Senior Director, Medical Affairs Operations & Strategy

About Us

Nkarta is a publicly traded (Nasdaq symbol NKTX), biotechnology company headquartered in South San Francisco focused on the discovery, development and manufacturing of off-the-shelf, natural killer (NK) cell therapies. Our near-term goal is to bring cell therapy out into the community setting, dramatically expanding access for patients. 

Founded in 2015 at the birthplace of biotechnology, Nkarta is a fast-growing, fast-moving, clinical-stage company that has built an extensive cell therapy manufacturing operation in anticipation of product commercialization. Our developmental pipeline of engineered NK cell therapies includes clinical programs in B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

Complementing our broad research and development capabilities, Nkarta has also built an extensive cell therapy manufacturing operation.  We recently built out a 23,000-square foot clinical good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, facility on-site at our primary corporate location in South San Francisco, California.

Nkarta is a people-driven company looking for passionate, collaborative, driven team members galvanized by a paradigm-shifting opportunity to change the cell therapy landscape.  

Overview

The Senior Director, Medical Affairs Operations & Strategy will design, implement, and lead Medical Affairs’ operational infrastructure — ensuring a fit-for-purpose foundation that scales effectively with Nkarta’s growth. This individual will be responsible for daily operational excellence, strategic support, and development of plans & activities that support the Medical Affairs Organization, with a keen focus on establishing optimal ways of working, execute a de novo systems build-out of Medical Affairs, development of SOPs/Policies/Best Practices, and provide operational support of Field Medical team buildout. The successful candidate will bring a builder’s mindset, balancing immediate organizational needs with long-term scalability, innovation, and compliance.

 

Responsibilities

A. Medical Affairs Infrastructure & Governance

• Lead the design and implementation of Medical Affairs operating systems, policies, and SOPs that ensure compliance, scalability, and efficiency.
• Develop the Medical Affairs governance model, aligning decision-making, documentation, and cross-functional accountability.

B. Systems, Technology, and Analytics

• Build and optimize technical systems (CRM, content management, analytics dashboards, etc.) to enhance data-driven insights and field effectiveness.
• Ensure data integrity, usability, and integration across Medical, Clinical, and Commercial systems.
• Track and analyze KPIs to measure operational performance and strategic impact.

C. Field Medical Operations & Enablement

• Partner with Field Medical leadership to establish best-in-class field operations, training, and resource support.
• Develop knowledge management frameworks and ensure compliant dissemination of scientific and medical content.
• Lead technology enablement for Field Medical teams (e.g., Veeva CRM optimization, reporting automation).

D. Strategic & Cross-functional Collaboration

• Serve as a key member of the Medical Affairs Leadership Team (MALT), ensuring operational alignment with Clinical Development, Regulatory, and Commercial functions.
• Drive project management and execution of Medical Affairs strategic initiatives.
• Lead change management efforts to ensure adoption of new processes and systems.

E. Financial & Vendor Oversight

• Oversee vendor selection, contracting, and performance management in partnership with Legal and Procurement.
• Manage departmental budget planning and tracking to ensure fiscal responsibility and resource optimization.

 

Qualifications

• Strategic Systems Thinking: Designs scalable processes and anticipates future Medical Affairs needs.
• Operational Excellence: Translates strategy into executable, efficient systems and workflows.
• Cross-functional Influence: Builds trusted partnerships across R&D, Commercial, and Corporate functions.
• Change Leadership: Guides teams through evolving structures and technology implementations.
• Innovation & Agility: Embraces new tools and approaches to optimize Medical Affairs performance.
• Digital Fluency: Applies data, automation, and analytics to enhance medical impact.
• Biopharmaceutical industry experience with previous technical systems implementation, SOPs/policies development, and medical affairs analytics experience is a must.
• Applicable therapeutic experience is a plus.
• Exceptional oral and written communication and interpersonal skills.
• Organizes thoughts and presents content clearly selecting communication vehicles and venues most appropriate to meeting the business needs; recognized by internal stakeholders as a good communicator in both formal and informal business settings.
• Ability to work effectively in a matrix environment and develop strong relationships with a broad range of internal stakeholders (including commercial, clinical, regulatory, legal, compliance)
• Communicates relevant information to appropriate persons/stakeholders in a timely manner; effectively manages communication flow from engagement to closure.
• Demonstrates effective listening skills - active, clarifies, quantifies, and gets "buy-in".
• Deals with ambiguity and uncertainty in a calm, thoughtful and professional way.
• Understands the changing healthcare environment and thinks strategically to suggest and develop new scientific approaches to meet the needs of customers.
• Knowledge and understanding of clinical and regulatory guidelines, legal and financial compliance, and corporate medical affairs operations.
• Demonstrated excellent project management skills and follow through.
• Raises the bar and is never satisfied with the status quo.
• Creates a learning environment, open to suggestions and experimentation for improvement.

 

Education/Background

• Advanced scientific or clinical degree (MD, PhD, or Pharm D) preferred.
• Minimum of 10+ years of Medical Affairs & Operational, Industry-related experience or equivalent required, demonstrating strong leadership competencies and proven teambuilding skills with ability to lead in a global matrix environment.

Working at Nkarta

There are several factors taken into consideration in determining base salary, including but not limited to: job-related qualifications, skills, education and experience, as well as the value of other elements of an employee’s total compensation package.  Nkarta also offers an annual discretionary bonus, equity grant(s), medical, dental, vision and life insurance coverage, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.  Other benefits include 401K plan, flexible spending account, ESPP, employee assistance program, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid parental, pregnancy, and bereavement leave.

The 100+ team members describe working at Nkarta through some of the following comments. While getting better work-life balance and improving communications between groups in an early stage start up environment are two areas on which we are working, here are real, anonymous comments about or regarding why people think Nkarta is a great place to work.

“People are always open to ideas. This company provides a safe place for its employees (covid testing, etc.)”
“Exceptionally talented, committed, *kind* & supportive team.”
“The CEO is transparent and honest with expectations for the whole company. There is genuine care amongst the leadership team for their peers and employees. I believe this is unique.”
“Not to sound corny, but the emphasis on people as a valuable resource is something I recognize doesn't often exist elsewhere, and it's here in ample supply, which is great.”
“It's the first place that I've worked where the executive team truly values the employees. It's a pretty amazing thing not to hear that employees can be replaced with someone new. Institutional knowledge is understood.”
“We have a very diverse team with executives that are friendly and accessible.”
“Smart and dedicated colleagues. Mission to make a difference in patients’ lives. Empower us with tools needed to succeed. Open and transparent culture. Transparent leadership. Handling of covid and running the company was done very well.”

To learn more about our work at Nkarta and the career opportunities that will drive us forward to serve patients, please visit the company’s website at https://www.nkartatx.com.