The ship is sinking, but keep taking the happy pill! - Anonymous Kite Pharma Employee Review

1.0
Apr 1, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free snacks and food at meetings. Gilead has a good 401k match as well.

Cons

Where to begin.... -toxic culture/environment -management has no idea what’s ever going on but they expect employees to wear many caps to get the job done. Get ready to feel like you’re almost working two 9 to 5s. -Company seems to only work on retaining the bad employees. Favoritism is abound in this place. -clinical is horrible. A lot of grand egos who don’t actually know anything about the process, yet title/experience trumps Kite knowledge, apparently. -Poor hiring leads to incompetent people working, usually at the referral of incompetent managers/workers. -the idea that Kite Speed (silly term used to undermine the fact that employees are overworked and underpaid) is the only thing keeping this place going. A madhouse. - Commercial site is even worse. A lot of Baxter/Amgen vibes have mixed together to create something more toxic than either one. Also, most people are idiots. -Retention is the worst. So many people leaving. Sad!

Explore other reviews about Kite Pharma

5.0
Feb 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing staff and growth potential

Cons

Like most companies hard to understand exactly what upper management goals are

3.0
May 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Great benefits including 401K matching, tuition re imbursement, HSA matching, stock/bonus awards, and wellness awards. - Excellent campus with onsite/subsidized food court, gym, volleyball/pickle ball/volley ball court, zoom enables conference rooms, and shuttle service. - Company shutdown in July and December. - Laboratory spaces stocked with new equipment. - Utilizes electronic batch record system instead of paper.

Cons

- Poor collaboration between site leadership resulting in distractingly competitive environment focused more on positive optics rather than continuous improvement. - Poor short term and long term planning, often resulting in inconsistent operations schedule and unclear deadlines/objectives.

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