Bad Leadership - Clinical Kite Pharma Employee Review

2.0
Nov 5, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A lot of smart people work at Kite. Benefits are great and hours for most groups are very flexible. Free snacks and beverages are available for all employees.

Cons

Bad management really ruined it for me. Leadership in clinical and commercial do not like working together and act more like a roadblock for each other. I do not think they realize that the employees not in management end up dealing with more unnecessary job tasks because of this. Management is just looking for people to agree with them rather than make a meaningful contribution to make the company better. A lot of the older employees are still stuck in "start-up mode" and refuse to change their ways instead of allowing the company to be stronger and more structured. Promotions and raises are based more on favoritism rather than the quality of work that is done. A lot of throwing people under the bus to make themselves look better. Compensation is low compared to other companies. HR likes to determine the salaries based on the national average, but this is California. Biotechs in the bay area and San Diego area pay much more from my experiences.

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

1.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits from the parent company are the only pros here.

Cons

The work environment is extremely toxic and hostile towards those that are efficient and good at their responsibilities and roles. The workplace favors extreme incompetence across manufacturing, technical training and quality departments. I’ve never seen a company where associates can get into physical altercations and still keep their jobs. The people leaders that tried to hide that altercation should be cut immediately but that’s not what they like to do over at kite pharma where instead of focusing on the cure they like to focus on other people’s bodies. They like to reward incompetence with less responsibilities and praise while those who are competent enough get reprimanded with made up lies. There’s no point in providing feedback to the people leaders because they will twist your words in order to make it so that it looks like you are going against their precious core values. It doesn’t matter what you say because once they’ve made up their minds that you’re not exhibiting enough teamwork and inclusion then that’s it. If you’re not competent enough at your job then for sure there will big bonuses and raises waiting at year end review. People leaders will absolutely twist and turn the HR processes that are designed to protect personnel against them. There’s a lot of heavy abuse when it comes to making a complaint against any individual. Lots of biases involved since it seems that no one at this company have friends outside of work so they take everything as a personal attack on their “friends”. Lots of individuals needs to be tiptoed around on eggshells or they might get offended at the slightest breeze, people leaders don’t see that these people are the problem but insist on turning a blind eye labeling it as anti-inclusive , anti-teamwork, anti-collaboration and whatnot. Never know when the next person is going to get offended and start acting like they have been a victim their entire life

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