Cell Therapy Companies Across Maryland are Hiring to Fill Hundreds of New Jobs

The BioHealth Capital Region’s (BCHR) life sciences cluster continues to boom across multiple sectors. Companies of all sizes and focus-areas, from Medtech and biotech to vaccines and telemedicine upstarts are hiring – and the competition for top talent remains fierce.

Perhaps no sector represents this robust hiring push more than the BHCR’s blossoming cell therapy sector. The BHCR has become a burgeoning center for cell therapy development and manufacturing. As a result, a host of cell therapy companies chose to locate themselves within the region to capitalize on its many advantages. 

Kite, a Gilead company, has been at the tip of the proverbial spear when it comes to cell therapy growth within the region. Cell therapy companies NexImmune and Arcellx, and several others are also hiring rapidly, adding new employees each week to the thriving cell therapy ecosystem in Maryland.

If you’re a life sciences professional looking to enter the cell therapy industry or take the next step in your profession, these companies could be a great landing spot for the next phase of your career.  

Kite, a Gilead Company, Frederick, Maryland

Kite, purchased by Gilead Life Sciences for $11.9B in 2017, has built a state-of-the-art commercial cell therapy manufacturing facility in one of the most rapidly growing biotech hubs in the country – Frederick, Maryland. The new facility is set to begin commercial production in early 2022 and will produce life-saving personalized cell therapies for people with cancer, including YescartaⓇ, which was only the second cell therapy approved by the FDA, starting in 2021. TecartusⓇ is Kite’s second approved treatment and the first and only approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). 

​​“We are expecting to grow our workforce from 120 full-time employees to about 300 by the end of first quarter 2022,” shared Jim Jackson in a recent interview with Frederick County Office of Economic Development. 

For interested candidates, Kite is an opportunity to join a global leader at the forefront of cell therapy and grow as a biotech professional by working with some of the most advanced technologies, processes, and automated equipment in the field.  Above all, it’s the opportunity to tell your kids or your parents that you go to work every day and help accomplish something that many people thought was impossible only a few short years ago – curing people of cancer. 

That said, what makes Kite a special place to work is the relationship the Kite team has with cancer patients and their families. To Kite, treating and curing cancer is personal. The “vein to vein” nature of cell therapy—meaning one batch is personalized to treat or cure one patient— mirrors Kite’s deep commitment and connection to the patients its team serves.

“What I really love about Kite is the impact we have on patients. Every time we get a production batch at our facility, we’re holding someone’s life in our hands,” stated Brian Stamper, Senior Director of Manufacturing at Kite. “Patients drive everything we do. Everyone who signs up for Kite takes our culture seriously and can contribute in a very meaningful way.” 

Kite’s culture is centered on great science, its team’s commitment to the mission, and its leadership’s drive to attract, retain, and develop great life sciences talent.

“The best thing you can do as an employer is to value your workers,” stated Chris McDonald, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Kite Pharma, at a panel entitled, “Biomanufacturing and Supply Chain Standardization Key to Success in Cell and Gene Therapy Industry Boom.” “Nothing gets done without your people…If you’re not creating a place where people want to be, you’re not going to do well. We are very focused on making sure that people are excited about coming to work every day,” he added.

See Also: Relocating to Frederick, MD for a BioTech Job

Currently, Kite has 24 job openings at its new Frederick cell therapy manufacturing facility and plans to hire more than 150 new employees over the coming year.

Kite offers dedicated, talented life sciences professionals of all levels an opportunity not only to do great science but to also join a culture that’s passionately committed to its mission to cure cancer. 

NexImmune, Gaithersburg, Maryland

NexImmune was one of our biotechs to watch in 2020, and this remains the case in 2021 and beyond. NexImmune is a clinical-stage biotech in Gaithersburg, MD, developing novel immune-therapeutics based on the proprietary Artificial Immune Modulation (AIM) nanotechnology platform. The AIM platform enables the ability to expand multi-antigen specific T cells with enhanced anti-tumor properties without the need for genetic manipulation.

NexImmune went public in February 2021 after promising trial results and building a highly-respected leadership team. NexImmune’s IPO closed at a value of approximately $110M. NexImmune added to their leadership throughout the year by adding John Trainer, MBA, as Chief Financial Officer. More recently, they added Jerome Zeldis as EVP R&D, Jeffrey Weber as Chief Scientific Advisor, and Immunotherapy Veteran Robert Knight, MD, as Chief Medical Officer.

Leading up to its successful IPO, NexImmune completed doing of their first cohort in Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial of NEXI-001 in Relapsed Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) inj September 2020 and followed that in October 2020 with the first patient dosed in their Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial of NEXI-002 in Multiple Myeloma. A few months later, in December 2020, they presented preliminary results from Phase 1/2 Trial of NEXI-001 with data representing safety and tolerability results from the first five patients treated and reflected a median of four months of follow-up infusion doses ranging from 50-200 million total T cells.

Most recently, as the company continues to hire in support of its pipeline, NexImmune fortified its leadership team while continuing recruiting efforts to hire the right life sciences talent it needs. 

Founded in 2011, NexImmune remains driven, inventive, and bold in its mission to treat cancer and other immuno-mediated diseases using its core technology licensed out of Johns Hopkins University.

The company is actively recruiting talented life sciences professionals that align with its vision of conquering “…cancer and life-threatening immune-mediated conditions by directing natural, disease-specific immune responses.” 

NexImmune is currently hiring for 12 positions in Maryland. You can view these job descriptions here.

Arcellx, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Arcellx is another exciting and promising cell therapy company seeking to bring in new talent. The company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, adaptive, and controllable cell therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. Arcellx’s vision is to bring ARC-SparX platform cell therapies to millions of patients who can self-administer prescribed SparX proteins under the care of academic and community practices.

Arcellx was named by BioBuzz as a company to watch in both 2020 and 2021. The company has not disappointed, as 2021 has seen a rapid succession of important milestones achieved. The company appointed a new CEO in January 2021, accomplished industry executive Rami Elghandour, and shortly after announced it had secured IND clearance from the FDA for ACLX-001, a Controllable Cell Therapy Utilizing the Company’s ARC-SparX Platform, for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma. In addition, this past April, Arcellx closed on $115M in Series C financing to continue to advance its clinical pipeline and its operation.

Positive pipeline data and an influx of capital have induced a hiring push to support the company’s diverse, deep, and advancing pipeline.  

Arcellx is looking for passionate, talented, and mission-aligned life sciences professionals that want to help realize the potential of novel cell therapy technology. The company currently has over 20 job opportunities across a broad spectrum of disciplines. 

The immuno-oncology segment of the market is among the most active among investors and public markets, with analysts projecting it to reach $135 Billion by 2024. As a platform technology company that addresses several significant challenges that exist with current therapeutics, and the momentum behind their clinical programs, Arcellx is in an outstanding position for growth. 

In addition to these high-growth cell therapy companies, dozens of others are also hiring across the region, including:  

American Gene Technologies (AGT) is hiring for a half dozen new positions to continue its growth after recently announcing its HIV cell therapy candidate, AGT103-T, received unanimous support from the Data and Safety Monitoring Board for the continuation of their Phase 1 clinical study without modification. If you are passionate about your work and want to help cure HIV and other human diseases, then visit their career page and look for a role at AGT. 

*Hiring tip – if you don’t see a role that fits you, send them a message about what you are passionate about and what you would bring to the AGT to help accomplish their mission, and you might be able to create a role for yourself there.

Vita Therapeutics, a stem cell therapy company in Baltimore, just raised $32Million to advance therapies to treat muscular dystrophy.  Learn more about them and their CEO, Douglas Falk, and check out the jobs they will be hiring for this year.

Orgenesis is another Baltimore cell therapy company that has developed a unique POCare Platform and aims to reshape the cell and gene therapy ecosystem by lowering costs for innovators, accelerating treatments to market, and expanding patient access.

If you are a Process Development Scientist or Process Engineer with autologous cell therapy experience and want to be on a team that’s shaking up the industry, then this could be the place for you.

Maryland’s cell therapy industry is clearly booming when so many companies from Baltimore to Frederick to Montgomery County are all hiring and expanding their workforce. So if you are looking to grow your career in cell therapy, Maryland is the place to do so.