Art Director - Health & Wellness

Burson; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 50,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Burson, part of WPP, is seeking an ambitious Art Director to become a catalyst for creative excellence across our healthcare and pharmaceutical client portfolio. You will transform complex medical topics into human, culturally relevant visual campaigns and lead visual direction across earned, owned, paid, digital, social, and experiential platforms.

You will mentor designers, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and drive pixel-perfect executions while navigating regulatory requirements and

Qualifications

• 5 years+ agency experience crafting visual concepts in healthcare/pharma/wellness preferred.
• Strong conceptual thinking and high-level execution with pixel-perfect visual design.
• Ability to translate complex healthcare topics into accessible visual storytelling within regulatory guidelines.
• Solid presentation and deck-design skills for internal and client-facing work.

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize and develop original campaign concepts and multi-channel platforms.
• Establish and maintain the visual direction across campaigns for healthcare/pharma clients.
• Collaborate with copy, strategy, and junior creatives to bring ideas to life.
• Produce mood boards, layouts, key visuals, comps, color palettes, and presentations.
• Confidently present creative rationale to leadership and clients.
• Maintain production knowledge across video, digital, social, print, and experiential formats.
• Solve creative and production constraints due to budgets or approvals.
• Package campaigns into compelling case studies for pitches and awards.

Skills

Conceptual thinking

Visual storytelling

Adobe Creative Suite

Generative AI ideation

Presentation design

Tools

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Illustrator

PowerPoint

Job description

Who We Are

Burson, part of WPP, is the global communications leader built to create value for clients through reputation. With highly specialized teams, industry-leading technologies and breakthrough creative, we help brands and businesses redefine reputation as a competitive advantage so they can lead today and into the future. When you work at Burson, you are part of a global community of lifelong learners who thrive at the edge of innovation.

Who We Are

Burson, part of WPP, is the global communications leader built to create value for clients through reputation. With highly specialized teams, industry-leading technologies and breakthrough creative, we help brands and businesses redefine reputation as a competitive advantage so they can lead today and into the future. When you work at Burson, you are part of a global community of lifelong learners who thrive at the edge of innovation.

WPP (LSE/NYSE: WPP) is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unitecutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counselin a single company –powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open,to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com

For more information visit bursonglobal.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

More About The Role

Burson's creative team is seeking an ambitious and conceptual Art Director (AS Level) to become an accelerant and creative catalyst across our portfolio of Healthcare and Pharmaceutical clients.

In this role, you will help grow key healthcare accounts by transforming complex medical and scientific topics into human, culturally relevant, and visual-first campaigns. You are a relentless thinker, passionate about pixel-perfect creative, and adept at finding breakthrough earned concepts within the health, wellness, and pharma space.

Supporting our Associate Creative Directors, you will lead the visual direction for campaigns spanning earned, owned, paid, digital, social, and experiential platforms.

What You'll Do

Craft & Execution

• Conceptualize & Ideate: Develop original, creative concepts, sustainable campaign platforms, and thumb-stopping social, and tactical activations that spark conversations and generate media buzz.
• Visual Direction: Establish the visual approach, look & feel, tone, and visual storytelling across all assets for healthcare and pharmaceutical brand campaigns.
• Creative Collaboration: Partner closely with copywriters, strategy leads, and Associate Creative Directors to bring multi-channel ideas from brief to life.
• Hands-on Design: Create mood boards, swipe, production-ready layouts, key visuals, comps, color palettes, treatments, and high-impact presentation decks.
• Presentation & Selling: Confidently present and articulate creative rationale and visual concepts to internal leadership and external clients.
• Production Mastery: Maintain a solid understanding of the production lifecycle across video, digital, social, print, experiential, and emerging AI design tools.
• Problem Solving: Consistently find creative solutions when faced with budget constraints, regulatory/MLR feedback, or shifting strategic direction.
• Case Study Packaging: Package completed campaigns into case studies for internal education, new business pitches, and award submissions.

Leadership & Process

• Mentorship: Provide basic direction, guidance, and mentorship to Associate Art Directors and Junior Creatives.
• Cross-Functional Teaming: Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including account leads, strategy, production, and PR discipline leads.
• Project Management: Juggle multiple healthcare briefs simultaneously while maintaining quality control, attention to detail, and meeting deadlines.
• Process Improvement: Proactively identify opportunities to streamline creative workflows and team collaboration.
• Adaptability: Demonstrate flexibility and resilience as project demands, client needs, or regulatory requirements shift.

Experience That Contributes To Success

• Experience: ~5 years of experience ideating and crafting visual concepts across multiple mediums within an agency setting (healthcare/pharma/wellness account experience highly preferred).
• Portfolio: A portfolio demonstrating strong conceptual thinking, elevated aesthetic sense, pixel-perfect visual design, and high-level execution across digital, and social campaigns.
• Healthcare Acumen: Ability to translate complex healthcare topics into accessible, engaging visual storytelling, with an understanding of navigating medical/regulatory guidelines without sacrificing creative punch.
• Technical Skills: Expert hands-on proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator), experience leveraging generative AI tools for ideation, and strong presentation deck skills in PowerPoint.

Burson is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package; click here for more details: https://mybenefits.wpp.com/public/welcome.

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range between:

$50,000-105,000 USD

You Belong At Burson

Our vision is for Burson to be the leading 'academy company' for creative communications professionals and emerging leaders. We provide a dynamic environment where ambitious colleagues come to elevate their skills, expand their networks, and ultimately, produce the best solutions for today’s leading brands. Our commitment to your growth is reflected in our robust benefits and people programs, which include professional development opportunities, mentorship programs with industry leaders, a vibrant and inclusive company culture fostering collaboration and innovation and packages designed to reward and retain top talent. We invest in our people because we believe their success is our success.

At Burson, we're an agency of learn-it-alls. We recognize that the things we do best, creativity and communications, require a level of nuanced understanding. That's why it's imperative for us to hire extraordinarily talented people of all backgrounds and identities. Without that we can’t do the essential work of inspiring bold ideas, fostering constructive dialogue, cultivating meaningful experiences, and driving innovation and creativity for our partners. Your unique point of view-what makes you a #BursonPerson, and it’s how we deliver exceptional results for our clients, together.

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we've adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.