SVP, Experience Design & Innovation

GSW, powered by Syneos Health; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 195,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits (Medical, Dental, VIs)

Company match 401k

Paid time off & sick time

Diversity and inclusion emphasis

Job summary

GSW, powered by Syneos Health, seeks an executive leader to shape the Experience Design practice across our network and serve as a senior creative leader for our Santa Monica office. You will define vision, culture, and quality of work while advancing XD across the agency and driving growth for major clients.

In partnership with Brand Creative leadership, you will elevate craft standards, build high‑performing teams, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration to deliver innovative, compliant,

Qualifications

• Pharma, healthcare, or regulated‑category experience.
• Veeva, MLR, modular‑content, iCVA, or enterprise content‑system experience.
• Experiential, immersive, VR/AR, spatial, or emerging‑platform background.
• A track record of driving adoption and enablement across teams, offices, or networks.
• Experience partnering with Brand Creative, Strategy, Technology, Medical, and Account leadership to shape integrated work.

Responsibilities

• Co‑Lead the Creative Umbrella for the Office, partnering with Brand Creative leadership to steward the location's creative vision, standards, culture, and reputation.
• Champion integration of brand storytelling, experience design, content, technology, and emerging capabilities for meaningful client solutions.
• Foster interdisciplinary collaboration and ensure work is strategically sound, creatively inspiring, and commercially effective.
• Act as a visible creative leader and culture carrier, defining great work and talent development across XD and Brand Creative.
• Collaborate with office and executive leadership to grow the agency's creative reputation and identify new business opportunities.

Skills

Pharma, healthcare, or regulated‑level

Veeva, MLR, modular‑content, iCVA, or‑

Experiential, immersive, VR/AR, or‑

Team leadership across networks

Partnership with Brand Creative, etc.

Job description

Description

Our Experience Design practice brings together UX strategists, designers, creative technologists, developers, AI specialists, and emerging‑media experts to create connected experiences that move healthcare forward. We work at the intersection of creativity, technology, and human behavior, turning new possibilities into meaningful business outcomes for our clients.

Description

Our Experience Design practice brings together UX strategists, designers, creative technologists, developers, AI specialists, and emerging‑media experts to create connected experiences that move healthcare forward. We work at the intersection of creativity, technology, and human behavior, turning new possibilities into meaningful business outcomes for our clients. We're looking for an executive leader who can help shape the future of Experience Design across our network while serving as a senior creative leader for one of our major office locations. In partnership with Brand Creative leadership, you'll help define the vision, culture, and quality of creative work across the office while advancing the Experience Design discipline and helping drive agency growth.

What You'll Do

Co-Lead the Creative Umbrella for the Office

• Partner with Brand Creative leadership to serve as the office's creative leadership team, jointly stewarding the creative vision, standards, culture, and reputation of the location.
• Champion the integration of brand storytelling, experience design, content, technology, and emerging capabilities to create more meaningful and connected solutions for clients.
• Help establish an environment where interdisciplinary collaboration thrives and where teams consistently produce work that is strategically sound, creatively inspiring, and commercially effective.
• Serve as a visible creative leader and culture carrier, helping define what great work looks like, how great talent grows, and how XD and Brand Creative operate as equal pillars of the creative organisation.
• Collaborate with office and executive leadership to strengthen the agency's creative reputation, identify growth opportunities, and support new business success.

Lead And Grow An Experience Design Practice

• Serve as the senior Experience Design leader for a major office location, driving excellence across UX, digital design, creative technology, AI, and emerging experience disciplines.
• Build and mentor high-performing leaders and teams, creating a culture that attracts, develops, and retains exceptional talent.
• Establish craft standards, career pathways, and communities of practice that elevate the quality and consistency of work across the network.
• Partner closely with Experience Design leadership across GSW to scale capabilities, share best practices, and strengthen the overall discipline.

Shape the Future of the Agency

• Translate emerging technologies, AI capabilities, agentic workflows, immersive experiences, and evolving customer expectations into meaningful opportunities for clients and teams.
• Augment the traditional view of a concept and campaign with a systems-based approach.
• Help define where the agency should invest next, ensuring Experience Design remains a driver of innovation, differentiation, and growth.
• Champion new ways of working that make teams more effective.
• Act as a visible thought leader within GSW and across the broader healthcare and experience-design community.

Drive Client Growth and Executive Relationships

• Partner with senior client leaders to identify opportunities, solve complex business challenges, and shape long‑term engagement strategies.
• Bring an Experience Design perspective into enterprise transformations, omnichannel initiatives, customer experience programs, digital health solutions, and innovation efforts.
• Play a leadership role in pitches, strategic planning engagements, and business development initiatives.
• Build confidence with executive stakeholders by connecting human‑centered design, technology, creative ambition, and business outcomes.

Lead Through Making

• Embody a “show, don’t tell” mindset by using prototypes, pilots, demonstrations, and working models to create alignment and inspire action.
• Guide teams in the creation of tangible experiences ranging from agentic solutions and design systems to immersive experiences, applications, and connected ecosystems.
• Maintain strong proximity to the craft while empowering leaders and teams to own execution.

Deliver Innovation at Scale

• Ensure breakthrough ideas translate into sustainable, scalable solutions within highly regulated healthcare environments.
• Balance innovation with operational rigor, partnering with strategy, creative, technology, medical, and regulatory teams to deliver exceptional outcomes.
• Help clients modernize their content, engagement, and experience ecosystems while maintaining the highest standards of quality and compliance.

What We're Looking For

Creative and Organizational Leadership

• Proven success leading multidisciplinary creative organizations and developing future leaders.
• Ability to inspire others through vision, clarity, empathy, and action.
• Demonstrated experience shaping creative culture and raising standards across disciplines.
• A leader who believes the best ideas emerge through collaboration rather than hierarchy.

Strategic + Creative Thinking

• Deep understanding of experience design, customer experience, creative strategy, digital transformation, and emerging technologies.
• Ability to connect business needs, human behavior, and technological possibilities into compelling strategies and solutions.
• Strong systems thinker who naturally connects people, ideas, and opportunities across disciplines.

Client and Agency Influence

• Exceptional communication skills and executive presence.
• Trusted advisor to clients, senior stakeholders, and agency leadership.
• A proven ability to influence decisions, align teams, and create momentum around new ideas.

Innovation and Modern Technology Fluency

• Credible understanding of AI, agentic systems, design systems, digital product development, and emerging experience platforms.
• Curiosity about what's next combined with the judgment to know what truly matters.
• Ability to transform experimentation into repeatable capability and measurable business impact.

Craft Leadership

• Strong instincts for what great ideas and experiences look like.
• Ability to challenge teams, elevate standards, and create the conditions for breakthrough work.
• Equal passion for developing people and developing ideas.

The Kind Of Leader Who Thrives Here

You're not expected to be the best UX designer, creative technologist, strategist, or brand creative in the room. You're expected to create the conditions where all of them can do the best work of their careers.

• A builder and a coach.
• A visionary and a pragmatist.
• A strategist and a maker.
• A connector of people, ideas, and opportunities.
• Comfortable discussing client growth, creative quality, talent development, organizational change, and emerging technology in the same conversation.
• Energized by helping others succeed while pushing the work forward.

Experience We Are Looking For

• Pharma, healthcare, or regulated‑category experience.
• Veeva, MLR, modular‑content, iCVA, or enterprise content‑system experience.
• Experiential, immersive, VR/AR, spatial, or emerging‑platform background.
• A track record of driving adoption and enablement across teams, offices, or networks.
• Experience partnering with Brand Creative, Strategy, Technology, Medical, and Account leadership to shape integrated work.

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $195,000 to $230,000. The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high of the Syneos Health range for this position. Actual salary will vary based on various factors such as the candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. In addition, some positions may include eligibility to earn commissions/bonus based on company and / or individual performance.

At GSW, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace. If your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. At times, we will consider transferable skills from previous roles. We also encourage you to join our Talent Network to stay connected to additional career opportunities.

Syneos Health companies are affirmative action/equal opportunity employers (Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabled)

At Syneos Health, we believe in providing an environment and culture in which Our People can thrive, develop and advance. We reward and recognize our people by providing valuable benefits and a quality-of-life balance. The benefits for this position will include a competitive compensation package, Health benefits to include Medical, Dental and Vision, Company match 401k, flexible paid time off (PTO) and sick time. Because certain states and municipalities have regulated paid sick time requirements, eligibility for paid sick time may vary depending on where you work. Syneos Health complies with all applicable federal, state, and municipal paid sick time requirements.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.