clinical study reports and review clinical trial documents

Conduct investigator meetings and lead site initiation visits with clinical trial investigators

Implement and deploy drug development strategic plans, develop contingency plans, provide technical and strategic advice, and meet milestones and budgets

Translate findings from research and nonclinical studies into clinical development opportunities

Interact with clinical investigators and thought leaders

Work with internal regulatory affairs team and other ethical guidelines relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, and ensure compliance with these external guidelines

Work with internal pre-clinical scientists, translational scientists, business and commercial organizations in a cross functional manner

Work in a team environment comprising clinical operations, biomarker specialists, CROs, and regulatory affairs

Provide clinical expertise and input for regulatory filings (i.e., BLA, MAA) as well as response to questions from regulatory authorities in the context of IND submissions, clinical trial applications or filing procedures

Provide clinical guidance and work in a team environment in interactions with external stakeholders (medical experts, advisory boards, patient advocacy groups) and internal stakeholders (Research, Translational Sciences, Clinical Operations, Safety, Regulatory, Medical Affairs, and Commercial)

May present scientific information at scientific conferences as well as clinical study investigator meetings. Where applicable, takes a lead on authoring scientific publications

May assist in the clinical evaluation of business development opportunities

Basic Qualifications

MD/DO and 6+ years of clinical research or drug development experience

Preferred Qualifications

Board certification/specialization in neurology and experience managing phase 1-3 trials; late stage experience is preferred

4+ years of relevant drug development experience, either within industry or as a clinical investigator/physician scientist in academia, or equivalent experience; drug development experience in neurological diseases including neuro autoimmune diseases are highly desired

Demonstrated clinical development strategist with experience designing, implementing and conducting clinical trials, with emphasis on proof-of-concept and first-in-human studies

Strategic leadership and tactical skills, excellent initiative and judgment

Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain excellent working relationships with both internal colleagues and external contacts, including key thought leaders, and investigators

Demonstrated ability to work well in teams in a cross functional manner

Ability to communicate and work in a self-guided manner with scientific/technical personnel

Ability to think critically, and demonstrated troubleshooting and problem-solving skills

Self-motivated and willing to accept responsibilities outside of initial job description

Comfortable in a dynamic small company environment with minimal direction and able to adjust workload based upon changing priorities

May travel up to 25%

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 work you do at Kite will help change how cancer is treated and ensure patients and their families have more time together. Ready to create more tomorrows with us? Hit apply.

The salary range for this position is:

Bay Area: $302,005.00 - $390,830.00.

Other US Locations: $274,550.00 - $355,300.00.

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
Senior Director
Function
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Foster City, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 340 comparable Senior Director Clinical Development roles across 56 biopharma companies.

340Comparable roles tracked
312Currently active
56Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

181 of 340 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 $302,005/yr – $390,830/yr
Peer group range $0 – $458,800 (median $288,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 340 comparable roles

United States280
United Kingdom20
Switzerland7
India6
Spain5
France3

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

340 of 340 peers have a known seniority level

Director251
Senior Director54
Executive/VP35

Therapeutic area mix

115 of 340 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology63
Immunology13
Neuroscience12
Cardiovascular / CVRM9
Respiratory6
Dermatology & Aesthetics4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Rare Disease2
Ophthalmology2
Gastroenterology1

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
Mylan Inc. United States Remote Office, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. Cambridge Crossing, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Warren, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Remote, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Senior 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 Clinical Development 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%
Senior Director Nonclinical Development
Mylan Inc. · United States Remote Office, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Development Program Management- Oncology
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Warren, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director of Clinical Science - Lung
Merck · New Jersey, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Oncology Clinical Development, Early Phase
ModernaTX, Inc. · Cambridge, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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.