cell culture technician

senior account manager

senior process engineer

associate director

associate scientist

Kite Pharma

Morning, receiving blood samples in special cold containers to keep the blood pure.  We would receive anywhere from 3 to 10 packages like this per day.  This would take up most of the morning.

I learned about how important cancer research has become.  With today's technology there is hope for people with cancer.  It is amazing to see how far the research has come but yet it is still so far away for a cure.

The hardest part of the day is at the end of the work day, our priority was the perishable items because of the nature of the contents.  We would put all the others deliveries off until the end of the day and sometimes that could mean 90 plus items to get received and put away.

I love the people I worked with, we had so much in common.

pros-
When I was hired here, the people were very friendly. Training was rigorous, but they were super supportive. Benefits were nice, and the team was a cohesive unit. Most of all it was rewarding to see lots being delivered to cancer patients.Management doesn’t know what they’re doing so some share of the manufacturing workload is unevenly distributed among two shifts: day and shift. A high number of CTS I employees from Wed-Sat swing shift left the company due to being overworked and went to Nant*west. The qualifications to be promoted from CTS I to CTS II are not well- defined either enough to the point where someone working for 3 years gets barely promoted at the same level as one that is working barely a year there. As of this writing, people are getting trained for a higher level of work without being promoted in an effort to maintain and crunch time some more lots. 

Pros: Kite's people and mission are outstanding.  The work is very fast paced and demanding. Change is constant as the company continues with its tremendous growth in products, locations and people.  Staff are motivated, professional and bright. 
Cons: There is always too much to do and not enough bodies on hand to get things done without lots of stress.  Change management needs improving - I went through through 3 reorgs in < 1 yr there.  None were well communicated. The last one I was involved in impacted >100 employees and no one could tell us the why the reorg was needed and what improvements were being sought.  
I left Kite for a promotion elsewhere.  I would recommend Kite to others.

Starting out is awesome, but then it's so hard to switch departments even though they tell you they have many opportunities within the company. They'd instead hire outsiders than promote those within that are doing more than their job description.
The Frederick site is ramping up for production which we're not waiting for. We're often understaffed which results on a lot of burden on us, and end up working overtime with no choice because the night shift is understaffed and can't take over.
On the other hand I love the work culture, because the site is so small everyone from the shift knows each other and I'll say that we're pretty close to each other making the workload less tedious.


Facilities Manager was allowed to manage the Department without a Director or another manager.  Manager was able to make decisions for the technicians without question, whether good or bad decisions which relate to equal opportunity and fair treatment of all employees.

Too many detailed-comprehensive attention required to complete any GMP process with inadequate manpower.  Any technician has a very high chance and likelihood of doing two people's jobs.

I loved working at Kite, but after two years of commuting 4 hours per day, it was time to move on to a new challenge.   I made a lot of lifelong friends there and that was the best part.

Kite was a very fast-paced environment to work in but I enjoyed it.  Management was the biggest challenge as Gilead purchased Kite in 2018 and it continued to be difficult to merge the two cultures.   Many folks left because the culture had shifted to a more "corporate" type from the entrepreneurial spirit everyone had enjoyed for so many years.

in the beginning it felt like a great choice..then new members in the management get hired and i never was forced to deal with such toxic management like this one! bunch of liars who get blinded by money and power..it's very sad actually how one or two individuals can ruin the day and the morale of others and don't bother talk to HR back them up..it's like a MOB thing see...i truly believe in helping and being compassionate to others,.. this is what the company is all about! we are treating Cancer people! have compassion for your peers and team members FTE , contractors, everybody!

I worked at kite pharma as a temporary employee for 8 months.  Workplace culture was positive and uplifting,  A typical day at Kite was checking your e-mails for schedule updates and meetings.  Daily schedules are consistent.  Manufacturing delays were not typical. 

Hardest part of a job is being contractual employee, very limited opportunities and no visibility.

Enjoyable part of the job is the positive attitude of the employees on the floor.

Working at Kite was great. Practically everyone is friendly. But how much you will enjoy working there depends on the department you work for. Manufacturing was fun. But if you are in Production Support Team (PST) and not Production Team (PT) there will not be much room for advancement. While the culture was great because the people were cool, part of the time it felt like High School for adults. I liked how they were very casual about work clothes. I enjoyed working there but they did not use the full potential of my talents in PST.

Yes this is one of those places you've heard about in horror stories: culture of fear, abusive, backstabbing, misogynist, cliquey, zero team work, greed driven, zero work life balance. Ex - big pharma management that was let go for their incompetence from various positions at their former Thousand Oaks life, now infests this place at much higher levels than they can handle or know what to do with. If you're not one of them, there's zero career path.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cell culture technician 12 salaries reported	$68,933 per year
Senior account manager 19 salaries reported	$204,068 per year
Senior process engineer 9 salaries reported	$138,512 per year
Associate director 12 salaries reported	$212,191 per year
Associate scientist 8 salaries reported	$122,923 per year

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