EVERSANA INTOUCH is hiring: VP, Group Creative Director (Art) in Chicago

Company Description

EVERSANA INTOUCH® is a leading full-service, global healthcare agency serving the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. We provide next-generation creative and media services, enterprise solutions and data analytics services for clients.   

We combine the power of world-class creative and digital teams with deep market access, payer, and healthcare communications expertise to provide innovative solutions to life science companies that want to connect with consumers, healthcare professionals, and payers.    

We get fired up when people talk about getting—and staying—healthy. That’s where we find our inspiration: in the very human experiences of patients, doctors, and even each other. Then, we collaborate on ways to make caring for one’s health more achievable, connecting patients and physicians with the information and tools they need.   

And as a part of EVERSANA, a pioneer in next-generation commercial services, we connect dots that other agencies can’t, helping drive commercialization success.   

Our eight affiliates within the EVERSANA INTOUCH Network include EVERSANA INTOUCH Solutions, EVERSANA INTOUCH Proto, EVERSANA INTOUCH Seven, EVERSANA INTOUCH Oxygen, EVERSANA INTOUCH Engage, EVERSANA INTOUCH B2D, EVERSANA INTOUCH Media, and EVERSANA INTOUCH International.    

Across our growing organization, we embrace diversity in backgrounds and experiences. Improving patient lives around the world is a priority, and we need people from all backgrounds and swaths of life to help build the future of the healthcare and the life sciences industry. We believe our people make all the difference in cultivating an inclusive culture that embraces our cultural beliefs.  We are deliberate and self-reflective about the kind of team and culture we are building. We look for team members that are not only strong in their own aptitudes but also who care deeply about EVERSANA INTOUCH, our people, clients and most importantly, the patients we serve. 

Job Description

WHAT DOES A VP, GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR DO? 

The VP, Group Creative Director (GCD) is an established Creative leader in the industry who actively drives creative in their group, inspiring and managing a team of Creative professionals across multiple brands, audiences and therapeutic categories, approximately $20MM+ in revenue. This role requires a proven, trusted leader with an ability to advance strategic, high-concept, creative campaigns and deliverables in every medium, elevating the work at every turn. The VP, GCD brings extensive industry experience to the table, including launches, label updates and navigating medical-legal hurdles.  

As VP, Group Creative Director, you will be responsible for Creative output and business fundamentals of your group. This includes: 

• Helping to create and/or review creative briefs, ensuring they provide a strong blueprint for on-strategy, brand-building, award-winning creative, looping in the ECD for support 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, expertly able to present compelling, original creative ideas confidently and clearly, supported by strategic rationale and insight 
• Bringing in ECD/CCO and Executive Craft Director at key milestones in original campaign creative including the brief, tissues, and all key-decision in the production process. This also entails ensuring agency counterparts/AM/PM understand this is part of the process (non-original work is considered brochures/banners/derivative work from an existing campaign. All new campaigns or ads, TV pullouts or print campaign extensions are considered original work. Always clarify if there’s a question)  
• Collaborating closely with Strategy, AM and PM to manage and understand client needs and further brand objectives 
• Ensuring TheWrks is written into scopes for concepting and Integrated Production  
• Engaging CraftWrks at the tissue stage on original work and tapping into the Executive Craft Director for all vendor selection and execution milestones   
• Creating opportunities where none exist, ideating on “what if” work, taking into consideration brand KSIs, disease awareness days, advocacy groups, etc. This can be a Creative-only approach, or a collaboration with other disciplines 
• Utilizing brand planning as a time to sell in brand-building, award-winning work for the year ahead that will create buzz for our brands and our clients 
• Ensuring your team is tracking with billability goals and that team members raise their hands/are redeployed during lulls in work–or if we are consistently running hot. These issues should be flagged to Resourcing and the ECD   
• Understanding and expertly managing talent-to-task in terms of staffing and working with AM/PM counterparts to ensure we staff appropriately and profitably, flagging concerns to ECD. Negotiating and advocating for appropriate hours on projects  
• In conjunction with your Leadership 1/L1 counterparts, finding organic growth opportunities, improving ways of working, and promoting business-enhancing/team-building ideas and initiatives   
• Leading Creative teams to new business wins, working with BD leads and collaborating cross functionally to tell a cohesive, strategically sound, compelling story with best-in-class creative that brings it to life  
• Overseeing TV, print shoots and postproduction to ensure everything goes smoothly–this may mean delegating to reports, pulling in your ECD/CCO, or you attending personally  
• Fostering a motivated, satisfied team, creating a strong, healthy culture where people feel supported and challenged by the work they are doing  
• Mentoring reports–and ensuring that there’s a pyramid of mentorship so that every team member is learning and growing 
• Understanding EVERSANA INTOUCH processes, negotiating, troubleshooting, and solving for workflow challenges along with Account, PM, and other affiliate Creative leads. You can always escalate concerns to the ECD. They are there to help. 

Qualifications

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? 

• 12+ years of experience 
• A proven ability to produce strategic, business-building, brand-building, award-winning creative.  
• A proven ability to build and maintain client relationships.  
• A wide range of industry experience, including launches, label updates, etc.  
• Experience in HCP and DTC, DAOR and AOR with an emphasis on AOR expertise and experience 

Department Specific Skills: 

• Acting as a creative and strategic leader.  
• Displaying strong presentation skills and the ability to persuade clients.  
• Ensuring creative excellence, proactively anticipating, and overcoming obstacles.  
• Reviewing briefs to ensure they have a clear, distinct + succinct story and insight.   
• Actively (vs passively) managing work. (This includes knowing the projects in the group and reviewing creative product to ensure the highest quality work.)  
• Displaying judgment to identify and lean into projects with high potential for “pharma first” status, creative awards and industry buzz. Ensure you have the right talent-to-task to achieve the best possible results.  
• Balancing the need for team members to gain experience, while staffing it with individuals you know can produce the highest quality creative for our clients.  
• Proficiency in staffing teams, maximizing utilization, and balancing workloads to keep staff in a prime billability range. (Leveraging PMO/Account/multi-disciplinary partnerships for assistance.)  
• Adeptly managing difficult client challenges, delivering smart creative solutions.  
• Maintaining strong working relationships and communication with Account, Planning, and Subject Matter Expert (SME) teams.  
• Mastery of accessibility best practices and commitment to applying them to all work.  
• Championing DE+I.  
• Maintaining a staff of top-level industry talent for their title and role, achieved through savvy hiring, committing to timely feedback and a rigorous documentation process, and exiting below-average performers quickly.  
• Demonstrating strong business acumen including adherence to timesheet protocol across the group, adhering to aligned on/budgeted hours and OOPs.   
• Managing change, ensuring Creatives and other departments understand the benefits of the change and “what’s in it for them.”  
• Manage affiliate Creative Directors to think opportunistically, display leadership and support the Creative initiatives of the ECD; ensure you have industry-leading, A-list talent in the Creative Director roles.   

Soft Skills: 

• Acting as an ambassador for a healthy creative culture and effectively communicating the vision for the group.  
• Projecting confidence and presenting strong creative and strategic vision, creating a positive impression with clients, internal teams, and cross-agency collaborators.  
• Demonstrating calmness and a solutions-oriented approach in the group.  
• Being a dynamic leader and presenter during client presentations and new business efforts.  
• Championing EVERSANA protocol, policies and values.   

Additional Expectations: 

• Driving a “push-the-work” culture, where creative excellence is revered and striving for creative greatness is standard operating procedure.  
• Adopting and championing a “good enough isn’t good enough” mentality in the group, always pushing for better creative work.  
• Knowledge and awareness of award-winning work at the major awards shows–and a relentless drive to think opportunistically to produce award-winning work.  
• Staying apprised of industry trends and emerging technology.   

Additional Information

OUR CULTURAL BELIEFS: 

• Patient Minded I act with the patient’s best interest in mind.  
• Client Delight I own every client experience and its impact on results.  
• Take Action I am empowered and empower others to act now.  
• Grow Talent I own my development and invest in the development of others.   
• Win Together I passionately connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime to achieve results.  
• Communication Matters I speak up to create transparent, thoughtful and timely dialogue.  
• Embrace Diversity I create an environment of awareness and respect.  
• Always Innovate I am bold and creative in everything I do.  

EVERSANA is committed to providing competitive salaries and benefits for all employees. The anticipated base salary range for this position is $184,000 to $250,000 and is not applicable to locations outside of the U.S.  The base salary range represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position.  Compensation will be determined based on relevant experience, other job-related qualifications/skills, and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living).  EVERSANA reserves the right to modify this base salary range at any time. 

Our team is aware of recent fraudulent job offers in the market, misrepresenting EVERSANA. Recruitment fraud is a sophisticated scam commonly perpetrated through online services using fake websites, unsolicited e-mails, or even text messages claiming to be a legitimate company. Some of these scams request personal information and even payment for training or job application fees. Please know EVERSANA would never require personal information nor payment of any kind during the employment process. We respect the personal rights of all candidates looking to explore careers at EVERSANA.

From EVERSANA’s inception, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion have always been key to our success. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, and our employees are people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds who share a passion for improving the lives of patients and leading innovation within the healthcare industry. Diversity not only includes race and gender identity, but also age, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, religion, and many other parts of one’s identity. All of our employees’ points of view are key to our success, and inclusion is everyone's responsibility.

Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state and local laws, it is the policy of EVERSANA to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or candidate with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship for EVERSANA. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodations applies to all aspects of the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the interview and hiring process, please contact us at applicantsupport@eversana.com.

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