Group Creative Director, Art; Health

About VML

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human‑first, award‑winning work for blue‑chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate‑Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca‑Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization.

In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.

VML HEALTH is a global healthcare agency that partners with healthcare clients across a broad definition of health, from high science to wellness and everything in between. It operates fluidly within the VML agency, as a core group of health specialists (a ‘vertical’) that has the benefit of autonomy in management, but with support of non‑health expertise. At the heart of health is the story of life – all the highs and lows, ambitions, and possibilities.

But facing a health challenge can suddenly pull people away from these stories, knocking them off course. Our purpose is to bridge this gap, bringing people closer to life and all its meaning. We gain a deeper understanding of Healthcare Professionals’ and patients’ needs, behaviors and lived experiences through what we call ‘radical empathy’. VML Health creates connected brands that get to the heart, bringing people closer to the lives they want to live.

Get to the heart. Connect for life.

VML Health is seeking a highly strategic and visually driven Group Creative Director, Art to lead and inspire our art and design teams. This role will be the go‑to creative leader for assigned brands, providing thoughtful leadership, strategic clarity, and direction to develop strong visual concepts that solve clients’ business challenges. The GCD, Art will be a champion of innovative and elevated art direction and design, pushing boundaries and inspiring teams to create award‑worthy work.

• Go‑to creative leader for assigned brands: provides thoughtful leadership, strategic clarity, inspiration and direction to teams and helps develop strong visual concepts that solve clients’ business challenges.
• Provide actionable, clear and strategic feedback for teams and help push the boundaries to encourage innovative and elevated art direction and design.
• Conceive and persuasively present award‑worthy visual concepts and recommendations to internal teams and clients.
• Lead production efforts and demonstrate ability to work within budget or can articulate justification to increase budget for projects, ensuring art and design are effectively integrated.
• Foster strong relationships with clients and spot opportunities to enhance or build on a project (upsell), leveraging the power of compelling visuals.
• Identify when process or system is broken and proactively work with team to address any issues related to art and design workflows.
• Present confidently to client and clearly communicate how creative art and design work meets the strategic and business objective.
• Oversee and/or lead art and design teams in multiple locations.
• Manage multiple projects, sometimes for various brands with different scopes and ensure all project of self and team deadlines are met, with a focus on excellence in art direction and design.

• Possess a high degree of creativity: ability to generate innovative, award‑worthy creative and strategic art and design ideas that solve clients’ business challenges.
• Display confident and persuasive presentation skills and can respond well to challenging client situations, particularly when defending art and design choices.
• Comfortable with pushing back on brief or strategic direction as…