Creative Director, Visual Storytelling

Thornton Tomasetti; United States; On-site; USD 149,000 - 299,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free employee medical coverage

Excellent retirement savings plan

Tuition reimbursement

FreeU education benefit

Diversity recognized employer

Job summary

Abbott is seeking a Creative Director to lead its internal visual storytelling team, spanning video, motion graphics, and photography, and to set the craft standard across all platforms.

You will direct high‑volume productions, coach multidisciplinary teams, and ensure storytelling remains authentic to patient impact while aligning with brand and regulatory requirements.

Qualifications

• Experience running an in‑house video studio for a major healthcare brand: leading a team, setting standards, and delivering high volume across business lines (portfolio required).
• 15+ years as a working director and cinematographer, including founding and running a production company for national brands.
• Deep documentary craft: interviewing real people, finding true moments, building emotion without a script.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary creative teams, including editors, motion designers, and photographers.
• Experience making platform-specific edits and working with social teams on content built for the feed.
• Comfortable in regulated healthcare review.
• Strong presenter who can sell creative to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own the creative vision and storytelling standards for all video, motion, and photography the team produces.
• Review treatments, edits, and final work; maintain the quality bar on everything that ships.
• Lead on set and model the craft, from documentary interviewing to cinematography.
• Direct and shoot priority productions: patient stories, brand films, executive content.
• Develop editors, animators, and photographers with hands‑on coaching.
• Set craft standards for vertical and sound‑off viewing and adapt for social channels.

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION: WORKING AT ABBOTT:

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and family, be your true self and live a full life.

You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of
• Free medical coverage for employees* via the Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO
• An excellent retirement savings plan with high employer contribution
• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree
• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries around the world and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune
• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as a best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists

THE ROLE

Lead Abbott's internal visual storytelling team, spanning video, motion graphics, and photography, and own the creative quality of the work across all of it. The Creative Director sets the storytelling and visual standard, directs the most important productions personally, and builds the team and systems to produce agency-level work at internal speed. Abbott's stories are about real people and technology that changes their lives. This role exists to make sure those stories are told with the craft and honesty they deserve, on every platform where people actually watch.

WHAT THE ROLE DOES

Creative leadership Own the creative vision and storytelling standards for all video, motion, and photography the team produces Review treatments, edits, and final work; hold the quality bar on everything that ships Act as the senior creative voice on visual storytelling across Abbott, helping brand teams figure out when film, motion, or photography is the right tool and how to use it well Craft Direct and shoot priority productions: patient stories, brand films, executive content Lead on set and model the craft, from documentary interviewing to cinematography, so the whole team levels up Guide post through edit, color, sound, and motion design Motion graphics and photography Lead the motion GFX and photography team(s): set one visual language across film, motion, and stills, with the same documentary honesty throughout Develop editors, animators, and photographers with the same hands‑on coaching as the film side Platform-native storytelling Every platform gets its own edit, designed at the treatment stage, never cut down after the fact Set craft standards for vertical and sound-off viewing, including how stories open in the first two seconds Build lighter, faster production models for social alongside flagship films Partner with the social and digital teams who own the channels, and let what performs shape how stories get made Team and operations Mentor and develop the team through hands‑on coaching and honest creative feedback Build workflows and intake that let a small team handle high volume without losing quality Manage budgets, freelancers, vendors, and gear; scale up crews for big productions while keeping a small, unobtrusive documentary footprint Bring in AI production tools where they genuinely raise quality or speed, and skip them where they don't

WHAT IT TAKES

Experience running an in‑house video studio for a major healthcare brand: leading a team, setting standards, and delivering high volume across business lines (portfolio required) 15+ years as a working director and cinematographer, including founding and running a production company for national brands Deep documentary craft: interviewing real people, finding true moments, building emotion without a script Experience leading multidisciplinary creative teams, including editors, motion designers, and photographers Experience making platform-specific edits and working with social teams on content built for the feed Comfortable in regulated healthcare review Strong presenter who can sell creative to senior leadership

The base pay for this position is $149,300.00 – $298,700.00

JOB FAMILY:

Marketing Support

DIVISION:

PA Public Affairs

LOCATION:

United States > Abbott Park : AP06C

ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS:

United States > Chicago : Willis Tower Building 233 S Wacker Dr., United States > Minnesota > St. Paul > Tech Center : One St Jude Medical Drive

WORK SHIFT:

Standard

TRAVEL:

Yes, 5 % of the Time

MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE:

Not Applicable

SIGNIFICANT WORK ACTIVITIES:

Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day), Keyboard use (greater or equal to 50% of the workday)

Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities/Women/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans.

EEO is the Law link - English: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_English.pdf EEO is the Law link - Espanol: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_Spanish.pdf

Abbott is about the power of health. For more than 135 years, Abbott has been helping people reach their potential — because better health allows people and communities to achieve more. With a diverse, global network serving customers in more than 160 countries, we create new solutions — across the spectrum of health, around the world, for all stages of life. Whether it’s next‑generation diagnostics, life‑changing devices, science‑based nutrition, or novel reformulations, we are advancing some of the most innovative and revolutionary technologies in healthcare, helping people live their best lives through better health.

The people of Abbott come to work each day with relentless energy, enthusiasm and a promise to enhance the health and well‑being of millions of people. They push the boundaries to help manage and treat some of life’s greatest health challenges.

We invite you to explore opportunities at Abbott, to see if your talents and career aspirations may fit with our openings. An equal opportunity employer, Abbott welcomes and encourages diversity in our workforce.

Follow Us: Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Twitter