Creative Director, Healthcare, Ruder Finn

About the role

Ruder Finn is seeking a Creative Director, Health to join our dynamic team. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in health care communications and creative direction, exceptional leadership skills, and a passion for innovation and creating culturally relevant ideas.

Responsibilities

• Design, lead, and support brainstorms, planning sessions, workshops, and concept development meetings for existing clients and new business opportunities
• Develop creative briefs, strategic platforms, audience journeys, content themes, campaign approaches, and integrated program recommendations
• Steer concept development and creative execution across integrated campaigns
• Translate client priorities, research findings, analytics inputs, cultural signals, social trends, stakeholder considerations, and marketplace dynamics into clear creative territories, executable ideas and actionable plans
• Ensure all creative outputs are aligned to strategy, creative concept, as well as all creative outputs — from visual assets to copy — are strategically aligned, on-brand, and delivered to the highest standard
• Present creative approaches, and integrated program ideas to internal teams and clients, clearly articulating rationale, business value, and creative opportunity
• Act as the primary creative point of contact for key clients, building trusted partnerships and delivering creative counsel that inspires confidence
• Partner with strategy, client leadership, digital, analytics, and creative teams to develop earned-first ideas that transform complex science, data, and healthcare issues into programs that build trust, shape reputation, and inspire action
• Support integrated healthcare communications programs across product, corporate, disease awareness, branded and unbranded campaigns, pipeline and milestone moments, thought leadership, executive visibility, advocacy, social, influencer, content, paid, and stakeholder engagement workstreams
• Contribute to new business efforts by developing pitch narratives, integrated program structures, activation concepts, planning frameworks, and presentation-ready recommendations
• Support proposal development and pitch preparation, including helping translate insights, ideas, and campaign approaches into clear, compelling materials
• Review, refine, and strengthen client-facing materials, including strategic plans, POVs, creative briefs, campaign write-ups, planning documents, creative rationales, and presentation decks
• Identify audience, cultural, healthcare, marketplace, digital, social, and influencer trends that can inspire stronger strategy, planning, program design, and creative development
• Ensure ideas and program plans are credible, compliant-aware, health-literate, audience-appropriate, and sensitive to healthcare communications considerations
• Explore emerging technologies, AI-enabled creative workflows, and new storytelling approaches that improve creative quality, accelerate ideation, and enhance client outcomes
• Demonstrate curiosity by exploring emerging cultural behaviors, healthcare trends, audience needs, technologies, and creative inspiration to uncover new strategic opportunities

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in creative strategy, planning, integrated marketing, communications, or a related creative environment, with at least 5 years focused on health care strategy and communications
• Strong healthcare communications experience, with an understanding of audience engagement, stakeholder needs, and integrated program development
• Experience working in an agency environment or closely with cross-functional agency teams is strongly preferred
• Experience supporting product communications, including branded and unbranded campaigns, launch or lifecycle communications, data milestones, regulatory milestones, disease education, and competitive positioning
• Deep understanding of the health care landscape, including creating compelling creative in a compliant, regulatory friendly manner
• Strong knowledge of pharmaceutical marketing and all that it entails: disease state and product science, therapeutic industry standards, legal restrictions and competitive markets
• Experience in creating DSE, unbranded and branded programming, with drug launch know-how a must
• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, advertising, writing, design, strategy, or a related field
• Strong conceptual thinking, writing, visualization, presentation, and facilitation skills
• Able to translate complex healthcare topics, client priorities, research findings, marketplace dynamics, and audience insights into clear creative briefs, planning frameworks, and actionable recommendations
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to organize complex assignments, manage timelines, align stakeholders, track deliverables, and keep teams moving toward execution
• Able to work effectively across account, digital, social, analytics, creative, and senior stakeholder teams
• Curiosity, creative energy, cultural awareness, and a strong understanding of how audiences engage with health information, brands, issues, and ideas
• Curiosity and comfort with integrating AI into communications and workflows
• Operational mindset with the ability to bring structure, clarity, accountability, and quality control to integrated planning and campaign development
• Portfolio demonstrating strategic, insight-led communications ideas across healthcare, corporate communications, integrated campaigns, or related work required

Benefits and More

• Competitive base salary and bonus opportunity
• Enrollment in Health, Dental, Vision, company paid Life Insurance, Flexible Spending Account, and 401k (match) plan
• Monthly allowance for cell phone, office equipment, etc.
• Generous PTO policy with paid maternity/paternity leave
• Transit benefits
• Professional learning and development opportunities
• Workplace flexibility
• On-site and off-site social gatherings

Pay

The anticipated salary range for this position, at the time of posting, is $150,000-$210,000. The salary of the applicant selected for this role will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, education, internal equity, geography, relevant years of experience, certifications, skills, abilities of the selected applicant, and other job-related qualifications.

Schedule

Flexible schedule to accommodate the needs of the role and the team.

Skills

• Strong healthcare communications experience
• Experience supporting product communications
• Understanding of audience engagement, stakeholder needs, and integrated program development
• Knowledge of pharmaceutical marketing and disease state and product science
• Experience in creating DSE, unbranded and branded programming
• Strong conceptual thinking, writing, visualization, presentation, and facilitation skills
• Ability to translate complex healthcare topics into compelling ideas
• Strong project management skills
• Portfolio demonstrating strategic, insight-led communications ideas
• Curiosity and comfort with integrating AI into communications and workflows
• Operational mindset with the ability to bring structure, clarity, accountability, and quality control to integrated planning and campaign development

Benefits

• Health, Dental, Vision, company paid Life Insurance, Flexible Spending Account, and 401k (match) plan
• Generous PTO policy with paid maternity/paternity leave
• Transit benefits
• Professional learning and development opportunities
• Workplace flexibility
• On-site and off-site social gatherings