Manufacturing Specialist- Operations Support

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 Manufacturing Specialist – Operations Support plays a critical role in sustaining a one team, one culture environment across manufacturing operations while supporting the broader mission of improving patient lives. This role integrates hands on manufacturing expertise with employee focused engagement to strengthen safety, quality, compliance, and human performance across all shifts.

Working Hours

This role requires full flexibility to support day, swing, and night shifts as needed to ensure continuous Manufacturing and GMP Cleaning operations. Candidates must be willing and able to work across shifts. Those unable to meet this requirement will not be considered.

Core Responsibilities

• Provide operational support across all Manufacturing and GMP Cleaning shifts, ensuring consistent coverage in a 24/7 environment. Support swing and night shifts as needed to maintain continuity, resolve issues, and ensure GMP compliance.

• Reinforce a Safety First and Quality by Design mindset. Promote a proactive reporting culture for deviations, near misses, safety concerns, and continuous improvement ideas.

• Maintain a strong on the floor presence to observe manufacturing processes and team interactions. Identify opportunities to strengthen GxP compliance, improve efficiency, and reinforce a one team culture.

• Partner with cross functional teams to support human performance based deviation investigations, ensuring psychological safety, objectivity, and clear root cause identification.

• Provide floor level insights into behavioral drivers, system gaps, ergonomic factors, and workflow contributors to errors.

• Support the assessment, revision, review, and approval of SOPs and other GxP documentation, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and alignment with cGMP and company standards.

• Support the implementation of human performance improvements related to communication clarity, training effectiveness, and cultural behaviors.

• Collaborate with stakeholders such as contingent workforce suppliers and Training to attract, onboard, and retain top manufacturing talent.

• Partner closely with Talent Acquisition and department leadership to align staffing strategies and accelerate effective onboarding and placement.

• Lead deployment and assimilation of new hires within manufacturing operations.

• Design and implement culture focused onboarding to ensure new hires understand expectations, norms, and behaviors from day one. Pair new employees with culture aligned mentors to accelerate integration.

• Develop and deliver training programs, including leadership and soft skills, using adult learning principles. Mentor frontline leaders in empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution.

• Support individual development plans for manufacturing employees and track progress to increase engagement and capability.

• Support talent management and succession planning efforts. Coordinate and facilitate performance calibration sessions for non exempt individual contributor roles.

• Lead policy and process implementations in regulated environments, supporting change management and strong cultural adoption.

• Consistently model organizational values including safety, quality, innovation, integrity, and patient focus. Actively foster a one team culture.

• Ensure cultural, organizational, and safety messages are clearly understood on the manufacturing floor. Provide real time feedback and insights to leadership.

• Facilitate focus groups and town halls. Translate organizational updates into actionable, floor relevant messaging. Conduct regular pulse checks on morale, workload, and team cohesion.

• Proactively identify engagement opportunities and organize team building activities, town halls, and events to improve employee experience.

• Serve as a liaison betwe