Associate Director, Finance

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 fulfill their aspirations. Join Kite and help create more tomorrows.

Job Description

Kite is transitioning from its current Santa Monica headquarters, with employees expected to relocate to our Thousand Oaks, CA, Foster City, CA or El Segundo, 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.

The Associate Director will serve as a strategic finance partner to leaders across the Kite organization. The role will lead forecasting and budgeting, decision support and analysis, management reporting, and process improvement initiatives.  Success requires the ability to interact with and present effectively to senior leaders across Kite.

As an Associate Director, Kite Corporate FP&A, you will...

Essential Responsibilities:

• Lead planning and forecasting: Own the long-range plan (LRP), Annual Budget, periodic forecasts, and scenario analyses for Kite. Translate business strategies and operating assumptions into well-supported financial plans and provide clear recommendations on resource allocation, trade-offs, and investment priorities.
• Oversee consolidation and reporting: Lead the end-to-end consolidation of budgets, forecasts and actuals. Deliver accurate, timely, and decision-ready management reporting packages that meet functional and corporate requirements.
• Serve as a strategic finance partner: Build strong partnerships with senior leaders across the supported functions, Accounting, and Gilead Global FP&A Consolidations, providing objective guidance, constructive challenges, and practical solutions.
• Drive performance management: Analyze results and forecasts, identify key drivers, risks, and opportunities, and partner with leaders on actions to meet financial goals.
• Develop executive insights: Distill complex financial and operational data into clear presentations highlighting implications, recommendations, and decisions.
• Build financial models: Evaluate strategic initiatives, scenarios, investments, and business needs through modeling and sensitivity analysis.
• Support close activities: Partner with Accounting and the business to review accruals, validate results, investigate variances, and communicate performance.
• Improve processes and systems: Lead initiatives that enhance planning, reporting, data quality, and efficiency, including Future of Finance initiatives.
• Strengthen governance and controls: Ensure compliance with policies and controls, address gaps, and protect financial reporting integrity.
• Manage priorities and ad hoc requests: Deliver high-priority analyses and projects while balancing recurring work, emerging needs, accuracy, and responsiveness.

Key Competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal skills: an inquisitive mind, and the ability to work effectively with multiple functions are required. Ability to quickly establish credibility with diverse audiences and be perceived as a leader is required.
• Business Savvy and Financial Acumen: The candidate will possess technical knowledge on analytics, business foresight, and problem-solving skills.
• Results Orientation: The ideal candidate will be results-driven and must thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.  You must have the ability to deliver results and possess a strong drive to meet and exceed goals and are willing to take ownership of problems and make sound decisions.
• Change Leadership: The candidate will be an independent self-starter and a proactive leader with a drive to strive for continuous improvement and consistently challenging the status quo.  Will be viewed by business partners and Finance colleagues as a thought leader with strong, influencing capabilities, who can also maintain open and transparent communication channels.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree and Ten Years' Experience 

OR 

Masters' Degree and Eight Years' Experience 

Preferred Qualifications

• SAP experience
• Experience in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.
• Experience working in a multinational organization.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities.
• Demonstrated success in a deadline-driven, multitasking environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.

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: $165,495.00 - $214,170.00. 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 [email protected] 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.