Gilead Sciences K.K. Posted July 15, 2026

Specialist, Quality Assurance

Tokyo, Japan Full time
Quality

Gilead Sciences K.K. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

At Gilead, we’re creating a healthier world for all people. For more than 35 years, we’ve tackled diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19 and cancer – working relentlessly to develop therapies that help improve lives and to ensure access to these therapies across the globe. We continue to fight against the world’s biggest health challenges, and our mission requires collaboration, determination and a relentless drive to make a difference.

Every member of Gilead’s team plays a critical role in the discovery and development of life-changing scientific innovations. Our employees are our greatest asset as we work to achieve our bold ambitions, and we’re looking for the next wave of passionate and ambitious people ready to make a direct impact.

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 Gilead and help create possible, together.

Job Description

We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join us as Specialist for Japan. You will work in the Quality as one of the members of Tech.Ops and collaborate with Commercial teams in supporting commercial operation in this exciting new area of cancer immunotherapy. This individual will work cross functionally to implement, improve, and execute the Good Quality Practice for Kite Japan. Your responsibilities will manage local QMS, and other duties as assigned to comply with local legislation and company requirements. This position will be in Japan, reporting to Associate Director, Quality Assurance at Kite.

Responsibilities (including but are not limited to):

Responsible for quality monitoring of importation of Cell Therapy Finished Products in Japan.

Maintain and update local QMS/ GQP to adhere local regulation (e.g. PMDA).

Provides QA oversight and approves deviations, change controls and product complaints investigations for the manufacture, packaging and shipping events impacting Cell Therapy Products for Japan when applicable.

Provides information, guidance or reports to management when specific compliance issues arise.

Oversee and interface with manufacturing sites (in Japan and overseas) to address and resolve performance issues and quality events.

Maintain metrics related to Quality of Commercial Cell Therapy Product(s).

Support inspection readiness plans and interact with regulatory authorities (PMDA, etc.) during inspections on Kite related matters

Lead or support, product complaints, deviations, or recall/Field Corrective Actions (reporting to Japan health authorities (PMDA, etc.))

Support inspection readiness plans and interact with regulatory authorities during inspections on Kite related matters

Support Lead for affiliate Kite GMP self-inspections

Conduct and manage internal or external audits (including the hospital audit).

Work with Regional and Corporate (Quality) teams, as needed

Collaborate cross-functionally with the Japan Gilead affiliate to fulfill all responsibilities as MAH.

Perform other duties as assigned

Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in biology, engineering or related field preferred.

Minimum of 2 years progressive experience in medical, pharmaceutical or biologics quality systems’ roles or equivalent.

Experience with product import lot disposition, deviation and change control management preferred.

Proficiency for reading and writing in English.

Strong working knowledge of and ability to apply cGMP principles in conformance to Japanese and US preferred.

Broad experience across areas like Quality Assurance and/or Quality Systems and understanding of parenteral and aseptic operations is beneficial.

Previous experience presenting and responding to regulatory agency inspections is beneficial.

Comfortable interacting with regulatory agencies as needed.

Demonstrates proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.

Comfortable use of web-based systems and digital tools as part of daily work operations.

Excellent interpersonal, verbal and technical writing, communication and interpersonal skills are essential in this collaborative work environment.

Comfortable in a fast-paced small company environment with minimal direction and able to adjust workload based upon changing priorities.

Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and willing to accept temporary responsibilities outside of initial job description.

Kite Pharma, an equal opportunity employer. Kite Pharma is headquarters in Santa Monica, CA.

Kite Pharma offers the opportunity to be part of a successful, fast-growing company in a cross functional and collaborative environment.

To learn more about us, please visit our website at   www.kitepharma.com

Sign up to follow @Kite Pharma on Twitter at   www.twitter.com/kitepharma

No phone calls please and no agencies or recruiters

For Current Gilead Employees and Contractors:

Please apply via the Internal Career Opportunities portal in Workday.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 644 comparable Quality roles across 85 biopharma companies.

644Comparable roles tracked
597Currently active
85Companies hiring similar roles
45Countries represented

Salary context

110 of 644 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Technician - QC Laboratory · Lilly $13/hr – $29/hr (≈ $26,998–$60,507/yr)
Highest disclosed · Executive Director, QA Microbiology · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $203,000/yr – $399,400/yr
Peer group range $43,753 – $301,200 (median $159,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 644 comparable roles

United States213
Ireland49
India45
China39
Singapore36
France29

+ 39 more countries

Seniority mix

309 of 644 peers have a known seniority level

Manager116
Senior97
Associate Director26
Director24
Associate23
Principal14
Senior Director7
Executive/VP1
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc1

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 644 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

40%similar
Gilead Sciences K.K. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Regeneron Japan KK Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
BMS Japan Aichi, Japan Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
BMS Japan Otemachi-JP, Japan Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
BMS Japan Otemachi-JP, Japan Associate Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
GlaxoSmithKline K.K. East Japan Distribution Center, Japan
Same function Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

40%
Manager / Sr. Manager, Quality Assurance, Commercial QA
Gilead Sciences K.K. · Tokyo, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Manager, External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy Global Quality
BMS Japan · Otemachi-JP, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
【今市】医薬品規格・試験法の文書作成スタッフ
GlaxoSmithKline K.K. · Imaichi, Japan · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Quality Compliance Manager
Amgen K.K. · Tokyo, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.